Quantifying lexical usage: vocabulary pertaining to ecosystems and the environment

A recent development in corpus linguistics has been the integration of critical discourse methodologies, which allow in-depth contextual and qualitative analyses, with corpus linguistic methodologies, which allow broader quantitative analyses. Our study is a contribution to this approach. We present the methods used in a study of vocabulary pertaining to the environment, undertaken as part of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment. A clear and replicable methodology was developed and applied to three custom-built specialised web corpora and a reference web corpus; automatic analysis of collocations found using the Sketch Engine was complemented by manual analysis; and a small-scale replicability check was carried out to ensure that investigator divergence was minimal. We outline the approach and some of the key findings, and we also suggest areas for further refinement/investigation. </jats:p

Challenging the 'view from nowhere': citizen reflections on specialist expertise in a deliberative process

This paper presents analysis of citizen encounters with specialists in a deliberative process, called Deliberative Mapping, which explored options for addressing the shortage of organs for transplantation in the UK. There is a rich theoretical literature about the extent to which citizens are competent to question the knowledge claims of specialists in complex decision-making processes, suggesting the trustworthiness of scientific expertise will depend on the qualities of social interaction in face-to-face dialogue, but little empirical analysis of specific encounters. This paper presents evidence of how citizens located specialist expertise in making judgements about the legitimacy and credibility of specialist knowledge claims, in ways that reflect differences in epistemic procedures valued by the panels of men and women in this process. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Transition pathways to a low carbon economy: Linking governance patterns and assessment methodologies

This paper describes work being undertaken as part of an interdisciplinary project on transition pathways to a low carbon economy, bringing together insights from engineers, social scientists and policy analysts. The project is examining the plausibility of different transition pathways for a low carbon energy system in the UK, under different governance patterns, in relation to both centralised and decentralised systems for meeting energy service demands. It uses a conceptual and analytical framework combining the multi-level transitions perspective of landscape, regime and niche levels, with more detailed analysis of the technological feasibility and social acceptability of the pathways. The research uses an interpretative frame based on an „action space‟ of governance patterns relating to the mix and balance of actions led by three sets of actors in central government, in liberalized markets and in civil society. In order to evaluate these pathways, the project team is employing a „toolkit‟ of techniques to explore and evaluate specific implications of the selected transition pathways to a highly electric, low carbon economy. These aim: to provide a transparent sustainability appraisal framework (economic, social, environmental and technical benefits) for the transition pathways; to explore and evaluate the „whole system‟ implications of the selected transition pathways. This paper highlights how these assessment tools will be used to explore the implications of different governance patterns in relation to the transition pathways

Mapping deliberation: calculation, articulation and intervention in the politics of organ transplantation

This paper reflects on the aims and outcomes of an innovative methodology of participatory technology appraisal, called Deliberative Mapping, which seeks to contribute to theoretical debates and practical experimentation around what it might mean to bring the technosciences into democracy. Deliberative Mapping is a hybrid methodology, involving both calculative and deliberative processes, which seeks to map the entanglements of biotechnological imbroglios, and translate these connections into the contexts of decision-making. Through application to the case study of organ transplantation, these procedures of calculation and articulation are critically examined, exploring their aim to reduce asymmetries between scientific, political, economic and other framings of the issue and their operation in contexts already complexly structured through existing power relations, which indicate the challenge of co-fabricating these experimental forms of intervention into political facts

The violent frontline: space, ethnicity and confronting the state in Edwardian Spitalfields and 1980s Brixton

This article discusses in comparative terms the relationship between space, ethnic identity, subaltern status and anti-state violence in twentieth century London. It does so by comparing two examples in which the control of the state, as represented by the Metropolitan Police, was challenged by minority groups through physical force. It will examine the Spitalfields riots of 1906, which began as strike action by predominantly Jewish bakers and escalated into a general confrontation between the local population and the police, and the Brixton riots of 1981, a response to endemic police harassment of mainly Caribbean youth and long-term economic discrimination in that area of South London. It will begin by dissecting the association of physical metropolitan space with the diasporic ‘other’ in the Edwardian East End and post-consensus South London, and how this ‘othering’ was influenced both by the state and the anti-migrant far right. It will then interrogate the difficult relationship between the Metropolitan Police and Jewish and Caribbean working class communities, and how this deteriorating relationship exploded into in extreme violence in 1906 and 1981. The article will conclude by assessing how the relationships between space, identity and violence influenced long-term national and communal narratives of Jewish and Caribbean interactions with the British state

Conflict and Conservation in Covent Garden

Closure of Covent Garden market in the centre of London posed serious questions regarding desirable redevelopment. As with Les Halles in Paris, .successive proposals gave rise to public protests. Extensive consultation between planners and the public took place after 1973 and, as a result, the 1976 draft plan is much more conservationist than earlier documents. Public participation has been slow and expensive but it has shown that residents want additional local services in order to support their, community and prevent the area emptying at night if the residential function were to be replaced by commercial developments. Unless residents and planners can agree to work together to conserve and enhance the district, there is a very real threat that Covent Garden may become just like any other central city area.Conflit et conservation à Covent Garden. — La fermeture du marché de Covent Garden, dans le centre de Londres, pose des questions importantes quant à l'utilisation de l'espace libéré. Comme pour les Halles à Paris, des propositions successives ont été l'objet de protestations de la part du public. Une grande concertation entre les aménageurs et le public donne, comme résultat en 1976, un plan bien plus conservateur que les premiers documents. La participation du public a été lente et coûteuse, mais elle a montré que les résidents veulent un renforcement des services proches et empêcher la désertification nocturne au cas où la fonction résidentielle serait supplantée par la fonction commerciale. A moins que les résidents et les aménageurs ne puissent travailler ensemble pour préserver et rénover le quartier, il y a un risque que Covent Garden ne soit plus rien d'autre qu'un morceau de centre ville anonyme.Burgess Jacquelin. Conflict and Conservation in Covent Garden. In: Espace géographique, tome 7, n°2, 1978. pp. 93-107

Pathways to interdisciplinarity:A technical report exploring collaborative interdisciplinary working in the Transition Pathways consortium

Some of the key issues relating to interdisciplinary research serves not only to provide some conceptual background to these issues, but also to highlight that debates about inter-disciplinarity have been firmly driven from within the social sciences. Given the institutional dominance of academic disciplines, reinforced by successive rounds of Research Assessment, interdisciplinary collaboration in research projects is unlikely to occur spontaneously. The TP consortium emerged from the Sandpit, with engineers, economists and social scientists finding common cause in understanding the dynamics of transition pathways to a low carbon economy, with an electricity focus. The goal is to build on work by UKERC for DTI, using the MARKAL model, and on that undertaken by the Supergen Futurenet project which explored plausible least-cost scenarios for achieving the UK's 60% reduction target by 2050, to develop and explore the dynamics of more detailed transition pathways towards alternative future energy systems

Re-materialising energy use through transparent monitoring systems

This paper reviews the effect of transparent energy monitoring systems on the purchasing, production and energy use behaviour of consumers and producers. Relevant literature is explored on the linkages between feedback, risk and responsibility, knowledge, economic drivers, and sustainable energy consumption. Drawing on international as well as UK-specific experiences, the paper focuses on the prospects for current and future energy monitoring systems to 're-materialise' energy use in economic and environmental terms that are more meaningful, and thus more behaviourally significant, to a substantially wider range of energy users than today's. Appliance labelling, smart metering and carbon footprint analyses are explored as case studies.Household energy use Energy labelling Smart metering