Unearthing the political: differences, conflicts and power in participatory urban design

This paper aims to advance the development of participation in urban design from a substantive standpoint. It departs from a prevailing focus on ideals of participation and describing participatory methods and processes. Instead, the paper stresses the need to acknowledge 'the political' nature of public spaces and how this challenges participatory urban design processes. This leads to a substantive exploration of differences, conflicts and power in the planning and design of public spaces, i.e., unearthing the political. The case of a participatory process in a neighbourhood of Barcelona illustrates the theoretical discussion. This helps bring forward a much-needed critical and reflective, rather than idealistic, theorization and practice of participation in urban design

Social processes in the production of public spaces

Within urban design there is increasing interest in the close relationshipbetween social, economic and political processes and the production of public spaces. Thisrelationship, however, often remains abstract and is rarely illustrated in empirical studies.This paper introduces an institutionalist understanding to the production of public spaces,whereby emphasis is placed on the analysis of structuring forces and actors as a way toapprehend the complexity of the social processes guiding and influencing the planning,design and management of public spaces. The institutionalist understanding is illustratedin the case study of an urban renewal project in Barcelona. The results of the case studyshow the contrasts and tensions between the structuring forces and the different actorsoperating in the project, how structuring forces favoured the interest and claims of someactors over those of others, and the potential risks and challenges that this has for the useand value of the public spaces produced by the project

Politicising the landscape: a theoretical contribution towards the development of participation in landscape planning

In this paper, we engage with the topic of public participation in landscape planning. Academic discussions and policy rhetoric tend to build on a conceptualisation of landscape as a democratic entity, yet practices of participatory landscape planning often fall short of these ideals. Most scholars approach this rhetoric-practice gap from procedural and normative positions, defining what makes a successful participatory process. We take an alternative approach, scrutinising the role of landscape planning theory in participatory shortcomings, and reveal how poor substantive theorisation of 'the political' nature of landscapes contributes to the difficulties in realising participatory ideals. We engage theoretically with the political dimension, conceptualising and explaining the implications that differences, conflicts and power relations have for participation in landscape planning, that is, politicising the landscape. This theoretical engagement helps bring about a much-needed realignment of substantive theory, procedural theory and practice for developing participation in landscape planning

Taxonomy, Species Limits, and Phylogenetic Relationships of Anoura Gray 1838 (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

This dissertation addresses several aspects of the diversity and species limits in the nectarivorous bat genus Anoura Gray 1838(Chiroptera: Glossophaginae). Based on morphometric approaches, the current taxonomic arrangement for Anoura includes 8 to 10 species; however, previous taxonomic revisions did not include all closely related species in the genus. In Chapter 1, I investigate the identity of Anoura carishina and its position in the morphospace of the large-bodied Anoura using craniodental and external variables. I analyze traits thought to be diagnostic for these species, including 1) an elliptical Fourier transformation analysis of the shape of the third upper premolar (P4); 2) a comparison of the area of the second (P3) and third (P4) upper premolars; and 3) a comparison of maxillary toothrow angles. I find that A. carishina is morphologically indistinguishable from A. latidens, and that there is broad overlap in morphology between A. latidens and the A. geoffroyi species complex. Overall, results suggest that a stable taxonomy for the group should consider A. carishina as a junior synonym of A. latidens, and that A. latidens is distinguishable from A. geoffroyi. In Chapter 2, I study the species limits of Anourafrom a statistical perspective, based on characters that were generally used to describe species in the genus. I use Gaussian Mixture Models in order to find groups among 581 individual specimens in the phenotypic space defined by 12 cranial and 11 external morphological characters. The morphometric analyses using Gaussian Mixture Models do not support a clear separation within either large-bodied or small-bodied Anoura species. In Chapter 3, I address the phylogenetic relationships within Anoura by sequencing ultraconserved elements (UCEs) and inferring species trees under quartet-based methods and multispecies coalescent models. Phylogenetic analyses obtained four main well-supported clades supporting the monophyly of the proposed large- and small-bodied species complexes within Anoura, the monotypic status of A. caudifer, and the invalidation of A. aequatoris and A. peruana as independent species. This dissertation presents a thorough taxonomic revision, providing a dichotomous key and the most complete phylogenetic hypothesis to date for Anoura

Navigating swift and slow planning: planners' balancing act in the design of participatory processes

Pressing sustainability challenges and increased influence of neoliberal ideas in planning have resulted in strong demands to 'speed up', and increase efficiency in, planning processes. Meanwhile, the reported risks that such emphasis on speed have for participatory decision-making and continuous calls for increased deliberation in planning, following the ideas of communicative planning theory, suggest that planning processes ought to 'slow down'. These dual pressures for swift and slow planning have been discussed within Nordic planning studies as an 'either-or' tension by which decision-making processes are either swift yet exclusive and technical-based and/or market-driven or participatory and deliberative but time-consuming. This paper provides insights into how deliberative planners navigate the double pressure for swift and slow planning in the design of participatory planning processes. It is based on a case study in Uppsala, Sweden where demands for swift decision-making and for participation following deliberative ideals were noticeable. The case study shows planners striving in different ways to balance the contradicting demands for swift and slow planning through their process design choices. These findings provide inspiration to reimagine the deliberative turn in planning as a 'balancing act' between equally important demands for participation and deliberation, and for faster and more efficient planning

Geophysical mechanisms of columnar joint formation in volcanic rocks: case studies in Colombia

ilustraciones, diagramas, fotografías, mapas, tablasLa formación de patrones es una propiedad natural de los sistemas dinámicos no lineales, estos sistemas tienden a autoorganizarse en patrones espacio-temporales, cuyo estudio puede darnos una idea de la física subyacente. Las juntas columnares son uno de los ejemplos más fascinantes de patrones en la naturaleza. En todo el mundo existen innumerables ejemplos de macizos rocosos y depósitos con juntas organizadas en columnas y polígonos. Esta tesis presenta observaciones, tanto cualitativas como cuantitativas, de trece afloramientos de lavas con disyunción columnar en Colombia. La configuración de las articulaciones en estos macizos rocosos permitió identificar facies de columnatas y entablamentos, y al describir las características morfológicas que presentan las columnas, Se pudo inferir que el mecanismo de enfriamiento predominante en la formación de las columnas corresponde al enfriamiento asistido por fisuras. A partir de mediciones directas en campo y con procesamiento computacional de fotografías, se calcularon las variaciones relativas de los parámetros geométricos: longitud lateral, área promedio y ángulo interno; para establecer las relaciones entre el grado de regularidad o desorden, y la falta de homogeneidad de los tamaños, y se relacionaron con el grado de madurez de evolución de los patrones. Se estableció que la relación entre el tamaño medio de la racha y la longitud media de los lados de las columnas para los datos en los afloramientos en Colombia está entre el 5% y el 20%, lo que concuerda con los resultados de estudios previos y de experimentos y modelos controlados análogos en mezclas de almidón. Se encontró que los números de Péclet para los datos están en el rango 0.28-0.41. Para las facies de columnatas, la composición química total de la roca (contenido de SiO 2) muestra una correlación positiva con la longitud lateral de las columnas. (Texto tomado de la fuente).The formation of patterns is a natural property of non-linear dynamic systems, these systems tend to self-organization in space-time patterns, the study of which can give us an idea of the underlying physics. Columnar joints are one of the most fascinating examples of patterns in nature. Around the world there are countless examples of rock masses and deposits with joints organized in columns and polygons. This thesis presents observations, both qualitative and quantitative, of thirteen outcrops of lavas with columnar disjunction in Colombia. The configuration of the joints in these rocky massifs allowed the identification of colonnade and entablature facies, and by describing the morphological features that the columns present, it was possible to infer that the predominant cooling mechanism in the formation of the columns corresponds to cooling assisted by cracks. From direct measurements in the field and with computational processing of photographs, the relative variations of the geometric parameters were calculated: side length, average area, and internal angle; to establish the relationships between the degree of regularity or disorder, and inhomogeneity of the sizes, and were related to the degree of maturity of evolution of the patterns. It was established that the relationship between the mean streak size and the mean length of column sides for the data in the outcrops in Colombia is between 5% and 20%, which agrees with the results of previous studies and of Analogous controlled experiments and models in starch mixtures. It was found that the Péclet numbers for the data are in the range 0.28-0.41. For the colonnade facies, the total rock chemical composition (SiO2 content) shows a positive correlation with the side length of the columns.Incluye anexosMaestríaMagíster en Ciencias - Geofísic

Microstructure markets, strategy and exchange rate determination.

The main contribution of this empirical research is to demonstrate that agents’ strategies are important in the exchange rate determination. This research shows that strategic objectives are heterogeneous particularly when they are related to the expectations with respect to volatility. Trading strategies contribute to solving the empirical problem of explaining exchange rates. In this connection, the main research question addresses how far strategies are important in the exchange rates determination. The concept of strategy includes a) the strategic objectives, b) the trading strategies and c) the strategic content (agents preferred variables). This research departs from the Microstructure Markets Models used by Evans (2002, 2010). Unlike the literature, this empirical research includes a survey approach, combined with recently developed techniques in panel time series estimation, such as the Pooled mean-group (Pesaran and Smith 1995, Pesaran and Shin 1999, and Pesaran 2004), and especially the panel second step least squares with time-invariant variables (Panel 2SLS) (Atkinson 2014). The strategic objectives are extracted from the economic literature. Trading strategy characteristics are taken from the strategic management literature, and the strategic content (variables) from the microstructure literature. Among the findings are that: (a) strategic objectives comprise more than the traditional objective ‘profiting from investments’; (b) the effect of planning and learning strategies on the exchange rates is both important and statistically significant; and (c) market homogeneity is related to the strategic information used by market agents

Relación Brasil-Colombia: dinámicas transfronterizas, migratorias y de integración

Brazil-Colombia relationship started in the seventies of the twentieth century despite the consolidation of the border between the two countries in 1934, after the dispute over the city of Leticia, between Colombia and Peru. This context allows us to place a question: How is the development of the migration and the relationship between Brazil and Colombia? From a historical perspective of International Relations, Geography and Political Science and from a review of literature both migration and integration have had their own dynamics. However, from the early 2000s they tend to converge, even though the integration is limited to issues of security and military control of the border. In recent years, although the interactions between the two countries have increased, especially on issues such as migration, trade and common public policy, they are still limited due to poor knowledge of society, tensions generated by foreign countries and the fact that Brazil and Colombia belong to different economic blocs: CAN and MERCOSUR.La relación Brasil-Colombia data de la década del setenta del siglo XX pese a que la consolidación de la frontera entre ambos países sucediera en 1934, posterior a la disputa por la ciudad de Leticia entre Colombia y Perú. Este contexto nos permite situar la pregunta por ¿cómo se ha desarrollado la migración y la integración en la frontera Brasil-Colombia? Indicando, desde una perspectiva histórica de las Relaciones Internacionales, la Geografía y la Ciencia Política y, a partir de una revisión de literatura, que tanto la migración como la integración, han tenido sus propias dinámicas, aunque, hacia la década del 2000 éstas tienden a converger; así mismo, la integración se limita a temas de seguridad y control militar de la frontera. En los últimos años, aunque las interacciones entre ambos países han aumentado en temas migratorios, comerciales y en políticas públicas comunes, éstas aún son limitadas debido al poco conocimiento de la sociedad, las tensiones generadas por países externos y la pertenencia a dos bloques económicos poco dialogantes: la CAN y el MERCOSUR