Conceptualizing the Co-Existence of Formal and Informal Institutions Within Planning

Conceptualizing the Co-Existence of Formal and Informal Institutions Within Planning Hazem Abu-Orf Faculty of Applied Engineering and Urban Planning, University of Palestine, Gaza, PalestineThe background to this study is addressing how formal and informal institutions might intersect in planning. This article has at its aim addressing not only the effects that formal and/or informal institutions have but also how both shape each other. In fulfilling this aim, analysis in this study adopts qualitative research methods, including qualitative interviewing, direct observation and archival records, which are applied to the Nicosia Master Plan that is considered in this study as a particular case study because it arguably helps this study to fulfill its aims. The perspective of formal/informal ‘dialectics’, marked by a ‘mutual-shaping’ exercise, is applied to this case study. Its application reveals several arguments as follow. First, formal institutions are found in this study to be blocked from mobilizing any development, however, remain the key determinant. The second argument concerns informal institutions that have been found to adopt strategies capable of mobilizing development, nevertheless, these strategies could not obviate the central role of formal institutions. Thirdly, formal institutions formalize informal institutions by ‘absorbing’ the latter into their hierarchy while equally denying any degree of autonomy, nor a role assigned, to informal institutions. Altogether, the findings revealed in this study stress the importance of the political and economic contexts of power that are key to how the formal/informal ‘dialectics’ occur.University of Palestine, www.up.edu.p

Landscapes of fear

Fear is among the most powerful of human feelings. Urban fear, the fear of being victims of crime and violence in urban space, particularly so. Urban fear shapes space and is in turn shaped by space. The relationship between fear and space has been studied in terms of three key dimensions: urban (geo)politics, or the political economies of security; otherness, the way social cleavages (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality) mediate the encounter in urban space; and space, the role of the built environment and (modernist) spatialities and urban planning. In line with the recent affective turn in social and cultural geography, the concept of landscapes of fear has provided a fruitful theoretical instrument to understand the co-constitution of emotions and practices in this field. By connecting the dimensions of (geo)politics, otherness, and space, the mobilization of the concept of landscape has allowed understanding how context-specific, yet trans-scalar, atmospheres of fear are (re)produced at the intersection of political-economic, socio-cultural, and technical factors.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A comprehensive review on rheological studies of sludge from various sections of municipal wastewater treatment plants for enhancement of process performance

Large quantities of sludge is generated from different sections of a wastewater treatment plant operation. Sludge can be a solid, semisolid or liquid muddy residual material. Understanding the flow behaviour and rheological properties of sewage sludge at different sections of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is important for the design of pumping system, mixing, hydrodynamics and mass transfer rates of various sludge treatment units, optimization of conditioning dose and for sustainable sludge management. The current article provides a comprehensive review on up to date literature information on rheological behaviour of raw primary sludge, excess activated sludge, thickened excess activated sludge, mixture of raw primary and thickened excess activated sludge (mixed sludge), digested sludge, and biosolid under the influence of different operating parameters and their impacts on process performance. The influences of various process parameters such as solid concentration, temperature, pH, floc particle size, primary to secondary sludge mixing ratio, aging and conditioning agent doses on the rheological behaviour of sludge from different treatment units of WWTPs are critically analysed here. Yield stress was reported to increase with increasing solid concentration for all types of sludge whereas viscosity showed a decreasing trend with decreasing total solid concentration and percentage of thickened excess activated sludge in the mixture. Temperature showed an inverse relationship with yield stress and viscosity. Viscosity was reported to be decreased with decrease in pH. The effect of various conditioning agents on the rheological behaviour of sludge are also discussed here. The applicability and practical significance of various rheological models such as Bingham, Power Law (Ostwald), Herschel-Bulkley, Casson, Sisko, Careau, and Cross models to experimental rheological characteristics of various sludges were presented here. The reported results on various rheological parameters such as shear stress, yield stress, flow index, infinite, zero-rate viscosity, and flow consistency index of different sludge types obtained from the best fitted model were also compiled here. Conclusions have been drawn from the literature reviewed and few suggestions for future research direction are proposed

Collaborative planning in divided cities : informal communication across a boundary of conflict

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