Municipal Contact Centres: A Slower Approach Towards Sustainable Local Development by E-government

Abstract

It is Swedish government policy to use information and communication technologies to increase sustainability. This has implications for planning and local organization of communities. In the municipalities where most public services are provided, there are growing numbers of local contact centres (CCs) aiming to meet citizens' needs for information and coordination of public services. The CCs localize public services and combine different services into a one-stop practice focusing on needs and demands of individual citizens and their unique situations. The municipalities hereby have to plan for service provision in new ways to meet more individualized needs that are also in line with improved sustainability. CCs are both local offices and advanced services on-line, as e-governmental services. E-government could be considered fast government, but this article aims to turn that obvious first impression upside down and discuss how e-government can slow down and make services more local, personalized and sustainable. Theoretically we take off from a time-geographical modelling of slow processes that has implication for slower, more sustainable development. Based on in-depth case studies of municipal CCs we argue that they are tools towards improved sustainability and localism, and that they are “slowing up” administrative processes. In particular, we point out that e-government has a potential to plan for, and promote, sustainability and slow local development.     

Rethinking on Sustainable Rural Development

Abstract

In many countries, rural areas have shown a new spatial-economic dynamics that have meant a contrast with the traditional urban-rural dichotomy. In particular, the need to use economic-ecological sustainability as a guiding principle for new rural development is a prominent feature. But how will rural areas, sometimes suffering from lack of economic development, peripheral positions and relatively low social well-being be able to face new challenges? Can they be attractive, innovative and developed (“hot spots”) while maintaining their sustainability and continuity? This question was the background in conducting our research. Hence, this study aims to answer this question in three steps, namely (i) offering a contemporary overview, (ii) identifying the critical factors for and (iii) developing a set of sustainable development scenarios. In order to reach our aims, we applied the so-called pentagon model and used multi-criteria analysis, namely regime analysis. The data and information deployed in this study were obtained from field surveys conducted in 60 European and 17 Turkish rural areas. The results show that future choices are different among rural users and between European and Turkish villages. European users seem more consistent about their future and their will while the will of Turkish villages are still more concentrated on economic development rather than sustainable development itself.     

Environment,Technology and Employment: Towards a New Definition of Sustainable Development

This article analyses the interrelations between environment, employment and technology in the process of development. A new concept of sustainable development is introduced which makes a distinction between environmental problems associated with high income levels and technological progress and those related to underdevelopment and technological stagnation. The latter category accounts for a major proportion of environmental problems facing poor agrarian economies which are undergoing a process of forced environmental degradation. It is argued that in these types of economies there is a complementarity between economic development and employment generation and the preservation of the environment. It is further shown that in such economies, where the ultimate causes of environmental degradation may be far removed from the immediate environmental issues, conventional environmental policies may be counterproductive.     

Towards and Integrated Sustainable Development Management Strategy for Torres Strait

Lying between mainland Australia and Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait is a region of high environmental value faced by a plethora of environmental management issues. Although the environment is protected to some extent by the Torres Strait Treaty, the situation is complicated by the desire of the traditional inhabitants for political and economic autonomy and by the involvement of three levels of government, two sovereign nations and a wide range of sectoral interests in environmental management. The failure to extend the moratorium on mining exploration and exploitation of the seabed may act as a catalyst for the development of an integrated and sustainable approach to environmental management in the region. Nevertheless, there are significant constraints which may prevent this. These include the politicisation of environmental issues, lack of effective environmental management at the local level and pressure for the exploitation of natural resources.     

Towards New Paths for Regional and Territorial Development in Rural Areas

Abstract

The aim of this article is to shed some light on issues of territorial development and of rural development and to identify what links and opposes them. Indeed, everything pushes towards joining these two dimensions, which for a long time seemed disconnected. On the one hand, the policies targeting rural areas explicitly include the territorial dimension, while the distinction between rural and urban is getting blurred. In the meantime, decentralization, subsidiarity, the regionalization of agriculture, short circuits and local foods take place in parallel with the generalization of an urban model. Finally, we find that regional sciences are paying increasing attention to rural and agricultural dimensions, while studies concerning rural questions are starting to consider territorial issues. The first section of the article provides a critical presentation and attempts to define and distinguish the notions of development, territory and the rural. The second section addresses questions of regional and territorial development by presenting the main theories and public policies and concludes with a discussion about the possibilities of reconciling the theories and the policies. The third section follows the same structure, applied to the question of rural development, from analyses to grass-roots policies.     

真实性视角下乡村旅游经济可持续开发研究

作为推进新农村建设的重要经济力量,乡村旅游经济如何在快速发展过程中实现可持续竞争力的维持与提升已经成为地方政府经济管理过程中关注的焦点。本文基于对旅游真实性文献的回顾与分析,认为保持与宏扬真实性是旅游体验的根源与旅游开发的要义,据此,从多元层面,着重探讨了真实性在乡村可持续旅游经济开发中的作用机理,从真实性出发,有针对性地提出了促进乡村旅游经济发展的若干管理策略。     

The Politics of Economic Diversification: Reconceptualizing the Rural Informal Sector in South-east Tanzania

This study examines how economic diversification is changing a Tanzanian village under economic liberalization. More specifically, it asks how different wealth groups are able to incorporate income-generating activities into their livelihood strategies. The conclusion is that while diversification (as a division of labour) is advanced at the village level, it appears that different activities enhance the division of the village into segregated cultural spheres and increase economic differentiation. At village level the diversity of income-generating activities reduces any single line of economic dependency either on the state or on market actors.     

Aboriginal Councils and Natural Resource Use Planning: Participation by Bargaining and Negotiation

While the Federal and Queensland governments promote self-management and self-determination policies, many Queensland Aboriginal Councils are still unable to participate fully in the development planning processes that affect their land and marine resources. Aboriginal Councils are often over-worked, under-resourced and inappropriately structured, limiting their control over natural resource use planning in their own communities and participation in regional development planning processes. This has serious implications for the long term future of Aboriginal communities. Thus, in line with recent developments in planning theory, this paper outlines the need to assist Aboriginal Councils to bargain effectively and to negotiate with government agencies and resource developers.     

A European Programme for Skills to Deliver Sustainable Communities: Recent Steps Towards Developing a Discourse

Arguments about the need to improve “skills for sustainable communities” have emerged recently in the context of debates around spatial and territorial polices for the EU. This debate has been driven by the UK government as part of its contribution to framing debates around what should follow on from the European Spatial Development Perspective. A programme to shape spatial policy discourse around a skills agenda within EU policy circles was mounted, with considerable UK government support, and this paper explores the success of this attempt, using concepts familiar within environmental policy discourse analysis. We suggest that the attempt met with some success, but achieved a lower level of policy influence than was hoped for, and the paper goes on to examine the reasons for this.     

Food Deserts: Towards the Development of a Classification

Many people in developed countries fail to consume a healthy diet. This phenomenon has been linked to the contested existence of ‘food deserts’ in the UK, and the occurrence of ‘food insecurity’ in the USA and elsewhere. ‘Food deserts’ remain contested theoretical territory at least partly because no firm definition has been proposed. This paper argues that the barriers to consumption of a healthy diet may be classified according to whether such barriers are financial, physical, or derive from the mental attitude and knowledge of the consumer. The perception of ‘unsupportive food environments’ by some consumers is contrasted with the geographical existence of multiple sources of fresh fruit and vegetables in certain locations. Using a total of 234 semi—structured interviews in various UK locations, qualitative evidence is gathered for the existence of at least ten different types of ‘food desert’. The paper then goes on to show how such a three fold classification may be developed, using a modified ternary diagram, to assess the most appropriate initiatives to tackle ‘food deserts’ and to monitor progress in alleviating their effects.     

Estancias of Buenos Aires Province,Argentina: Rural Heritage,Sustainable Development and Tourism

Rural settlements growing crops and rearing animals are known as estancias in several South American countries. They played a prevailing role in the political and economic history of Argentina, particularly during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. At present, many estancias are developing alternative activities, as recreation and tourism, in order to be able to subsist. The main problem lies in the fact that a non‐sustainable activity, frequently focused on the greatest economic yield, leads to the destruction of the heritage, instead of achieving its long‐term conservation. The purpose of this paper is to develop and verify a suitable model for the planning, execution and management of recreational and tourist activities in these rural settlements. As regards the scope of the concept of sustainable development, this methodology aims at achieving a balance between the recreational and tourist operation and the conservation of the rich heritage concerned.     

Meaning in a Changing Context: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Authorial Revision

Summary

In this article, I seek to develop a genetic/diachronic approach to the phenomenon of authorial revision, and to the interpretation of texts that exist in multiple versions. In all such cases, the reconstruction of textual meaning cannot be separated from the reconstruction of the process through which the text in its ‘final’ form came into being; furthermore, an understanding of the author's intentions in (re)writing cannot be entirely separated from an understanding of his/her motives for (re)writing. This article is divided into three sections. In the first section, I consider recent trends in editorial and literary theory that aim at characterising texts in terms of processes rather than products, in order to uphold the equal dignity of each version without losing sight of its connectedness to other stages in the history of the text. In the second section, I discuss how Quentin Skinner's views on meaning and context apply to cases of authorial revision, and I suggest that some key aspects of Skinner's contextualism need to be reconsidered. In the concluding section, I focus on a case study in order to demonstrate the operational value of such a genetic and motive-based approach to authorial revision: more particularly, I seek to show how a close examination of Jean Bodin's rewriting practices in the Methodus (1566–1572) and the République (1576) can throw new light on his shift from a concept of limited sovereignty to one of absolute sovereignty.     

The Evaluation of Regional Innovation and Cluster Policies: Towards a Participatory Approach

The objective of this article is to provide a reply to the following question: What is the most suitable way of tackling evaluation of new regional policies? Regional development has moved today to new arenas. Here, we are discussing learning communities and regions that are able to adapt themselves to the new competitive conditions. SMEs policies at the regional level have also changed. New regional policies devote much of their attention to networks of inter-firm and inter-institutional cooperation - clusters - and to regional innovation systems. As a consequence, evaluation methodologies are also changing looking for more creative ways of assessing the impact of these new policies. In our opinion, participatory evaluation seems to be more appropriate to the specific characteristics of new regional policies and more suitable for sorting out the problems posed by their evaluation. In addition, under this approach, evaluation can turn into a useful tool to mobilize communities for regional action , empower local agents and enhance learning capacity.     

English Regionalization and Sustainability: Towards the Development of an Integrated Approach to Strategic Environmental Assessment

Central to this article is the suggestion that modern planning and development frameworks in England are currently at a potentially productive, although problematic turning point. Whilst on the one hand the UK is attempting to make the legislative and institutional changes necessary to facilitate the process of regionalization and devolution, it is at the same time facing the challenge of ensuring the necessary levels of inter-agency cohesion and integration required for the delivery of the meta-objectives at the heart of sustainable development. Of particular concern for the English regions is the increasing complexity of organizational relations, the fragmentary nature of provisions, the potential mismatch between the need to preserve environmental welfare and at the same time ensure regional economic competitiveness, and more fundamentally, the failure to provide an appropriate mechanism for the evaluation of sustainable development goals. In the light of these challenges, the authors highlight the value of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) as a mechanism for improving the environmental quality of decision-making and make recommendations as to how the regional level of decision-making can provide an effective platform for the development of an SEA system which is capable of reconciling the sustainability conflicts derived from different tiers of decision-making. Within this discussion, suggestions are made as to the manner in which current ideas for introducing sustainability appraisal for Regional Planning Guidance should be amended.     

Participation and Rights in Athenian Democracy: A Habermasian Approach

This article analyzes the actual interaction of private and public immunities in ancient Athens, and argues that ancient democracy echoed to a greater extent than traditionally assumed the general dynamics and normative foundations of deliberative democracy. Without denying the important differences that distinguish ancient democratic Athens from modern democracy, I analyze the Athenian situation in light of Habermas's theory of deliberation, and argue that civic and individual liberties in Athens were democracy-enabling because they undergirded the exercise of collective political power. In Athens, the considerable respect accorded to the rule of law (as distinct from majority rule), legitimated private autonomy and created the circumstances that made collective self-government possible. Thus, this article contradicts the dichotomous approach to liberty held by some of the most prominent critics of Athens such as Isaiah Berlin and Benjamin Constant.     

Relocating Participation within a Radical Politics of Development

In response to (and in sympathy with) many of the critical points that have been lodged against participatory approaches to development and governance within international development, this article seeks to relocate participation within a radical politics of development. We argue that participation needs to be theoretically and strategically informed by a radical notion of ‘citizenship’, and be located within the ‘critical modernist’ approach to development. Using empirical evidence drawn from a range of contemporary approaches to participation, the article shows that participatory approaches are most likely to succeed: (i) where they are pursued as part of a wider radical political project; (ii) where they are aimed specifically at securing citizenship rights and participation for marginal and subordinate groups; and (iii) when they seek to engage with development as an underlying process of social change rather than in the form of discrete technocratic interventions — although we do not use these findings to argue against using participatory methods where these conditions are not met. Finally, we consider the implications of this relocation for participation in both theoretical and strategic terms.