Institutional use of information technologies in city planning agencies: implications from Turkish metropolitan municipalities

Thesis (Doctoral)--Izmir Institute of Technology, City and Regional Planning, Izmir, 2004Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 175)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxiii, 185 leavesThis study argues the pivotal relationship between the computing technology and its organizational context. It focuses on nature of implementation in organizational settings that are becoming increasingly important. A further motivation point for this study is to reveal the different discourses (managerial/political/emotional etc.) in the cycle of implementation. The assumption behind this interest is that IT and other technologies are not value-neutral and these tools have the possibility of shaping the goals and agenda of the planning profession.As a part of methodology of the thesis, a comprehensive literature survey was completed around the theoretical issues that constitutes the framework of IT/IS adoption in organizations with a particular reference to urban planning and management. The statements and research questions were tested in the planning departments of selected metropolitan municipalities (Ankara, Izmir, and Bursa) that are experiencing information technologies and systems in various implementation stages. The research strategy was based on a variety of qualitative approaches, including two different types of closed questionnaire-based surveys and semi-structured/unstructured interviews. To measure the success/failure degree of the planning technologies used in the case study organizations in the 'user' dimension of the study, DeLone and McLean.s (1992) IS Success Model and Heeks'(1999) ITPOSMO model were used.Case study research revealed the current stands of ICT implementation in urban planning departments of local governments. It was also evaluated planning practitioner.s commitment and dependence towards computerized planning tools in working practice. In a more exploratory context, a progressive research agenda for ICT implementation in public planning agencies was developed based on the implications of empirical research and literature-based analysis

Walking along the lines of power. A systems approach to understanding co-emergence of society, technology and nature in processes of rural electrification

Many African governments, international and local organizations involved in development policy and practice consider rural electrification (RE) to be a priority. In the absence of electric grid infrastructure, rural populations rely on, for example, diesel generators, batteries and solar panels for their electricity supply and on kerosene, wood and charcoal for lighting and heating purposes. Increasingly, renewable energy technologies in small-scale decentralized systems are promoted as a complement or an alternative to the extension of national grids. Large-scale and small-scale RE processes differ in many respects. However, both are troubled by the gap between expected and actual outcomes. This thesis scrutinizes the assumption that ‘electricity brings development’. It shows the importance of asking questions related to the encounter between local societies and externally introduced technology in order to understand how and why RE processes in general, and decentralized RE in particular, unfold in particular ways – with short and long-term consequences for life in rural areas. In this thesis, I bring together socio-technical approaches, philosophical debates on human power and conceptualizations of scale. This allows me to explore RE processes and the points of intersection between society, technology and nature that are important for shaping the outcomes for different actors, and producing certain kinds of development. Together, these perspectives help us see how electrification processes are inherently political with on-the-ground dynamics embedded in and influencing more long-term development processes at higher societal levels.The thesis presents a synthesis of four empirical studies and combines broad and general analyses – of Tanzania’s and Mozambique’s energy sectors and RE prospects, and the role of democracy and institutional quality for public electricity provision in African countries – with two case studies of decentralized generation and micro-grid distribution in Tanzania. A fifth paper explores dimensions of scale, which are central to the theoretical and methodological approach of the thesis. The theoretical contribution is an analytical framework for studying processes of system formation in decentralized RE. It can guide further research and assist interdisciplinary communication around the complex challenges involved in RE processes. Furthermore, the thesis develops a conceptualization of the multiple workings of human power in electrification processes, which helps us understand how social inequality is maintained and contested. The conclusion is that even small-scale systems of local generation and distribution can be powerful enough to redirect processes of social and economic change and bring accompanying shifts in social identities, people’s use of and understanding of spaces, and the distribution of material resources.The thesis contributes to existing knowledge by developing conceptual tools for understanding the ‘messy’ human aspects of socio-technical change in relation to technical and ecological elements and processes. For the actors involved in RE processes, the thesis helps illustrate why conflicts of interest can be expected to emerge and where points of friction can occur. These are the points that require the continuous attention of actors involved in order to create positive feedbacks and avoid negative spirals. One of the conclusions is that actors involved in RE processes may contribute to the sustainable functioning of energy systems and positive outcomes by creating processes for dialogue, negotiation and learning

Ecology-based planning. Italian and French experimentations

This paper examines some French and Italian experimentations of green infrastructures’ (GI) construction in relation to their techniques and methodologies. The construction of a multifunctional green infrastructure can lead to the generation of a number of relevant bene fi ts able to face the increasing challenges of climate change and resilience (for example, social, ecological and environmental through the recognition of the concept of ecosystem services) and could ease the achievement of a performance-based approach. This approach, differently from the traditional prescriptive one, helps to attain a better and more fl exible land-use integration. In both countries, GI play an important role in contrasting land take and, for their adaptive and cross-scale nature, they help to generate a res ilient approach to urban plans and projects. Due to their fl exible and site-based nature, GI can be adapted, even if through different methodologies and approaches, both to urban and extra-urban contexts. On one hand, France, through its strong national policy on ecological networks, recognizes them as one of the major planning strategies toward a more sustainable development of territories; on the other hand, Italy has no national policy and Regions still have a hard time integrating them in already existing planning tools. In this perspective, Italian experimentations on GI construction appear to be a simple and sporadic add-on of urban and regional plans

Making choices? The lives of vocational college students in China

Vocational education in China is failing to meet the need for upskilling its workforce to support the country’s rapid industrial growth and this is impeding its ability to compete (Stewart, 2015). Recent policy changes to address this problem reflect government concerns (State Council, 2019a; 2019b). Since the start of the Reform Era in 1978, vocational education has been politically and financially neglected in favour of university expansion (Klorer and Stepan, 2015, p. 4). In China, vocational education is seen as inferior to academic routes (Yang, 2004; Zha, 2011) and positioned at the bottom of the educational hierarchy (Mok, 2001, Stewart, 2015). Vocational students are stereotyped as ‘stupid and lazy’ and suffer considerable prejudice in Chinese society (Woronov, 2015). Drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data, this study investigates the lived experiences of vocational youth in China, their capacity for individual choice, and their aspirations. The primary research question for this project is: How are young people in China exercising “personal agency” in their educational and career choices within the existing social and educational structure? The quantitative data for this study comes from the responses to a small-scale questionnaire survey of vocational education students in two colleges in northern China. The qualitative data was gathered through 8 focus group and 18 interview sessions conducted in these two colleges. Additional interviews were also carried out with four teaching staff. Data was gathered on the students’ choice-making processes, their opinions of their current vocational colleges and programmes, their perceptions of future employment opportunities, and their thoughts on the prevalent stereotyping against them. The findings are analysed and discussed utilising a theoretical framework which draws on three lenses: the individualisation thesis, a Foucauldian perspective, and Marxist political economy. Each with its own unique theoretical attributes, the lenses are utilised to make sense of the findings and inform our understanding of the relationship between personal choice-making and structural pressures within the context of the neoliberal influences on China since the end of the 1970s. The findings reveal that for vocational youth, individual agency has been manufactured and governed with the aid of the mechanisms of examinations and performativity to produce neoliberal subjects. “Choosing” to attend vocational colleges on leaving secondary education can be regarded as a passive response to the increasing demand for educational credentials in China’s Reform Era. Once at the colleges, the students received only fragmented skills training and lacked the confidence and skills readiness to envisage long-term career progression. They were further burdened with the “vocational student” label, which is of itself pejorative, and serves to remind them it is their own failure that renders them unable to gain any sense of worth. This group of young people are managed through a meritocratic system which only values academic routes. The agency of the vocational students—their capacity to make choices and take responsibility—has been constructed and managed to meet the needs of the neoliberal market and China’s export-oriented economy. The Chinese government has been strengthening the focus on vocational education over the past few years to meet a different need now which is to upskill the workforce (State Council, 2017). There is a dissonance between this goal and the neoliberal effects of the Reform Era which has produced vocational students not valued by society and lacking in self-worth

Designing Data Spaces

This open access book provides a comprehensive view on data ecosystems and platform economics from methodical and technological foundations up to reports from practical implementations and applications in various industries. To this end, the book is structured in four parts: Part I “Foundations and Contexts” provides a general overview about building, running, and governing data spaces and an introduction to the IDS and GAIA-X projects. Part II “Data Space Technologies” subsequently details various implementation aspects of IDS and GAIA-X, including eg data usage control, the usage of blockchain technologies, or semantic data integration and interoperability. Next, Part III describes various “Use Cases and Data Ecosystems” from various application areas such as agriculture, healthcare, industry, energy, and mobility. Part IV eventually offers an overview of several “Solutions and Applications”, eg including products and experiences from companies like Google, SAP, Huawei, T-Systems, Innopay and many more. Overall, the book provides professionals in industry with an encompassing overview of the technological and economic aspects of data spaces, based on the International Data Spaces and Gaia-X initiatives. It presents implementations and business cases and gives an outlook to future developments. In doing so, it aims at proliferating the vision of a social data market economy based on data spaces which embrace trust and data sovereignty

Extractive Industries

"New initiatives recognize that resource wealth can provide a means, when properly used, for poorer nations to decisively break with poverty by diversifying economies and funding development spending. Extractive Industries: The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development explores the challenges and opportunities facing developing countries in using oil, gas, and mining to achieve inclusive change. While resource wealth can yield prosperity it can also, when mismanaged, cause acute social inequality, deep poverty, environmental damage, and political instability. There is a new determination to improve the benefits of extractive industries to their host countries, and to strengthen the sector's governance. Extractive Industries provides a comprehensive contribution to what must be done in this sector to deliver development, protect often fragile environments from damage, enhance the rights of affected communities, and support climate change action. It brings together international experts to offer ideas and recommendations in the main policy areas. With a breadth of collective insight and experience, it argues that more attention must be given to the development role of extractive industries, and looks to the future to explain how action on climate change will profoundly shape the sector's prospects.

U.S. GAAP Financial Statements Best Practices in Presentation and Disclosure, 2016/17, 70th edition; Accounting Trends & Techniques

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/aicpa_att/1099/thumbnail.jp

Environmental and territorial modelling for planning and design

Between 5th and 8th September 2018 the tenth edition of the INPUT conference took place in Viterbo, guests of the beautiful setting of the University of Tuscia and its DAFNE Department. INPUT is managed by an informal group of Italian academic researchers working in many fields related to the exploitation of informatics in planning. This Tenth Edition pursed multiple objectives with a holistic, boundary-less character, to face the complexity of today socio-ecological systems following a systemic approach aimed to problem solving. In particular, the Conference will aim to present the state of art of modeling approaches employed in urban and territorial planning in national and international contexts. Moreover, the conference has hosted a Geodesign workshop, by Carl Steinitz (Harvard Graduate School of Design) and Hrishi Ballal (on skype), Tess Canfield, Michele Campagna. Finally, on the last day of the conference, took place the QGIS hackfest, in which over 20 free software developers from all over Italy discussed the latest news and updates from the QGIS network. The acronym INPUT was born as INformatics for Urban and Regional Planning. In the transition to graphics, unintentionally, the first term was transformed into “Innovation”, with a fine example of serendipity, in which a small mistake turns into something new and intriguing. The opportunity is taken to propose to the organizers and the scientific committee of the next appointment to formalize this change of the acronym. This 10th edition was focused on Environmental and Territorial Modeling for planning and design. It has been considered a fundamental theme, especially in relation to the issue of environmental sustainability, which requires a rigorous and in-depth analysis of processes, a theme which can be satisfied by the territorial information systems and, above all, by modeling simulation of processes. In this topic, models are useful with the managerial approach, to highlight the many aspects of complex city and landscape systems. In consequence, their use must be deeply critical, not for rigid forecasts, but as an aid to the management decisions of complex systems