Catalan linguistic policy: liberal or illiberal?

Abstract. This article analyses the discussion, enactment and characteristics of the Linguistic Policy Act adopted by the Catalan Parliament in 1998, from the point of view of current normative political theory. The main theoretical question is whether its provisions promoting the Catalan language are compatible with the liberal political tradition, considering its different streams. The discussion shows that the main arguments are not different from those used by scholars dealing with issues of national and cultural pluralism in Western democratic societies. Thus, the opponents of the Act tend to rely upon various individual rights‐based arguments taken from classical liberalism. Its advocates, on the other hand, accuse them of neglecting the value of cultural membership, asserted by influential authors within the liberal tradition. Ultimately, the article concludes that this law neither promotes nor allows illiberal practices.     

Taphonomy and dispersion of bones scavenged by New World vultures and caracaras in Northwestern Patagonia: implications for the formation of archaeological sites

Scavenger birds can feed on large- to small-sized vertebrates and may contribute in the formation of archaeological sites. To evaluate the modifications and dispersal patterns of bones produced by New World vulture and caracara from Northwestern Patagonia, samples of adult sheep, young sheep, and hare carcasses were offered and subsequently analyzed. New World vultures and caracaras quickly fed on the samples. Taphonomic and bone dispersal patterns suggest two types of accumulations: (1) open-air sites with large and medium-sized vertebrates represented by complete, fractured, scratched, notched, and punctured elements and (2) rock shelter or cave sites dominated by small vertebrates represented by broken, corroded, fractured, and digested elements.     

High-tech development and spatial planning: comparing the Netherlands and Taiwan from an institutional perspective

High-tech development has been broadly accepted as a prominent matter of regional development policies and plans at the global level. Strategies to enhance it have evident implications for spatial planning policies, plans and visions. Consequently, careful attention should be paid to the role that spatial planning policies play in the national and regional efforts to advance high-tech development in a particular place. This study addresses the relationship between the spatial planning system and high-tech development, searching to explain the spatial implications resulting from this relationship. It approaches the topic by comparing high-tech development experiences in the Netherlands and Taiwan from an institutional perspective. Although both countries have used a range of spatial strategies for economic growth through high-tech development, the results show that their different institutional settings, power relations between different levels of government and conceptions of science park have led to the implementation of two very distinct spatial strategies, shaping different spatial patterns of high-tech development clustering in these two regions. The findings demonstrate the potential of the institutional approach to study international planning issues, and contribute to theories of high-tech development and spatial planning.     

The Present State of Research into Industrial Clusters and Districts. Content Analysis of Material Published in 1997–2006

The aim of this work is to help gain a better understanding of the research conducted on territorial agglomerations of firms at a multidisciplinary level. To this end, an analysis was performed of the contents of the most significant scientific literature on economics, management, planning and development, urban studies and geography published over the period 1997–2006. From the results, a database of 142 papers from 43 journals was then elaborated. An analysis of these works reveals the level of development of the main lines of research in this field and, consequently, makes it possible to detect the topics that require greater attention and that can be the object of future research for researchers and academics. The main conclusions include the growing number of studies conducted on the subject in recent years, as well as a greater predominance of empirical research over conceptual work, and the existence of a significant change in the topics or lines of research throughout the period under study.     

Testing micro-regional variability in the Holocene shaping of high mountain cultural landscapes: a palaeoenvironmental case-study in the eastern Pyrenees

Previous research acknowledges the ancient and complex land-use history of European mountainous areas, which are characterised by a remarkable regional variability in terms of human practices and patterns of occupation during the Holocene. However, the combined palaeoenvironmental and archaeological study of highland human management at a micro-regional scale remains a largely unexplored research field, especially in the Pyrenees. A combined pollen, stomata, non-pollen palynomorphs (NPPs) and macrocharcoal study was carried out at three nearby alpine and subalpine peat basins from a relatively small territory (ca.1700 ha) at the Madriu valley (Andorra, eastern Pyrenees), following a fine spatial-resolution strategy. The purpose was to test the suitability of high altitudinal palaeoecological sequences when reconstructing past small-scale land-use variability. The palaeoecological results of those peat records are compared and further integrated with archaeological local data, and together underline the marked complexity of high mountain land-use system over the Holocene period. Main phases of micro-regional land-use and landscape variability can be distinguished from the middle Neolithic to the early Bronze Age and from the Roman Period to the Modern Era. Conversely, several phases of homogeneous landscape management are distinguishable during the early Neolithic, and from the late Bronze to the late Iron Age. Results drawn from this study show that landscape variability is not necessarily connected to topographic or climatic parameters, and underline the role of social, economical and cultural parameters in the land-use organisation and the landscape shaping of high mountain spaces since Prehistory.     

What novice knappers have to learn to become expert stone toolmakers

The aim of this paper was to determine what technical gestures must be learned in order to produce stone tools. To identify these gestures, we compared the performance of expert knappers and complete novices. We hypothesised that the differences between novices and experts would indicate which technical gestures experts had learned to successfully produce stone tools. Participants were video recorded while attempting to produce a crude handaxe. The recordings were analysed according to ethological methods used to study animal and human behaviour. The knapping performance of each participant was segmented and scored into units in order to identify the technical gestures being used. The results showed considerable differences between experts and novices in three technical gestures: the type of percussion support, the position of the blank and the angle of blow. Therefore, these three technical gestures appear to be crucial in learning to knap stone at the level of bifacial stone toolmakers. By studying how modern knappers gradually master these three technical gestures we may begin to understand how stone knapping is acquired, how bifacial stone tools emerged and what cognitive challenges early handaxe makers had to face.     

Sliding Scale of Spaces and Dilemmas of Internationalism

Internationalism of the subaltern classes has a long and tortuous history and different patterns of space and scale management. To think of contemporary social movements, internationalism involves analyzing how different spatial‐geographical levels of resistance are interrelated. Globalization has led to a mutation in the spatial and temporal conditions of political activity and collective protest and thus for internationalist activity. The concept used by Bensaïd of “sliding scale of spaces” seems particularly adequate to deal with the changing and complex geographies of capitalist globalization. Though all scales are not equivalent, internationalism requires the capacity to act in all of them and taking into account this plurality of spaces and their mutual influence. Managing the sliding scale of spaces is then a key strategic element of contemporary internationalism.     

The Role of Universities in Urban Regeneration: Reframing the Analytical Approach

Universities have resources for urban dynamics that are difficult to provide by other means. For this reason, these organizations are crucial actors in urban regeneration. This article sets out a conceptual framework for the analysis of the role played by higher education institutions in urban renewal initiatives. It is based on an integrated analysis of the uses of the university both as promoters of business innovation and in terms of their civic and social outcomes. Urban regeneration of cities in decline is used as a “strategic research site” to understand universities’ potential. The discussion is organized around four types of contributions: physical infrastructure, human resources, economic development and civic engagement. The debate enlightens the options for integrating universities' capabilities as an asset for urban regeneration and sets out implications for the institutionalization of practices and decision-making in this field.     

Fought under the walls of Bergida: KOCOA analysis of the Roman attack on the Cantabrian oppidum of Monte Bernorio (Spain)

As conflict archaeology has matured as a discipline, there have been calls for more unified analytical techniques. Several researchers advocate the adoption of codified analytical and planning concepts used by the United States Army. One of these concepts, KOCOA Terrain Analysis, shows promise as a locational and analytical aid in archaeological contexts. Defining terrain features are identified and categorized according to well-defined terminology, allowing for a detailed analysis of the effects of terrain on military operations. KOCOA’s structure and codification render the concept transferable between researchers and diachronically across different site types. KOCOA has only rarely been utilized outside the United States and only on historical battlefields. The ongoing archaeological research at the Monte Bernorio oppidum (Palencia, Spain) provides an opportunity to utilize KOCOA in a classical, proto-historical archaeological context.