By Any Means Necessary: Urban Regeneration and the “State of Exception” in Glasgow's Commonwealth Games 2014

When compulsory purchase for urban regeneration is combined with a sporting mega‐event, we have an archetypal example of what Giorgio Agamben called the “state of exception”. Through a study of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) on the site of the Athletes' Village for Glasgow's 2014 Commonwealth Games, we expose CPOs as a classed tool mobilised to violently displace working class neighbourhoods. In doing so, we show how a fictionalised mantra of “necessity” combines neoliberal growth logics with their obscene underside—a stigmatisation logic that demonises poor urban neighbourhoods. CPOs can be used progressively, for example to abrogate the power of slum landlords for social democratic ends, yet with the increasing urbanisation of capital they more often target marginalised neighbourhoods in the pursuit of land and property valorisation. The growing use of CPOs as an exceptional measure in urbanisation, we argue, requires urgent attention in urban political struggles and policy practice.     

Panel regression formulas for estimating stature and body mass from immature human skeletons: a statistical approach without reference to specific age estimates

Anthropologists require methods for accurately estimating stature and body mass from the human skeleton. Age-structured, generalized Least Squares (LS) regression formulas have been developed to predict stature from femoral length and to predict body mass in immature human remains using the width of the distal metaphysis, midshaft femoral geometry (J), and femoral head diameter. This paper tests the hypothesis that panel regression is an appropriate statistical method for regression modeling of longitudinal growth data, with longitudinal and cross-sectional effects on variance. Reference data were derived from the Denver Growth Study; panel regression was used to create one formula for estimating stature (for individuals 0.5–11.5 years old); two formulas for estimating body mass from the femur in infants and children (0.5–12.5 years old); and one formula for estimating body mass from the femoral head in older subadults (7–17.5 years old). The formulas were applied to an independent target sample of cadavers from Franklin County, Ohio and a large sample of immature individuals from diverse global populations. Results indicate panel regression formulas accurately estimate stature and body mass in immature skeletons, without reference to an independent estimate for age at death. Thus, using panel regression formulas to estimate stature and body mass in forensic and archaeological specimens may reduce second stage errors associated with inaccurate age estimates.     

Planning the Cultural Quarter in Birmingham's Eastside

Cultural planning and the development of cultural quarters has become a new orthodoxy in the revitalization of inner city industrial districts, yet this orthodoxy is now widely questioned as to whether it delivers on its promises. In Birmingham UK, the aim to create a new cultural quarter in the industrial inner city area of Eastside represents a unique opportunity for the city to examine and learn from past lessons of the “cultural turn” in urban policy. The article examines these lessons and whether the Eastside scheme is set to repeat the mistakes of the past     

Iraqis exiled in Australia since 2003

This article explores the sociopolitical attitudes and behaviours of a sample group of Iraqi refugees who have been granted protection in Australia since the Iraq War of 2003. It looks at whether individuals in the sample are engaged with the political system in Australia, or are disaffected or alienated by it. The analysis shows that a majority of the sample are apathetic to or alienated by Australia's liberal–democratic political system, the very system that is supposed to be their primary means of inclusion. Such findings suggest that, for this particular sample, the political community and system in Australia lack the reflexivity necessary to recognise new forms of political agency. Instead, it fosters sociopolitical conditions that tend to preclude positive settlement outcomes and the emergence of substantive political membership and representation for these individuals.

本文考察了2003年以来在澳大利亚避难的一组伊拉克人的社会政治态度和行为,看他们是介入还是疏离于澳大利亚的政治制度。本文的分析显示,样本组的大多数人对于澳大利亚的自由民主政治制度是麻木或疏离的。而这个制度号称是接纳这些难民的主要津梁。这说明,对于这个样本来说,澳大利亚的政治共同体和政治制度还缺乏承认新政治主体的反省,容易妨碍积极的定居结果,缺少针对这些个体的实实在在的政治参与和代表性。     

‘We’re not very good at soccer’: gender,space and competence in a Victorian primary school

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on findings from a pilot project conducted at an inner city primary school in Melbourne, Australia. Inviting grade six girls and boys (aged eleven and twelve) to focus on spaces of their schoolground, we learned about the ways in which gender, age, ethnicity, language ability and sporting competence influenced active play and belonging. Informed by the understanding that schoolgrounds, gender and active play are socially constructed, and children are active agents in these constructions, the paper examines how girls and boys consider and negotiate spatial politics. The methods of participant-led photography, focus groups and thematic analysis, reveal how children understand gendered spatialities. A strong story emerged of girls’ experience of exclusion from active play spaces in particular, providing a perspective on the spatial and social performance of gender. The findings highlight the value of integrating a spatial analysis of schoolgrounds – and the gendered dynamics therein – for health, education and equity programmes.