The Making(s) of an Alternative Urban Policy: What Happens When Free Fares Come to Town?

While many urban policies and practices claim to offer an “alternative” to the “mainstream” of urban entrepreneurialism, they remain under-theorised and prone to alignment with entrepreneurial agendas. In this paper I examine fare-free public transport (FFPT) as a salient example of an alternative urban policy. Looking at Aubagne (France) and Tallinn (Estonia), I explore what happens when an alternative policy “comes to town”. I detect how FFPT enters local urban regimes, and study the (non-)participation of public transport passengers and workers in the decision-making process about whether and how to abolish public transport fares. My analysis reveals that albeit alternative policies such as FFPT seem to oppose entrepreneurialism, they may hinge on urban regimes that span across institutions, leave the local configurations of power unchallenged, and strenghten local elites. The adaptability of alternatives to diverse political and intellectual positions explains their resilience. Consequently, their radical character cannot be taken for granted and remains an object of political struggle.     

Dressed ‘as if for a Carnival’: Solving the Mystery of the Origins of Children’s Fashion. A New Perspective on the History and Historiography of Children’s Dress

The article has a double focus: explaining the so-far obscure origins of children’s fashion in the later eighteenth century and putting its emergence in the context of the ‘grand narrative’ concerning the ‘discovery of childhood’ during this pivotal period. Contrary to Rousseau’s famous dismissal of the hussar suit, the role of ‘fancy dress’ inspiration in the development of children’s fashions for the first time purposefully meant to distinguish the (male) child from the grown-ups and, concurrent with the Enlightenment’s ideas on childhood, emerges as central rather than marginal. The repertory of styles adopted for boys’ wear is shown to have been inspired by various ethnic and historical dress traditions rooted in the fascination with masquerade characteristic of the Rococo culture but harnessed to express the emerging new attitudes. Among them, special attention is given to inspirations by Polish national dress.

Second, the article takes on the argument presented by Daniel Thomas Cook in his inspiring article in Textile History, 42, no. 1 (2011). Having acknowledged the foundational role of fashion history in the emergence of childhood studies, Cook regards its present status as peripheral. He dismisses the underlying premise of its principal ‘grand narrative’ as based on a fruitless distinction between utility (and functionality) and fashion rather than the invention or discovery of the ‘child’ and ‘childhood’. While partially accepting Cook’s criticism, the article argues that the ‘grand narrative’, thus modified and expanded, retains its usefulness. In the nineteenth century, the ‘fancy dress’ and ‘playfulness’ theme continued, reflected in the most popular children’s styles (sailor suit, Little Lord Fauntleroy suit) and a range of others, temporarily or locally prominent, and intertwining with multifarious cultural, artistic, social and commercial developments.     

The first fossil record of Nandeva Wiedenbrug,Reiss & Fittkau (Diptera: Chironomidae) in early Eocene Fushun amber from China

Gi?ka, W., Zakrzewska, M., Baranov, V., Wang, B. &; Stebner, F., May 2016. The first fossil record of Nandeva Wiedenbrug, Reiss &; Fittkau (Diptera: Chironomidae) in early Eocene Fushun amber from China. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518

The first fossil representative of the extant chironomid genus Nandeva Wiedenbrug, Reiss &; Fittkau, 1998 Wiedenbrug, S., Reiss, F. &; Fittkau, E.J., 1998. Nandeva, gen. nov., a new genus of Chironomini (Insecta, Diptera, Chironomidae). Spixiana 21, 59–68. [Google Scholar] is described based on a specimen found in early Eocene (50–53 Ma) Fushun amber from China. The adult male of Nandeva pudens sp. nov. has the long RM vein as a continuation of M and R₄₊₅, the bare squama, the strongly reduced anal area of the wing and hypopygial characters typical of extant species of the genus. Following the systematic concept based on adult male morphology and characters examinable in fossil specimens, we present N. pudens as a possible member of the Tanytarsini, arguing that Nandeva is part of this tribe or a possible sister group to the tribe. This is the first record of Nandeva from the Palaearctic region.

Wojciech Gi?ka [wojciech.gilka@biol.ug.edu.pl] University of Gdańsk, Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland; Marta Zakrzewska [marta.zakrzewska@biol.ug.edu.pl] University of Gdańsk, Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Parasitology, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland; Viktor Baranov* [baranov@igb-berlin.de] Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany; Bo Wang? [bowang@nigpas.ac.cn] Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing 210008, PR China; Frauke Stebner [frauke.stebner@uni-bonn.de] University of Bonn, Steinmann-Institute, Section Palaeontology, Nussallee 8, 53115, Bonn, Germany. *Also affiliated with Humboldt University of Berlin, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Geography Department, Rudower Chaussee 16, 12489 Berlin, Germany. ?Also affiliated with Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Zoology, Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Beijing 100101, PR China.     

Combined pollen and macrofossil data as a source for reconstructing mosaic patterns of the early medieval urban habitats – a case study from Gdańsk,N. Poland

Plant macrofossils, pollen, fungal spores and other non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs), were analyzed in three archaeological exposures established in a small area in the oldest part of the historic city of Gdańsk. One of the aims was to investigate how precisely the combined pollen and macrofossil data may reflect the diversity of local habitats within an urban archaeological site and to compare the range of information obtained using each of the methods separately. The other aim of the study was to reconstruct the environmental conditions in the earliest occupied area of the historic centre of Gdańsk. The repeatable composition and, in many points, consistency among pollen and macrofossil data in all three profiles strongly suggest that the apparently biased structure of these fossil remains in fact reflects a mosaic pattern of the vegetation in the area of the site. The combined pollen and macrofossil data enabled separation of local elements from those transported to the site by different means. The results show that already at the beginning of the 12th c., the area was almost totally deforested, but up to the mid-13th c. the settlement organization was still relatively loose, resembling a rather rural structure with well-developed ruderal plant communities and patches of semi-natural vegetation. At the coring area, strongly eutrophic riparian vegetation was bordering patches of dry grassland on a sandy holm. The large proportion of pollen of various entomophilous plants mostly from meadows and pastures is explained as a result of the presence of dung, as confirmed by the abundances of coprophilous fungal spores. The study indicates that parallel pollen and macrofossil analysis is essential for correct interpretation of fossil assemblages. Application of both methods enables broadening of the range of remains representing various organisms and obtaining more precise tools for environmental reconstruction and better understanding of the taphonomic processes at the archaeological site.     

The results of thermoluminescence dating in the Halych IIC (Ukraine) profile as the expression of the conditions of mineral material deposition

Many studies conducted in the last few years in Poland indicate that the results of thermoluminescence dating of loess are reliable and correspond well to their geological ages. They can form the basis for determination of the chronology of changes of palaeoenvironmental conditions. In this paper we report dating results from the Halych IIC profile (Halych Prydnistrov’ja region, Ukraine). Thermoluminescence dating of this profile gives new information about the influence of local conditions on the results of TL analysis. As much as 75% of the obtained results are distinctly overestimated, even by several hundred per cent, that is untypical of regional loess profiles. However, in the Halych Prydnistrov’ja region it is the second loess site in which such incompatibility of the expected age and thermoluminescence age is found. This fact indicates how this region is unique among the loess areas of SE Poland and NW Ukraine in respect of the conditions of mineral material transport and deposition. Further investigations are necessary to identify the reasons for regular overestimating of the TL results obtained for loess deposits of the Halych Prydnistrov’ja region.