Citizen Participation in the Co-Production of Urban Natural Resource Assets

Abundant natural resources are the basis of urbanisation and industrialisation. Citizens are the key factor in promoting a sustainable supply of natural resources and the high-quality development of urban areas. This study focuses on the co-production behaviours of citizens regarding urban natural resource assets in the age of big data, and uses the latent Dirichlet allocation algorithm and the stepwise regression analysis method to evaluate citizens’ experiences and feelings related to the urban capitalisation of natural resources. Results show that, firstly, the machine learning algorithm based on natural language processing can effectively identify and deal with the demands of urban natural resource assets. Secondly, in the experience of urban natural resources, citizens pay more attention to the combination of history, culture, infrastructure and natural landscape. Unique natural resource can enhance citizens’ sense of participation. Finally, the scenery, entertainment and quality and value of urban natural resources are the influencing factors of citizens’ satisfaction.

Increasing The Appreciation Of Fine Art Through Participatory Murals At Perum Arjamukti Singaparna, Tasikmalaya Regency

This paper aims to provide an overview of activities that seek to bring the process of art education directly to the public Community service that started from a discussion between lecturers and youth youth organizations at Perum Arjamukti Kencana in building a tourist village area around Singaparna, Tasikmalaya Regency, from this discussion arose a desire to create activities that involve residents and youth youth groups in arts-related activities. A participatory mural is a mural activity that involves the participation of citizens in its implementation, both before implementation, in its manufacture and after its creation. The method used in this research is descriptive method. The descriptive method used to increase the appreciation of fine arts through participatory murals at Perum Arjamukti Singaparna, Tasikmalaya Regency. The results obtained from research that have been carried out by residents' wishes in the mural participation process are varied, the forms of citizen participation are not only in the form of trying to scratch koas on walls to produce mural images, there are also those who participate in providing consumption, raw materials, documenting works through social media or simply just talking and taking selfies on existing murals.

ASSESSING PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF URBAN AGRICULTURE IN CEBU CITY, PHILIPPINES: TOWARDS DEVELOPING ACTION PLANS

Background and Purpose: Urban agriculture (UA) has become an even more attractive option for food security and safety brought by the spread of COVID-19 which causes global health crisis. However, studies examining the perceived values, challenges, and needs towards urban agriculture are very limited and this does not exempt even the context of Cebu City in the Philippines. In this regard, this study aimed to assess the problems and prospects concerning urban agriculture in the aforementioned City. The purposes are to propose action plans and offer insights in designing and implementing food and agricultural programs and policies in the planned participatory action research (PAR) for sustainable urban agriculture. Methodology: This study used Kemmis and McTaggart’s (1988) Model of Action Research. The use of this research method is an essential approach towards constructing sustainable developments of urban agricultural systems. However, only the planning stage was accomplished in this phase of action research of which it employed sequential explanatory research design. There were 509 household representatives in this stage of the study who participated in an online survey, 217 and 292 were from the north district and south district, respectively. Subsequently, each district had five representatives who were subjected to interviews to explain the quantitative results. Findings: Results indicate that Cebuanos positively perceives the social, economic, health, environmental, and aesthetic values of urban agriculture. However, the presence of urban agriculture in the metropolitan is only from moderate to nonexistent due to lack of space or designated area. In addition, the participants disclosed a lack of training and capital or funding, thus further disengaging them from adopting urban agriculture. Nonetheless, the majority (n=463) expressed willingness to be trained in urban agriculture if given the opportunity. Contributions: This study provides key points as to how urban agriculture can be promoted. These include designating some portions of public and privately unused lands as “urban agriculture areas”. In addition, financing institutions may also allocate small subsidies for marginally low-income families as their starting capital for urban agriculture activities. Finally, universities, non-government, and government agencies in the agriculture sector may train Cebuanos in backyard and rooftop gardening being the widely accepted urban agriculture form. Keywords: Action research, perceived challenges, perceived needs, perceived values, urban agriculture. Cite as: Cortes, S. T., Bugtai, V. H., Lampawog, E. Q., Sadili, C. B., Agero, A. D., Ramas, C. B., … Lorca, A. S. (2022). Understanding the issues of citizen participation. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 7(1), 264-291. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol7iss1pp264-291

Public Health Events Emergency Management Supervision Strategy Considering New Media and Citizen Participation

Public health events endanger the citizen health, economic development, social stability and national security seriously. Emergency management requires the joint participation of multiple parties. Therefore, we construct an evolutionary game model involving government department, pharmaceutical enterprises, citizens and new media, analyze the evolutionary stability, solve the stable equilibrium points using the Lyapunov first method and conduct the simulation analysis with Matlab 2020b. The results show that, firstly, the greater the probability of citizens making true evaluation, the more inclined the government department is to strictly implement the emergency management system, and when true evaluation causes the government department to bear more punishment, the probability that the government department doesn't strictly implement is smaller; secondly, when the probability of citizens making true evaluation decreases, new media are more inclined to report after verification, and when new media lose more pageview value or should be punished more for reporting without verification, the probability that they report without verification is smaller; thirdly, the greater the probability of citizens making false evaluation, the less enthusiasm of pharmaceutical enterprises to participate in emergency management, which indicates that false evaluation is detrimental to prompt pharmaceutical enterprises to participate; what's more, the greater the probability of new media reporting after verification, the greater the probability of pharmaceutical enterprises actively participating, which shows that new media's verification to citizens' evaluation is beneficial to emergency management. So, this paper provides suggestions for the emergency management and supervision.

Integrated Carbon Policy Design for Achieving Net-Zero Targets

Several countries have set net-zero targets, and many more will announce in the next few years. Countries have used carbon pricing as an instrument to cut Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and provide a price signal to attract private investments to achieve net-zero targets. However, current carbon policy in countries with net-zero targets remains inadequate and asymmetrical to overcome net-zero challenges; there are visible gaps in the carbon price level, sectoral coverage, and mechanism to reward carbon-neutral initiatives. This paper proposed an integrated carbon policy design covering economic, technical, and social dimensions and discussed how an integrated policy design approach could be effective in helping countries achieve net-zero objectives. The paper makes recommendations for net-zero policymakers. First, a stable and appropriate carbon price must be in place to attract private investments in carbon offset measures and commercialize clean technologies. Second, governments should use an effective revenue recycling mechanism to engage firms and citizens in mitigating the side effects of the carbon price regime and win their trust. Third, countries should promote behavioral changes and carbon footprint reduction measures through citizen participation. 

Factors Affecting Citizen Participation in Local Development Planning in Murewa District, Zimbabwe

Local governments are the bedrock for sound public administration because of their role in promoting bottom-up socio-economic development. Although Zimbabwe has made strides in ensuring citizens’ participation in local government processes, local authorities and other stakeholders still rely on the top-down approaches, marginalising the needs of the local citizens. The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that affect the active participation of citizens in local governance in the Murewa District in Zimbabwe. Based on a multistage sampling approach, involving purposive sampling and stratified random sampling, interviews were conducted with 30 local government officials, while a questionnaire survey was administered to 396 citizens in four wards within the district. Complementary data were collected through focus group discussions and field observations. Thematic analysis was employed on data generated from interviews, focus group discussions and field observations, while the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Version 16) was used to analyse quantitative data from the questionnaire survey. The results show that more than 50% of the residents in the district felt that local government leadership side lined them in development planning. Some citizens reported that officials used development planning meetings to further their political agendas. The study recommends enhancement of citizen participation through citizen empowerment programmes such as educational and political leadership training programmes that transform the marginalised communities into autonomous communities that are capable of determining their own destiny.

Evaluation of Factors Affecting the Transition to a Circular Economy (CE) in Vietnam by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

Currently, the transition to a circular economy is becoming a development trend of many countries around the world to cope with climate change and reduce carbon emissions. Vietnam is also one of the countries in the process of taking steps to transition to a circular economy. However, to make a successful transition to a circular economy, citizen participation is essential. Thus, the question is, are people ready to participate in the circular economy? Therefore, this study surveyed 431 people regarding their willingness to participate in the circular economy based on the theory of planned behavior and the structural equation model. The results of empirical research have shown that the factors attention to the environment, and attitude towards intention are the factors that have a strong impact on willingness to participate in the circular economy. Based on the given influencing factors, the authors make some policy suggestions for the Vietnamese government in the transition to a circular economy.

Citizen Participation in Smart Sustainable Cities

Citizen participation and sustainability are two main concepts used in the definitions in the smart city literature. Citizen participation is often used within the context of improving good governance in smart cities. Its relationship with sustainability is seldomly discussed. This study analyses the relationship between the concepts of smart city, smart sustainable city, and citizen participation, and discusses how citizen participation is shaped in smart sustainable cities. In light of this analysis, seven types of citizen participation mechanisms are studied. The findings of the study reveal that sustainability in smart cities is only considered within the framework of environmental matters, while citizen participation is only considered as a mechanism aimed at supporting good governance. The study recommends using these participation mechanisms to highlight other aspects of sustainability such as securing comprehensiveness, alleviating poverty, promoting gender equality and to focus on other aspects of citizen participation such as real participation and democratic effectiveness.

E-Participating Decision-Making Mechanism in the Public Administration System

In this chapter, an analysis of the electronic decision making system, which is thought to benefit from the heavy bureaucratic system which does not take into account the expectations of the citizen in the public administration system, will be used to make a more flexible structure. The focus of this chapter is on the need to design the decision-making mechanisms of the state according to the expectations of the citizen. For this purpose, requests and complaints from the citizens through the electronic environment should be taken into consideration in the decision-making process. In fact, this situation is reflected in the application of electronic participation management model. The application of this management model in the public administration system is the citizen participation complaint and demand system which is carried out under the name of electronic government. The examination of this system, which is an example of the application of participatory democracy, is important for the reflection of democratic values on the administration system.

Active Governance and Smart Citizenship

Cities are increasingly dependent on networks, sensors, and microcontrollers. Artificial intelligence has managed to mimic human behavior, and in a few years, many jobs may be replaced by computers or machines. Today, smart cities are evolving in all countries from the poorest to the most economically viable, and there are many smart city applications that rely on observation and participation of the citizens. Active citizens are interested in the benefits of their city, and they are involved in improving and promoting urban living. All levels of smart citizen participation are associated with liberal citizenship and personal autonomy and the choice of individuals to perform specific roles and take responsibility for their actions. The states in turn provide liberal forms of government. Smart cities need “smart people” who can take an active part in both governance and city reform. This kind of citizen participation is more than just a ritual participation in government.