Monitoring and Understanding Urban Transformation: A Mixed Method Approach

Cities must address many challenges including air quality, climate change and the health and wellbeing of communities. Public authorities and developers increasingly look to improve these through the implementation of interventions and innovations, such as low traffic neighbourhoods, deep housing retrofits and green infrastructure. Monitoring the impacts of interventions is essential to determine the success of such projects and to build evidence for broader urban transformation. In this paper we present a mixed-method cross-disciplinary approach that brings together cutting edge atmospheric and data science, measurements of activity in public spaces and novel methods to assess wellbeing-promoting behaviours. The Manchester Urban Observatory focuses on living areas that have a high density of inter-related systems, which require observation, understanding and intervention at multiple levels. This must be completed in line with urban planning goals as well as a clear and succinct data solution that allows robust scientific conclusions to be made and viewed in real time. Delivery of such a monitoring strategy is not trivial and is time, resource and expertise heavy. This paper discusses the methods employed by the Manchester Urban Observatory to monitor the effectiveness off interventions implemented within cities and effective communication strategies with local communities.

The Involvement of Business Elites in the Management of Homelessness: Towards a Privatization of Service Provision for Homeless People?

Although the influence of local urban elites on urban planning is well established in urban studies and geography, the ways in which business and property owners take part in the management of homelessness has received far less attention. This article focuses on Portland (OR) in the United States as a means of understanding the motivations that underlie the role of the private sector and its impact on public policies. To this end, I focus on the support by Portland's downtown Business Improvement District of homeless outreach programs, and on the funding of two homeless shelters by business elites / philanthropists. I argue that although public authorities have different views on the actions to be taken to end homelessness, business elites often manage to bring initially-reluctant public authorities to support their projects in what might be termed a forced-march cooperation. I also highlight the versatility of the private sector and business elites’ participation in homelessness management, given that the outreach programs they support and the homeless facilities they fund provide services for the homeless while simultaneously removing them from visible public space. In this sense, the involvement of business and property owners is also a way for them to protect their own interests.

Normative acts in the system of national tax security provision

The subject. The article characterizes the role of Russian Constitution, federal laws and bylaws in ensuring tax security.The purpose of the article is to identify legal norms that ensure the tax security of the state, and to confirm the hypothesis that such norms hat such norms are effective in systemic interaction.The methodology. The author uses methods of system analysis of scientific papers devoted to the provision of various types of security. Formal logical and legal interpretation of Russian regulatory legal acts is used also.The main results. Regulatory documents in the field of tax security can be classified into: the Constitution of the Russian Federation at the highest level; program documents (conventions, strategies, charters, concepts, programs, doctrines, standards, directives) as acts of the first level, the legislation of the Russian Federation and its constituent entities is at the second level; departmental regulatory legal acts are at the third level. The law on security should be an act of direct action that determines the content of the management activities of public authorities to ensure security by fixing its goals, principles, the most general forms and means of implementation. The basis of legal provision of tax security at the legislative level should be defined in the federal law on security as well as in the federal law "On Tax Authorities of the Russian Federation" (in intra-governmental relations context because tax authorities are the main subjects of tax administration) and in the Russian Tax Code (concerning relations between public administration bodies and private entities). Any draft legislative acts affecting issues of tax relations and economic management should be examined for compliance with national interests in the field of tax security and the effectiveness of minimizing threats. Each legislative act should take into account the implementation of the goals and principles of ensuring tax security (as well as other types of security) enshrined in the concept document. Such expertise is possible in the process of approving draft laws by the Russian Government as well as when registering relevant bylaws by the Russian Ministry of JusticeConclusions. The Russian Constitution should consolidate a unified approach to the essence of security as a whole. Legislative acts (first of all, the laws on security, on tax authorities, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) should provide for the main directions of countering threats to tax security arising in the relevant areas of regulation. By-laws and regulations are designed to fix specific managerial ways of dealing with such threats.

Increasing the prestige of local self-government bodies and the effectiveness of activities should begin in the process of studying at the university

The subject of the research are the materials of judicial practice (texts of court decisions and information sources, the content of information about the results of court hearings), data from sociological surveys.The purpose of the article is to identify the relationship between the knowledge of municipal law, local self-government or urbanism obtained during training at a university and subsequent professional activities related to local self-government carried out at different levels of public authority.The methodology. A comprehensive methodology was used, including legal and sociological research methods. Formal legal, legal technical and comparative legal were used among the legal methods. The sociological methods include the method of expert survey and the method of content analysis, which makes it possible to reveal the real position of the respondent, if he wants to disguise it not only the positions expressed, but also the words actually used were analyzed. The most repeatable ones were identified with the help of special software products.The main results, scope of application. Quite significant amendments were made to the Russian Constitution in 2020. One of the novels concerns a unified system of public power, the inclusion of a new term in the text of the constitution. The implementation of these novels in the legislation on local self-government is expected after the completion of the formation of the updated composition of the Federal Assembly. For this, it is necessary not only to reveal the term itself and list the levels of public authority, but also to establish new principles of their relationship, incl. in a sense, uniform standards, rules and requirements for state and local authorities. One of the possible consequences of this may be an increase in the prestige of work in local self-government bodies, a change in attitudes towards work in local self-government bodies.Conclusions. The analysis of the materials of law enforcement practice, the data of opinion polls on trust in local self-government bodies, attitude to the results of the work of local self-government bodies and their officials show that of all levels of government the municipal level is least trusted. Unfortunately, such an attitude begins to form in the process of training future employees of public authorities at different levels.

Digital profile: the concept, regulatory mechanisms and enforcement problems

The subject of the research is the legal nature of the digital profile of a citizen, as well as a set of legal norms regulating digital profiling relations in Russia.The comparative method, the method of system analysis, as well as the method of legal modeling are used in the article.The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that legal regulation is not the only mechanism for regulating relations in the field of digital profiling.The main results, scope of application. The article studies the phenomenon of digital profile, the main approaches to the digital profiling as well as the circumstances that have caused the state's interest in digital profiling. The creation and operation of a digital profile should be aimed at achieving the goal set out in the legislation. The digital profile is a set of relevant, reliable information about individuals and legal entities formed in the unified identification and authentication system or other information systems of state and local government authorities. The formation of a digital profile is carried out in order to provide data to authorities, legal entities and persons who have requested access to this information through the digital profile infrastructure. The analysis of the Russian legal regulation of relations in the field of digital profiling is presented, the problems of enforcement practice are identified. The analysis revealed the main differences between the digital profile and related categories, including social scoring, the unified population register and others. The comparison of a digital profile with a digital avatar and a digital character was carried out. It is extremely important to pay close attention to the problems of digital profiling both at the level of fundamental and applied scientific research. At the state level, it is important to strategically determine what a digital profile is, as well as formulate the main directions of the digital profiling development, challenges and risks. The importance of the development of digital profiling for unified system of public authorities in the Russian Federation is outlined.Conclusions. The analysis of the emerging practice of digital profiling in contemporary society shows that legal regulation does not always allow us to keep up with the rapidly developing relations in this area. The possibility of using other mechanisms should be considered. The use of mechanisms of regulatory experiments can also be considered as special mechanisms for regulating relations in the field of digital profiling. The goal of the research has been achieved, the legal nature of the digital profile has been revealed, approaches to regulating this phenomenon in the conditions of digital transformation have been proposed.

The role of legal responsibility in the implementation of the principle of the unity of public authority in Russia

The subject. The article presents a comprehensive general theoretical analysis of the institution of legal responsibility and its role, taking into account the consolidation of the new constitutional and legal principle of the unity of the system of public power.The purpose of the research is to confirm or disprove hypothesis that it is necessary to legislate a full-fledged mechanism of legal responsibility of state bodies and local self-government bodies in order to implement the constitutional principle of the unity of public power.Methodology. The formal legal method, the method of comparative legal analysis, dialectical method and systemic approach were used.The main results, scope of application. The authors found the manifestation of dualism in the work of the institution of legal responsibility. It consists in the ability to bear responsibility both to the state, in connection with various offenses, and to the population itself. A brief description of the loss of trust as a basis for the responsibility of officials is given, taking into account contemporary legislation. Directions for the further development of this legal institution are highlighted. The article examines the opinion of the Russian Constitutional Court on the legitimacy of using the loss of trust as a basis for the responsibility of public authorities. The article examines the normative legal acts, which fix the mechanism for the implementation of the principle of maintaining trust in the activities of the authorities on the part of society. For example, in relation to state civil and municipal employees, a prohibition has been established on statements about the activities of authorities and their assessment, if such actions are not included in the list of their official duties. Such a mechanism for maintaining public confidence in the work of government bodies should contribute to strengthening the unity of the public power system. At the same time we can talk about the existing trend towards a decrease in the level of public confidence in the work of authorized bodies exercising public authority. The corruption and bureaucratization of the activities of officials, the expansion of the powers of law enforcement agencies, a decrease in the independence of the political opposition are pointed to among the possible reasons most often. In this regard, the paper proposes expanding the grounds for responsibility when implementing the procedure for recalling an official.Conclusions. It is necessary to consolidate a full-fledged legislative mechanism of legal responsibility of state bodies and local self-government bodies, which will contribute to the implementation and strengthening of the new principle of the unity of public authority.

Public administration in Russia as a subject of administrative procedure

The subject. Doctrinal approaches that reveal the place and role of public authorities, as well as organizations performing the functions of these authorities in the administrative process carried out in the Russian Federation, the principles and norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, administrative procedural legislation that form the legal basis of the administrative process in Russia.The purpose of the article is scientific substantiation of the integration of non-judicial bodies carrying out the administrative procedure into a special subsystem of public power, called public administration in the Russian Federation.The methodology. Formal logical and dialectical methods as well as private scientific methods such as method of interpretation of legal norms, method of comparative jurisprudence were used.The main results, scope of application. The article reveals the scientifically based content of the integrative approach to understanding the administrative process in contemporary Russia, taking into account the norms of the Russian Constitution and the analysis of existing doctrinal developments of administrative scientists. The article substantiates the structure of the administrative procedural legislation of the Russian Federation ant it’s constituent entities, which includes the judicial administrative process and the executive (non-judicial) administrative process implemented by the public administration (executive authorities, local self-government bodies, other administrative and public bodies). Administrativeindicating legal norms are distinguished, the analysis of which allows us to reveal the content, form, structure of the judicial administrative process and the executive (extra-judicial) administrative process, as well as to establish an integrative relationship between them with the help of such special categories as “judicial administrative case”, “extra-judicial administrative case”, “administrative proceedings”, “administrative proceedings”. A number of key proposals are put forward to systematize the judicial administrative process and the executive (extrajudicial) administrative process in Russia on the basis of developed scientific positions. The article reveals the question of a scientifically based theory for understanding the administrative and public functions of public administration, as well as the system and structure of public administration in modern Russia.Conclusions. The presented integrative approach to understanding the administrative process and its differentiated systematization for the judicial administrative process and the executive (non-judicial) administrative process are the only true way to develop the Russian model of administrative process. The question of the need to systematize the administrative and public functions implemented by the public administration is raised. It is proposed to develop and adopt a federal law “On Public Administration in the Russian Federation”, the authors substantiate the content of the structure of this law.

The Factors of Constitutional Support for the Rule of Law in the System of Public Authorities

The article examines the factors that ensure the constitutional provision of the rule of law in the system of public authorities. The aim of this study was to analyse the factors that ensure the constitutional provision of the rule of law in the system of public authorities. The constitutional design provides for the creation of rational structures for the functioning of public authorities, which should ensure democratic standards, economic development, anti-corruption policy by implementing the principles of the rule of law. The study used data on indicators that describe the state of the rule of law (Rule of Law Index), democracy (Democracy Index) and corruption (Corruption Perceptions Index). Methods of graphical comparison, scattering diagrams, classification of countries by categories were used. A graphical model of the dependence of the rule of law on the development of democracy and perceptions of corruption for 25 European countries is built on the basis of these factors. It is proved that the studied indicators are dependent: countries with a high Rule of Law Index (high level of restrictions on the powers of government institutions, protection of fundamental rights, law enforcement, security) have a high Corruption Perceptions Index (high level of anti-corruption) and Democracy Index. It is concluded that it is necessary to develop the constitutional provision of the rule of law by strengthening democratic values, improving economic growth and competitiveness, increasing control over corruption. Further research should analyse the impact of rule of law factors in low- and middle-income countries.

The BIM-Based Building Permit Process: Factors Affecting Adoption

Public organizations responsible for building permits are increasingly considering the potential applications of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in their workflows, but BIM adoption still remains a complex challenge. This research aims to investigate the factors affecting BIM adoption for building permits through a case study of a public organization currently developing and piloting a BIM-based building permit process. A thematic analysis of semi-structured interview data revealed ten factors that influence BIM adoption for building permits: complexity (in both development and use) of a BIM-based building permit system; relative advantages/disadvantages of BIM for building permits; the existing building permit system; management support for a BIM-based building permit process; organizational culture; BIM awareness; training and learning; available expertise for a BIM-based building permit process; external pressure; and legal context. The findings are important for public authorities’ understanding of both the enablers and challenges of the BIM-based building permit process, and have practical implications for professionals in public authorities in particular, and also the Architecture Engineering Construction/Facilities Management (AEC/FM) industry in general, to guide their steps towards adopting BIM. This research also highlights the potential benefits of BIM adoption for the building permit process.

Development of Pharmaceutical Nanomedicines: From the Bench to the Market

Nanotechnology plays a significant role in the field of medicine and in drug delivery, mainly due to the major limitations affecting the conventional pharmaceutical agents, and older formulations and delivery systems. The effect of nanotechnology on healthcare is already being felt, as various nanotechnology applications have been developed, and several nanotechnology-based medicines are now on the market. Across many parts of the world, nanotechnology draws increasing investment from public authorities and the private sector. Most conventional drug-delivery systems (CDDSs) have an immediate, high drug release after administration, leading to increased administration frequency. Thus, many studies have been carried out worldwide focusing on the development of pharmaceutical nanomedicines for translation into products manufactured by local pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical nanomedicine products are projected to play a major role in the global pharmaceutical market and healthcare system. Our objectives were to examine the nanomedicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in the global market, to briefly cover the challenges faced during their development, and to look at future perspectives. Additionally, the importance of nanotechnology in developing pharmaceutical products, the ideal properties of nanocarriers, the reasons behind the failure of some nanomedicines, and the important considerations in the development of nanomedicines will be discussed in brief.