Temporary organisations and spatial embeddedness of learning and knowledge creation

It is the overall aim of this article to investigate theoretically how spatial embeddedness of learning and knowledge creation might be challenged by alternative organisational forms (i.e. temporary organisations). The article presents development coalitions as an alternative to projects as a form of temporary organisation. They are potentially able to combine the promotion of radical change with collective and localised learning, thus eliminating some of the characteristic shortcomings of project organizations with regard to collective learning and transfer of knowledge.     

Network Governance and Policy Integration—the Case of Regional Coastal Zone Planning in Norway

Integrated coastal zone management is characterized as a complex management situation, demanding integration across geographical borders, different policy sectors and levels of government. In Norway, the county municipalities are encouraged to take responsibility for achieving integration through regional coastal zone planning. Inspired by literature on network governance, the authors elaborate on how integration capacity might depend on an open and inclusive planning process and on the importance of conditions influencing the actors' perceived payoffs from participation. The result indicates that central actors benefiting from cooperation are more important in explaining the integration capacity, than the characteristics of the planning process itself. This illustrates the importance of the distribution of power and interdependencies among the actors in such processes.     

The social contract of artists in the era of cultural industries

The aim of this paper is to analyse the growing emphasis on the concepts of the experience economy, creative industries, and cultural industries as ways in which the social contract of artists is negotiated. What expectations are directed towards the artistic profession and how is the contribution of artists to society and their work conditions constructed by these concepts? The paper applies the concept of social contract from the sociology of professions which enables a focus on the artistic profession not only in an internal arts world perspective, but also in a broader societal frame. The study presented was carried out in a Norwegian context. Empirically, the paper is based on 28 applied research reports.     

Confronting institutional boundaries to public participation: a case of the Danish energy sector

Although public participation has become an integrated part of planning practice, experience and documents literature still document difficulties in implementing participatory planning processes that provide arenas where citizens can truly influence planning. Based on a combination of institutional theory and action research methodology, this paper focuses on the institutional boundaries to introducing participatory practices by exploring openings and closures to the adoption of participatory planning processes by the Danish energy transmission system operator (TSO). Public participation in the Danish energy sector is characterized by complex institutional arrangements. The study shows how institutional boundaries are perceived by planners and how openings and closures can be identified and developed in an action research approach. The study reveals that citizen involvement has the potential to influence existing power structures but is highly challenged by an instrumentialised and sector-divided planning.     

SPATIAL ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND INTRA‐METROPOLITAN TAX COMPETITION

I investigate whether the spatial administrative structure of agglomerations is associated with local business tax rates in core cities of agglomerations. Using data for German municipalities, I define agglomerations based on distances and based on cumulative population densities. The results show that the population share of the core in its agglomeration is positively associated and the number of surrounding municipalities is negatively associated with the tax rate of the core. When municipalities consolidate, the core has the opportunity to increase the tax rate.     

The rarest blue: An exceptional find of lapis lazuli in the polychromy of a funerary portrait from ancient Palmyra

The current interdisciplinary study of a funerary portrait has provided the first identification of a blue pigment on Palmyrene sculpture. The exceptional attestation of lapis lazuli on the examined portrait confirms the use of this highly valuable semiprecious stone in ancient polychromy, which was previously thought to be a later addition to the painter's palette. Considering that the archaeological record contains numerous minor objects carved from lapis lazuli, there are astonishingly few known instances of its use as a pigment. This Palmyrene discovery is only the third known example from Antiquity.     

Russia’s energy relations with China: passing the strategic threshold?

This article examines Russian energy policies toward China over the past decade as reluctant engagement changed into a priority energy partnership. From 2008 to 2016 Russian and Chinese companies signed several major oil and gas agreements, a period in which Moscow reassessed China as a future energy consumer and lifted bilateral cooperation to a new level. The article utilizes the strategic partnership concept as an analytical framework and finds traditional realist concepts and hedging inadequate for this particular case. The study illuminates Russian geopolitical considerations and acceptance of vulnerability, which combined make long-term Russian energy policies more China dependent. Officially, Russia seeks diversification among Asian energy buyers, but its focus has increasingly been on China. Western sanctions imposed in 2014 for Russia’s role in Ukraine accelerated this trend. Moscow’s energy policies toward Beijing with its pipelines and long-term agreements are permanent arrangements that resemble strategic partnership policies. China is eager to increase energy relations with Russian companies, but Beijing also ensures that it does not become too dependent on one supplier. Russian concern over its increased dependence on China in the East is deemed secondary to expanding Russia’s customer base beyond the still-dominant European market.