The materialization of the Buen Vivir and the Rights of Nature: Rhetoric and Realities of Guayaquil Ecológico urban regeneration project

In 2008, Ecuador became the first country in the world to declare nature as a subject of rights based on the ‘Buen Vivir’ (Good Living) philosophy which is premised on an indigenous principle that envisions a world where humans are part-and-parcel of a larger natural and social environment. Although Ecuador’s constitution is groundbreaking from a legal standpoint, the question arises of how the rights of nature is spatially manifested beyond the designation of protected areas? To shed light on such interrogation, this article, based on qualitative research, focuses on the linear park component of the mega-project Guayaquil Ecológico heralded as a first materialization which champions the “Rights of Nature” under the vision of the Buen Vivir. It unravels the contested rhetoric and realities of the Guayaquil Ecológico linear park in a critical review of the as-built project in relation to the larger objectives of Buen Vivir. The Guayaquil Ecologico linear park promised to simultaneously upgrade both social and environmental dimensions. However, it did not fully address the complexity of Guayaquil’s socio-ecological context and some of the structural injustices of the estuarine territory. Buen Vivir was rhetorically mobilised to implement a project where aesthetic dimensions dominated, further perpetuating socio-ecological vulnerabilities through relocation and evictions. Furthermore, its implementation was dependent on a specific political moment, leaving it in a state of abandonment and neglect. The Buen Vivir philosophy—as a decolonial stance that challenges western forms of development—can offer a fundamental base to question current modes of territorial occupation based on extractivist planning and design strategies. It holds significant potential to serve as base to re-think the relationship between forms of settlement, natural dynamics, and worldviews.

Those Who Left and Those Who Arrived

In the years after the Second World War, the city of Rijeka found itself caught in the middle of various migratory trajectories. The departure of locals who self-identified as Italians and opted for Italian citizenship occurred simultaneously with other population movements that drained the city of inhabitants and brought in newcomers. Many locals defected and traveled to Italy, which was either their final destination or a country they transited through before being resettled elsewhere. Furthermore, after the war ended, workers from other Yugoslav areas started arriving in the city. A flourishing economy proved capable of attracting migrants with promises of good living standards; however, political reasons also motivated many to move to this Adriatic city. The latter was the case for former economic emigrants who decided to return to join the new socialist homeland and for Italian workers who symbolically sided with the socialist Yugoslavia. Rijeka was not simply a destination for many migrants—it was also a springboard for individuals from all over the Yugoslav Federation to reach the Western Bloc. This article argues that examining these intertwining patterns together rather than separately offers new insight into the challenges the city experienced during its postwar transition.

Fé cristã e Direitos Humanos: caminhos que convergem e nos conduzem ao encontro com o Criador e ao Bem-Viver | Christian faith and Human Rights: paths that converge and lead to the encounter with the Creator and to Good Living

Este artigo trata da relação próxima e recíproca entre religião e direitos humanos a partir da autocompreensão cristã enquanto ponte que liga e religa o ser humano a si mesmo; os seres humanos entre si; e toda a humanidade ao seu criador. Desse modo, opta-se por uma contribuição teológica para a reflexão acerca dos direitos humanos fundamentais que possam auxiliar a pessoa de fé a reconhecer nessa agenda pública algo que lhe é particular. A saber, em linguagem confessional, reconhecer direitos humanos como vontade de Deus. Com um ponto de partida antropológico, busca-se uma fidelidade à tradição profética judaico-cristã. Desse modo, o presente texto assume a virada hermenêutica da teologia ocorrida no século XX diante de novas demandas humanas e, consequentemente, de novos modos de ler e atualizar a sabedoria da fé no horizonte de uma sociedade do Bem-Viver. This article deals with the close and reciprocal relation between religion and human rights from the Christian self-comprehension while a bridge that connects and reconnects the human being to itself; the human beings with each other; and all mankind with its creator. Therefore, it opts for a theological contribution to a reflection about the fundamental human rights that can help people with faith to recognize in this public agenda. Namely, in confessional language, the work recognizes human rights as the will of God. With an anthropological starting point, it aims to be faithful to the Judeo-Christian prophetic tradition. In this way, the present text assumes the hermeneutical turn of theology that took place in the twentieth century in the face of new human demands and, consequently, of new ways of reading and updating the wisdom of faith in the horizon of a society of Good Living.

Stoic Grit and Resilience

The Stoics argue, contrary to popular belief, that resilience and grit depend on strong social supports. Marcus Aurelius paints a chilling image in the Meditations: Without each other, individuals are like severed body parts strewn on a battlefield. They can’t function well or at all. Social connection works through shared reason and through emotions, which are themselves kinds of cognitions. Seneca’s Letters, based on an intimate epistolary relationship with young Lucilius, exemplifies the important role of emotional attachments for good living. Hierocles pictures bringing distant others into one’s orbit through repeated acts of empathy and imagination. In Hercules Rages, Seneca shows that grit depends on more than physical strength or inner toughness. In the face of a horrific tragedy, Hercules learns that to sustain his heroic courage he needs mercy that he can’t show himself. Others must model it for him. He must lean on them for his own sanity and strength.

3D CITY MODELS FOR SUPPORTING SIMULATIONS IN CITY DENSIFICATIONS

In order to meet the increasing needs of housing and services in urban areas, cities are densified. When densifying a city, it is important to provide good living conditions while maintaining a low environmental impact. To ensure this, the urban planning process should include simulations of e.g. noise and daylight conditions. In this paper we describe a newly started projected directed towards the need for quality-assured and harmonised input data to the simulations, in the form of 3D city models. The first part of the paper includes the background and research questions of the project and in the second part a tool for daylight simulations on neighbourhood level is introduced, a tool that will be utilized for evaluating the 3D city model design.

On the Strategies of College Students’ Entrepreneurial Mental Health Education from the Perspective of Positive Psychology

Objectives: Entrepreneurship education is one of the contents of higher education, which aims to cultivate college students’ entrepreneurial consciousness and ability, and its core is to cultivate college students’ entrepreneurial quality. Methods: Positive psychology is directed at the traditional “negative psychology”, which advocates studying the positive qualities of human beings, fully tapping the inherent, potential and constructive forces of human beings, and promoting the development of individuals and society. Results: Healthy family, good living environment, positive social environment and harmonious learning environment all play an important role in positive psychology. Government policy support objectively provides guarantee for college students’ entrepreneurial practice, while psychological support subjectively provides guarantee for college students’ entrepreneurial practice. Conclusion: Healthy family, good living environment, positive social environment and harmonious learning environment all play an important role in positive psychology. Government policy support objectively provides guarantee for college students’ entrepreneurial practice, while psychological support subjectively provides guarantee for college students’ entrepreneurial practice.

THE INFLUENCE OF SPORTS ON HEALTH SCIENCE AND ITS FACTORS

ABSTRACT Introduction Outdoor sports can help people develop good living habits and improve people’s physical fitness. For this reason, it is very important to cultivate sports hobbies and analyze the factors of healthy sports. Objective To understand the factors that affect the healthy sports behavior of college students, we provide a reference for the relevant departments of the school and physical education teachers. Methods The thesis uses literature data method, questionnaire survey method and mathematical statistics method to analyze sports influencing factors with college students as the research object. Results The physical education method and the completeness of the facilities will affect the students’ interest in sports. Students from different family backgrounds have very different preferences for healthy sports. Conclusions The school environment and sports atmosphere are the main factors that constitute the school sports environment. College students’ cognition and understanding of healthy sports will affect their own sports situation. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment results.

Impacts of the Goldmining and Chronic Methylmercury Exposure on the Good-Living and Mental Health of Munduruku Native Communities in the Amazon Basin

This paper is an exploratory study that examines the illegal goldmining impacts on Munduruku communities’ “Good-Living” (Xipan Jewewekukap) and explores the possible relationship between chronic methylmercury (MeHg) exposure and the worsening mental health conditions in three villages in the Middle-Tapajós River, Brazilian Amazon. The region has been experiencing a long-lasting threat of goldminers’ invasions. A total of 109 people were interviewed and evaluated. Total mercury (THg) exposure levels were evaluated through hair samples analysis, from which MeHg exposure levels were calculated. The Geriatric Depression Scale—Short Form (GDS-SF) was used as a screening tool in order to assess mental health indicators. Brief non-structured interviews were carried out to investigate how goldmining is impacting the communities Good-Living. A Poisson regression model was used to estimate the possible association between mental health indicators (assessed through the GDS-SF) and the following independent variables: (i) mercury exposure level (<10.0 μg/g vs. ≥10.0 μg/g), (ii) self-reported nervousness, (iii) self-reported irritability, (iv) age group, and (v) monthly income. The analysis revealed high levels of mercury in hair samples (median: 7.4 µg/g, range 2.0–22.8; 70% and 28% of the participants had THg levels ≥6.0 and ≥10.0 µg/g, respectively) and pointed to a tendency in which higher levels of methylmercury exposure (Hg ≥ 10.0 µg/g) could be linked to worse mental health indicators. Although the GDS-SF has presented limitations due to the Munduruku sociocultural context, our findings suggest a tendency of worse mental health indicators in participants presenting high levels of MeHg exposure. Despite this limitation, the qualitative approach indicates an evident association between the impacts of goldmining and the Munduruku people’s decreasing autonomy to maintain a Good-Living on their own terms, pointing to the importance of carrying out new investigations, especially considering longitudinal studies with qualitative methodologies and ethnographic approaches.