In search of a Mediterranean creativity. Cultural and creative industries in Italy,Spain and Turkey

The Mediterranean region has been increasingly receiving attention in recent years. This is due to the heterogeneity of the countries composing it, which raises several problems in business collaborations, but also unfolds several cross-national economic opportunities among Mediterranean countries. The analysis of cultural and creative industries can be useful to show that this area has many similarities, making intercultural exchange and cross-national economic development possible. This research starts from the comparison of three main Mediterranean countries situated both in Europe and outside, Italy, Spain and Turkey, and aims at highlighting the most striking similarities and differences of their features. The creativity specialization found in this region is alike, which allows us to begin to discuss the idea of a Mediterranean creativity.     

European plans for the smart city: from theories and rules to logistics test case

City evolution is connected to social, economic and technological evolutions. New technologies induce further changes, which are highly innovative, which again affect the urban and territorial systems. The city once again adjusts to new opportunities in relation to information and communications technologies, energy and mobility. In this paper, smart city, configured as a set of interacting systems with people, is focused as a possible model to follow for pursuing sustainability in real cities of the twenty-first century. Three processes are recalled: city development, city planning theories and city rules. Smart city seems to be the convergent point for all processes evolving in European urban areas. Theoretical definitions of smart city are recalled. At the same time, the European Commission is promoting smart city rules for implementation. Moreover, in the last years some local decision-makers implemented specific measures that today can be considered in the class of smart city measures. The objective of the paper is to analyse the European perspectives for smart city, trying to separate the three processes that are strongly integrated, but without formal links. To verify the European smart city approach, a study case concerning city logistics is considered.     

Investigating space-time patterns of regional industrial resilience through a micro-level approach: An application to the Italian wine industry

This paper introduces a new methodology to identify space-time patterns of regional resilience using a micro-level approach. The novel empirical tool combines geographically weighted regression with panel stochastic frontier analysis with endogenous covariates. The analysis is implemented on a panel of farm holdings operating in the Italian wine industry, focusing on the impact of a major institutional change. The results show the effectiveness of the new procedure in identifying geographical clusters of wine producers who reacted to the shock in similar ways. The responses are found to be homogeneous within specific territories and heterogeneous between regions.     

In the shadow of Franz Boas: the Italian Committee for the Study of Population Problems and the physical assimilation of immigrants (1938–1955)

ABSTRACT

Between 1938 and 1955, the Italian Committee for the Study of Population Problems (C.I.S.P.), headed by the world-renowned statistician and demographer Corrado Gini, organized a number of field expeditions in order to empirically verify the influence of the environment on the bodily changes of immigrants (Albanian and Ligurian ‘colonies’ in Italy, and Italians in the U.S.). Based on original archival sources, this article analyses, first, how the C.I.S.P. organized the demographic, anthropological and medical investigations on the physical assimilation of immigrants, by adopting a specific research model inaugurated in 1911 by American anthropologist Franz Boas; secondly, it shows how C.I.S.P. research was conceived, from the very beginning, as a fundamental contribution to the elaboration of an alternative, ‘Latin’ eugenic agenda as well as a form of critical distancing from the launch of the ‘Race Manifesto’, in July 1938.     

Exploring the intellectual structure of creative economy research and local economic development: a co-citation analysis

The aim of the present research is to investigate the intellectual structure of creative economy research (CER) with a bibliometric analysis based on co-citation. Firstly, we try to reconstruct the evolution of academic research on creative economy with particular attention to the themes of regional and local economic development. Secondly, we investigate the community of contributions/actors that contributed to its generation throughout social network analysis. We analyse publications collected from ISI Web of Science, which includes all academic works starting from the seminal contribution of Department of Culture Media and Sport in 1998. Through the analysis of 941 publications produced over 16 years, we investigate the evolution of CER. Then we apply a relational analysis exploring co-citations of ‘disseminators’ and founders’ work’ of CER. Results underline that creative economy may be considered as a successful multidisciplinary paradigm born and developed in English-speaking countries, developed even on a global level, and still in a developmental phase. The internal structure of research appears fragmented in many sub-communities concentrated around some key concepts. Whereas creative class and creative city contribute to the foundation of the field, cultural and creative industries are the most important and recent topic.     

Interpreting Intra-site Spatial Patterns in Seasonal Contexts: an Ethnoarchaeological Case Study from the Western Alps

This paper deals with the ethnoarchaeological analysis of the spatial pattern of artefacts and ecofacts within two traditional pastoral huts (a dwelling and a seasonal dairy) in the uplands of Val Maudagna (Cuneo province, Italian western Alps). The composition of the ethnoarchaeological assemblages of the two huts was studied and compared; point pattern analysis was applied to identify spatial processes mirrored in the interactions between objects; Moran’s I correlogram and empirical variogram were used to investigate the effects of trampling on the displacement of objects on the floor. The results were compared with information provided by the herder who still used the huts. The quantitative and ethnographical data enabled inferences to be made that can help in the interpretation of archaeological seasonal sites. The function of a seasonal site can be recognized, as can the impact of delayed curation on the composition of the assemblage and the importance of the intensity of occupation compared with the frequency of occupation. The spatial organization of activities is reflected in the spatial patterns of objects, with clearer identification of activity areas in intensively occupied sites, and there is evidence for the behaviour behind the spatial segregation of activities. Trampling is a crucial post-depositional factor in the displacement of artefacts and ecofacts, especially in non-intensively exploited sites. From a methodological point of view, this research is another example that highlights the importance of integrating quantitative methods (especially spatial analysis and geostatistical methods) and ethnoarchaeological data in order to improve the interpretation of archaeological sites and assemblages.     

Planning Time: An Emergent European Practice

In the 1960s, a reduction in the time spent at work promised an increase in leisure time. Architects and planners thought that the effects of this could lead to a new form of city. Nowadays, new changes in production, technology and gender relationships de-synchronize the time regime and have fundamentally changed life in cities. Tourism and globalization exchange across the world different cultures of time. In France, the UK, and other European countries time policy is dealing with the problems arising from these changes. This article presents a short overview of time planning in Italy in two main domains: time for care, and city time. It focuses on issues such as the social demand for new shops's and services' opening hours, or how the life cycles of individuals and populations are accommodated in urban spaces. Other problems, usually not thought of in terms of time concerns, such as rehabilitation of blighted areas, historic preservation and traffic flow control, may also be treated through a time approach. Two models of planning process are presented at the end of the paper.     

The Chronology and Taphonomy of the Earliest Aurignacian and Its Implications for the Understanding of Neandertal Extinction

The view that the Châtelperronian is the acculturation of late Neandertals brought about by contact with nearby moderns assumes an age of ca. 40,000 years ago for the earliest Aurignacian. However, the cultural meaning of the dated samples is dubious, either because they were collected from palimpsests containing other archaeological components or because the definition of the associated artifact suites as Aurignacian is not warranted. Wherever sample context is archaeologically secure, the earliest occurrences of the Aurignacian date to no earlier than ca. 36,500 B.P. This is in accordance with the strati-graphic pattern demonstrating the precedence of the Châtelperronian and equivalent technocomplexes of central and eastern Europe, consistently dated by various methods to before ca. 38,000 B.P. Given the Neandertal authorship of the Châtelperronian, it must be concluded that Neandertals had already accomplished their own Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition when the first Aurignacian moderns arrived in Europe. Therefore, such a transition occurred simultaneously and independently among European Neandertals and sub-Saharan moderns, across biological boundaries and irrespective of geographical proximity. This suggests that its causes lie in the domain of social process, not in that of putative biological mutations that would have bestowed symbolism upon a lineage of chosen people.