Post-pandemic scenarios and design strategies for public spaces transformation

Almost two years later of a pandemic condition, one thing is sure: the pandemic will change permanently the world and its systems. Nowadays, the reflection on public space is crucial within a more sustainable and inclusive development at urban scale, amplified also by the ongoing experience of the pandemic that still presents. Public space is a real opportunity to test new urban and social models, thus becoming a principal catalyst for positive changes in the entire urban context. It is therefore necessary to re-establish a relationship between the public space and its inhabitants, providing a system of proximity by highlighting the human and non-human dimensions and consequently connecting services, relationships, and opportunities. Acting in public space is the first step in the development of innovative urban transformations, generated by collaborative phenomena working in the collective interest. The use of participatory practices within the design processes favors the reconnection between people and territory, generating a shared sense of belonging that leads to taking care of one's own places. The reversibility of the intervention and its adaptability are key characteristics that allow experimenting with new ways of experiencing public spaces and responding to unforeseen experiences, thus accommodating the inevitable changes in society. This scientific contribution aims to set forward distinctive points of view on the planning strategies implemented in the pandemic and post-pandemic period to achieve intelligent transformations on a small and large urban scale with an impact from short to long-term; hence shaping the future cities.

Ministerial Education Councils’ Capacity for Policy Decision-Making in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland: Finding a Balanced Perspective

Scholars have become increasingly vigilant about leaders, the role of government and wider governance bodies, and their influence on education policy. Councils in Europe and North America, generally, and education councils, specifically, are good examples of influential bodies whose decision-making processes have rightfully come under scrutiny; however, many scholarly assessments have been characterized by rhetorical claims that focus on these bodies’ limited ability to make decisions and address social challenges. This article details a qualitative, comparative case study conducted in 2018 that investigated how Councils of Ministers of Education in Canada, Germany, and Switzerland address national educational issues of collective interest. The resulting dataset is comprehensive, and this research invites colleagues to refine or rethink some of their limiting rhetorical tools and underlying assumptions.

Ethnic Politics and Electoral Violence in Nigeria: A Study of the South-South Geopolitical Zone

The Nigerian state since political independence in 1960 has been basking in the euphoria of ethnic politics and electoral violence. Each ethnic nationality in Nigeria has its own culture, interest, aspiration, language and faith and these factors seems to affect the socio-economic and political fate of each group, make identification with the nation a problematic task and exacerbate the difficulty in attaining credible elections a true democracy in the society. Against this backdrop, this study examined the relationship and the effect of ethnic politics on electoral violence in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. A cross sectional research designed was adopted and data was collected via a survey of six hundred (600) respondents. Data collected were analysed using simple percentages, correlation, and linear regression analysis with the aid of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 23. The results of the study revealed that there is a significant relationship between ethnic politics and electoral violence in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. The study also showed that ethnic politics exerts a positive and statistically significant impact on electoral violence in the south-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Based on these findings, the study concludes that ethnic politics has significant influence on electoral violence in Nigeria. The study therefore recommends, among other things, that Nigerian political leaders should place Nigerian citizens at the centre of their political project without recourse to ethnic chauvinism and the acquisition of political power as a means for serving the collective interest of the citizens irrespective of their ethnic origin. This will go a long way to reduce electoral violence in Nigeria, especially in the south-south geopolitical zone.

Are Class Actions Finally (Re)conquering Europe? Some Remarks on Directive 2020/1828

The article provides a brief overview of the background of the new European Union directive on representative actions for protection of the collective interest of consumers (Directive 2020/1828). It describes the basic elements of the directive and explains the major changes that have occurred since the European Commission issued its Recommendation document on collective redress in 2013. The author highlights the issues of the scope of application of the directive, of legal standing to bring a representative action, of collective settlements, and of the problem of funding for collective actions. This discussion puts emphasis on the need to extend legal standing to individual members of the group and articulates an appeal to national legislatures, particularly in Germany, to be more open-minded towards commercial litigation funding and the establishment of a public access-to-justice fund designed to guarantee the effectiveness of Directive 2020/1828 and its implementation.

The Covid-19 Pandemic and Climate Change: Some Lessons Learned on Individual Ethics and Social Justice

The Covid-19 pandemic has confronted humanity with a complex and unexpected challenge. One part of this challenge concerned individual ethics, i.e., the behaviour of individuals with respect to the rules and restrictions that have been imposed by health authorities in the collective interest. Another part concerned, instead, the social organisation of immunisation campaigns. In this article I wonder whether the lessons we have learned in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic can be applied to climate change mitigation. My first argument is that at least some of the ethical successes obtained at the individual level can be repeated with respect to climate change, but only if we stop focusing solely on the risks of climate change and offer a convincing picture of the benefits and opportunities of a more sustainable world. The second argument is that the Covid-19 pandemic offered us a new perspective on the relationship between global systemic threats and social justice: no one can adapt in isolation, neither medically nor economically. An out-of-control climate will lead to the same situation, so the asymmetry of vulnerability between developed and developing countries (and also between wealthy and poor people within the same country) is only a short-term illusion.

Relationship between access to information in social media and the substitution of technical/scientific knowledge

Algorithms are increasingly used to streamline the internet search and search process, however, while facilitating this process, they can also influence people's health. Thus, it is necessary an approach about how this tool can negatively influence the well-being condition of individuals. A research was carried out in health databases, using inclusion and selection criteria for the selection of scientific articles. It was clear that the study of fluctuations in internet search terms is no longer restricted to Marketing, because large technological conglomerates already use the behavior of searches to "indicate" content to users. This expansion of territory is useful in the indication of cycles of collective interest driven mainly by the behavior of influencers, who, together with companies, promote the commodification of health and can negatively impact those who consume information. The algorithms present in social media have a negative impact on the lives of internet users. Partnerships between digital influencers and pharmaceuticals pose a risk to the health of lay individuals, as it encourages the consumption of products without medical supervision. Therefore, it is necessary that there be the continuation of scientific productions that address the doubts of users with understandable language, and thus address their questions with well-based information.

Collective Proceedings

This chapter assesses the mechanisms for collective redress under the European Rules of Civil Procedure. Part XI of the Rules adopts a broad, non-sectoral approach, which is consistent with approaches across many European jurisdictions and was the approach by the European Commission in 2013. It is, however, broadly consistent in approach with that taken by the European Union in 2013 and 2018. This Part is divided into four sections, each of which deals with different mass harm situations. The first concerns collective injunctive relief (Collective Interest Injunctions); the second concerns collective proceedings for the recovery of damages or for declaratory relief (Collective Proceedings); the third provides a mechanism to declare binding a collective settlement entered into by the parties to a pending collective proceeding; and finally, a mechanism to declare a collective settlement entered into outside of collective proceedings binding.

Human Cooperation and the Crises of Climate Change, COVID-19, and Misinformation

Contemporary society is facing many social dilemmas—including climate change, COVID-19, and misinformation—characterized by a conflict between short-term self-interest and longer-term collective interest. The climate crisis requires paying costs today to benefit distant others (and oneself) in the future. The COVID-19 crisis requires the less vulnerable to pay costs to benefit the more vulnerable in the face of great uncertainty. The misinformation crisis requires investing effort to assess truth and abstain from spreading attractive falsehoods. Addressing these crises requires an understanding of human cooperation. To that end, we present ( a) an overview of mechanisms for the evolution of cooperation, including mechanisms based on similarity and interaction; ( b) a discussion of how reputation can incentivize cooperation via conditional cooperation and signaling; and ( c) a review of social preferences that undergird the proximate psychology of cooperation, including positive regard for others, parochialism, and egalitarianism. We discuss the three focal crises facing our society through the lens of cooperation, emphasizing how cooperation research can inform our efforts to address them. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Psychology, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Steel Industry in Turkey: Progress and Challenges

While Turkey was the world’s 10th biggest steel producer in 2001, she has become the 7th biggest producer globally and largest steel producer in Europe in 2020. In fact, she was the third fastest growing steel producer in the world between 2001 and 2011, after China and India. Steel production in Turkey has increased significantly since 2001, growing from 15 million tons (mt) in 2001 to 35.8 million tons in 2020. In addition to the strong domestic demand and dynamic steel using industries, Turkey’s well-placed position also supports exports and production. This article suggests employing descriptive methodology focusing on Turkish Steel Industry between 2010-2020. The authors conduct descriptive research using case study method. Both quatitative and quanlitative analysis gives a holistic understanding of the research question. We began with a discussion of how Turkish steel industry has changed and affected by the rise of protectionism in the twenty first century. Then we will focus on the competition strategy in steel industy based on the trade relationship between EU, USA and Asia. A final section summarizes our argument and findings and offers suggestions for policy implications. The paper seeks to understand the role of Turkish steel industy both in Turkish economy and global economy. We anchor our collective interest in competition strategy and trade performance in the last decade. After Covid 19, the world community faces many unknowns. As a result, we aim to fill the gap with the mapping the future appearance of steel industy in Turkey by evaluating the possibilities.

Cooperative phenotype predicts climate change belief and pro-environmental behaviour

Understanding the psychological causes of variation in climate change belief and pro-environmental behaviour remains an urgent challenge for the social sciences. The “cooperative phenotype” is a stable psychological preference for cooperating in social dilemmas that involve a tension between individual and collective interest. Since climate change poses a social dilemma on a global scale, this issue may evoke similar psychological processes as smaller social dilemmas. Here, we investigate the relationships between the cooperative phenotype and climate change belief and behaviour with a representative sample of New Zealanders (n = 897). By linking behaviour in a suite of economic games to self-reported climate attitudes, we show robust positive associations between the cooperative phenotype and both climate change belief and pro-environmental behaviour. Furthermore, our mediation analyses support a motivated reasoning model in which the relationship between the cooperative phenotype and pro-environmental behaviour is fully mediated by climate change belief. These findings suggest that common psychological mechanisms underlie cooperation in both micro-scale social dilemmas and larger-scale social dilemmas like climate change.