‘Staying active’ in confined living conditions: participation assessments of young asylum seekers (aged 12–23) in the Netherlands†

This article contributes to the critical literature on child participation discussing the positionings of young asylum seekers (aged 12–23) residing in a Dutch asylum centre. It queries participation as an institutional measure, outlining the informants’ perspectives on the creation of a youth council within the confines of an asylum centre. Contradictions and tensions in the wider societal context, in the asylum centre, and in the functioning of the youth council are identified. They demonstrate the gulf between theory and practice in the fulfilment of children's participation rights. The authors scrutinize concepts such as ‘methodological immaturity’, ‘voice’, and ‘recognition’ and argue for the integration of the perceptions and practices of young asylum seekers through dialogue. This can assist in creating an atmosphere conducive to an ethically responsible and meaningful collaboration with young asylum seekers and adapted policy interventions to enhance participation against an on-going backdrop of insecurity, exclusion, and forced inactivity.     

A stakeholder-based EU territorial cooperation: the example of European macro-regions

In the last decade, European regional policy has faced considerable changes typified by the introduction of the place-based approach with the Barca Report. One of the most prominent changes in European territorial cooperation (ETC), supposedly reflecting this shift, is the development of macro-regions, the dynamic of which are only just beginning to influence policy-making. This paper aims to analyse contemporary styles of ETC under the place-based narrative by identifying characteristics of macro-regional cooperation. Drawing on empirical studies in the Danube, Alpine and North Sea regions, the paper shows that stakeholders’ primary rationale for getting involved is the opportunity for agenda-setting, and the intention to evoke changes in debates and in other stakeholders’ influence. The main argument the paper follows is that macro-regional experiences reveal a crucial dependence on relatively strong stakeholders. With the term ‘stakeholder-based’, the paper draws attention to the importance of stakeholder settings in these new forms of ETC. The paper concludes that conceptualizations of approaches to European regional policies would need to acknowledge the regional differences of stakeholder settings more explicitly, and highlights the need to better acknowledge the implications for political transparency and relative power in agenda-setting.     

Learning to design cultural districts and learning from designing them

Cultural districts are becoming an important field of study to promote a growing number of initiatives for local development. Despite substantial research in this field, knowledge gaps remain, especially with regard to initiatives at supra-urban level. Many policy-makers, funding agencies, local administrators and managers still face important design issues. This paper contributes to the developing body of theory on cultural districts in two ways. Firstly, focusing on concepts from complexity theory, it expands the debate on the conception of cultural districts as complex adaptive systems. Secondly, it highlights the dysfunctional tensions that can arise from conflicting ways of conceiving organizations, organizing and designing among ‘promoters’ and designers. We have been involved for three years in a large project aimed at designing a wide supra-urban cultural district in Italy, financed by a major banking foundation. Adopting an organizational perspective and through participative action research, we develop an explorative case study. Our core argument is that a linear, predictable and deterministic approach to analysis and design presents many limitations for such complex projects, offering learning opportunities from the design experience.     

Spaces of capability: Consumption geographies at an inner‐city university

Inner‐city universities are noteworthy in relation to food provisioning and consumption because of their locations and spatial characteristics. Among 18,500 university students surveyed by Universities Australia in 2017, one in seven reports being unable to eat in regular patterns. This finding suggests that it is important to explore how eating spaces at inner‐city universities intersect with students' eating practices. Ethnographic work conducted over three semesters in Melbourne at RMIT University's city campus revealed that around 100 microwaves installed there were used by students to prepare food in ways that may support regular eating. The research included observations, focus groups, and digital ethnography. Analysis of the findings suggests that the university's eating spaces and their material arrangements are related to students' on‐campus and off‐campus practices. Using both Walker's interpretation of Sen's capability approach—the social practice capability framework—and Schatzki's site ontology, I propose that this relationship produces spaces of capability, encouraging and enabling varied activities such as using leftovers, bulk cooking, and buying discretionary foods less impulsively. The study and its use of the idea of spaces of capability may foster new insights about the ongoing challenge to ensure student wellbeing and to consider the relationship of student wellbeing to broader issues such as sustainable consumption and environmental justice.     

Impediments to a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation: the case of Bagan,Myanmar

The recognition of human rights at stake in and around World Heritage sites has led to an increased interest in the adoption of a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation. This approach is understood to address issues of social justice and enable a more sustainable form of heritage conservation. However, research at the historic and religious site Bagan in Myanmar shows various conceptual, practical and political hurdles that need to be addressed before this approach can effectively be adopted. Challenges can be found on local, national and regional scales and include the interpretation of cultural rights and conflicting rights, the contentiousness of human rights language and the lack of capacity to hold violators accountable. These impediments are relevant beyond Myanmar and demonstrate that the effectiveness of a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation is highly context-dependent.     

Bounded political contestation: the domestic translation of international health and housing rights in Australia

Political contestation within liberal democratic states is an important, albeit limited, guide in defining how these states domestically implement their international human rights obligations. While often ritualistically endorsing human rights standards, political actors allow themselves a limited policy space with their domestic political contest circumscribed by more pervasive influences, often at odds with the state's international commitments. This article examines recent health and housing policy initiatives by Australia's two major political parties and assesses them against its international commitments. Applying a social constructivist approach, this article argues that the dominant neoliberal political discourse and the state's institutional structure set contextual boundaries to the parties’ policy contestation and reveal the limited influence of domestic political contestation in determining Australia's rights implementation.     

中国旅游业国际竞争力综合评价

本文运用定量评价法对我国旅游业国际竞争力进行了综合评价。拙文首先构建了旅游业国际竞争力的评价指标体系,然后确定了各指标体系的权重值,并介绍了指标量化与处理以及综合评价值确定的方法,最后对我国旅游业国际竞争力进行了定量评价与国际比较。以期提高我国旅游业国际竞争力的评价效果,并对深化旅游业国际竞争力理论研究及我国旅游产业政策的制定有所裨益。     

国外旅游的社会文化影响研究进展

旅游的社会文化影响研究在西方开始于20世纪60年代,几十年来积累了大量的研究案例,理论、方法也日臻完善。文章根据国外学者在研究思路、使用方法等方面的不同,把四十年来的研究分为60、70年代的定性描述、片面评价阶段;80年代的细分、量化研究阶段;90年代后的跨学科、多方法相结合阶段,分别介绍了各时期的主要观点、研究方法、重要论著,并进行了简要的分析评价。认为把旅游现象放在大的社会背景中,注重旅游业的特点进行跨学科、综合的研究是今后旅游的社会文化影响研究应该努力的方向。     

Gender-informed archaeology: The priority of definition, the use of analogy, and the multivariate approach

Despite recent efforts to construct gender theory in archaeology, I assert that no methodological or theoretical breakthroughs have occurred. This lack of progress is due to several factors. First, fundamental terms such as “theory,” “gender,” and “sex” have been used inconsistently; I suggest some working definitions for these terms. Second, researchers have resorted to the use of analogical arguments that implicitly deny the role of gender in the organization of human relations. Third, feminist political agendas have been conflated with research questions. In order to address some of these issues, I suggest that the application of a multivariate approach to the study of gender can avoid the problems inherent in any one line of evidence. Finally, I argue that a consideration of the scale of gender questions is essential to the application of existing theoretical frameworks to gender archaeologically.