Urban tourism as a source of contention and social mobilisations: a critical review

Across the globe, there has been a proliferation of manifestations of discontent and protest around tourism-related issues in cities. This points to an increasing “politicization from below” of the impacts of the visitor economy on people and places, which is the result of the quantitative and qualitative transformation of urban tourism, and of the ways in which tourism has been governed (or not) in contemporary cities. This critical review discusses the variety of tourism-related social mobilisations recently witnessed in cities. It distinguishes between multi-focal versus single-issue mobilisations; between those purposefully and primarily focused on tourism and those which have integrated tourism within broader urban struggles; between those with a radical, progressive agenda for urban change versus those primarily defending narrower interests or exhibiting reactionary or hostile characteristics. The paper ends by discussing how urban governance and public policies have responded so far to the conflicts and social mobilisations around tourism

Territorial politics, devolution and spatial planning in the UK: results, prospects, lessons

© 2015 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis.This article critically analyses the debates which have unfolded in the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum of 18 September 2014 concerning the constitutional arrangements of the UK as a plurinational state and the internal governmental structure of England. The debates unfolding in the UK reflect and illustrate two central themes in planning, territorial development and public policy. First, they highlight the contested distribution of power across multiple layers of government in states with an inherited centralized pattern of governance that are now facing strengthening regionalist and nationalist claims. Second, they illustrate the linked growth in the demand for new governance and strategic planning arrangements in large metropolitan areas with fragmented administrative and institutional boundaries. The article first discusses what the outcome of the Scottish referendum (and its aftermath) means for planning in Scotland. It then turns to the debates on devolution in the rest of UK which were stoked in the wake of the referendum, looking at the planning implications of further devolution in Northern Ireland and Wales, and at the possible consequences of the various options currently being aired to solve the ‘English question’. Finally, ongoing debates on decentralization to regions and city-regions in England are briefly considered

Urban tourism as a source of contention and social mobilisations: a critical review

Across the globe, there has been a proliferation of manifestations of discontent and protest around tourism-related issues in cities. This points to an increasing “politicisation from below” of the impacts of the visitor economy on people and places, which is the result of the quantitative and qualitative transformation of urban tourism, and of the ways in which tourism has been governed (or not) in contemporary cities. This critical review discusses the variety of tourism-related social mobilisations recently witnessed in cities. It distinguishes between multi-focal versus single-issue mobilisations; between those purposefully and primarily focused on tourism and those which have integrated tourism within broader urban struggles; between those with a radical, progressive agenda for urban change versus those primarily defending narrower interests or exhibiting reactionary or hostile characteristics. The paper ends by discussing how urban governance and public policies have responded so far to the conflicts and social mobilisations around tourism

Urban tourism and its discontents: an introduction

This chapter examines Belfast, Northern Ireland as a case study in order to analyse how the politics of tourism development intersect with the politics of ethnic conflict in deeply divided cities with histories of violent conflict. Policy-makers began strategizing Belfast's comeback long before the conflict was settled. Protestants, in turn, frame the hardships of their communities in light of the Catholic community's growing financial and political influence. As Baker states, if there is one thing that can be said for sectarianism, it gives meaning to one's life and it is free at the point of entry'. The economic growth that was supposed to undermine ethnic tension has become a driver of the old conflict in a new form. Groups are also attempting to circumvent state constraints by seeking investment from international organizations such as the European Union or the International Fund for Ireland

Spatial planning, nationalism and territorial politics in Europe

The paper explores whether spatial planning, infrastructure, and territorial management issues and policies are an important field of mobilization for nationalist actors in European substate contexts characterized by demands for more autonomy or independence: Scotland, Catalonia and Flanders. It is shown that such issues are sometimes mobilized to support the autonomist or separatist political agendas of substate nationalist parties, but that this varies significantly in the three cases, because of the different political ideologies of each nationalist party vis-à-vis the role of the state and the legitimacy of public policy interventions in private property, land development and market processes

General Principles of Military Organization

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Halogenated organic species over the tropical South American rainforest

Airborne measurements of the halogenated trace gases methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were conducted over the Atlantic Ocean and about 1000 km of pristine tropical rainforest in Suriname and French Guyana (3–6° N, 51–59° W) in October 2005. In the boundary layer (0–1.4 km), maritime air masses, advected over the forest by southeasterly trade winds, were measured at various distances from the coast. Since the organohalogens presented here have relatively long atmospheric lifetimes (0.4–1.0 years) in comparison to the advection times from the coast (1–2 days), emissions will accumulate in air traversing the rainforest. The distributions of methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were analyzed as a function of time the air spent over land and the respective relationship used to determine net fluxes from the rainforest for one week within the long dry season. <br><br> Net fluxes from the rainforest ecosystem have been calculated for methyl chloride and chloroform as 9.5 (±3.8 2σ) and 0.35 (±0.15 2σ)μg m<sup>-2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup>, respectively. No significant flux was observed for methyl bromide within the limits of these measurements. <br><br> The global budget of methyl chloride contains large uncertainties, in particular with regard to a possible source from tropical vegetation. Our measurements are used in a large-scale approach to determine the net flux from a tropical ecosystem to the planetary boundary layer. The obtained global net flux of 1.5 (±0.6 2σ) Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> for methyl chloride is at the lower end of current estimates for tropical vegetation sources, which helps to constrain the range of tropical sources and sinks (0.82 to 8.2 Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> from tropical plants, 0.03 to 2.5 Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> from senescent/dead leaves and a sink of 0.1 to 1.6 Tg yr<sup>-1</sup> by soil uptake). Nevertheless, these results show that the contribution of the rainforest ecosystem is the major source in the global budget of methyl chloride. <br><br> For chloroform, the extrapolated global net flux from tropical ecosystems is 56 (±23 2σ) Gg yr<sup>−1</sup>, which is of minor importance compared to the total global sources and might be already contained in the soil emission term

Halogenated organic species over the tropical rainforest

International audienceAirborne measurements of the halogenated trace gases methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were conducted over the Atlantic Ocean and 1000 km of pristine tropical rainforest in Suriname and French Guyana (3–6° N, 51–59° W) in October 2005. In the boundary layer (0–1.4 km), maritime air masses initially low in forest hydrocarbons, advected over the forest by southeasterly trade winds, were measured at various distances from the coast. Since the organohalogens presented here have relatively long atmospheric lifetimes (0.4–1.0 years) in comparison to the transport times (1–2 days), emissions will accumulate in air traversing the rainforest. The distributions of methyl chloride, methyl bromide and chloroform were analyzed as a function of forest contact time and the respective relationship used to determine fluxes from the rainforest during the long dry season. Emission fluxes have been calculated for methyl chloride and chloroform as 9.4 (±4.0 2s) and 0.34 (0.14± 2s) µg m-2 h-1, respectively. No significant flux from the rainforest was observed for methyl bromide within the limits of these measurements. The flux of methyl chloride was in general agreement with the flux measured over the same region in March 1998 during the LBA Claire project using a different analytical system. This confirms that the rainforest is a strong source for methyl chloride and suggests that this emission is relatively uniform throughout the year. In contrast the chloroform flux derived here is a factor of three less than previous measurements made in March 1998 suggesting a pronounced ecosystem variation. The differences in chloroform fluxes could not be attributed to either temperature or rainfall changes. The global extrapolation of the derived fluxes led to 1.5 (±0.6 2s) Tg yr-1 for methyl chloride, which is in the range of the missing source postulated by previous model studies and 55 (±22 2s) Gg yr-1 for chloroform

3D perception of numerical hologram reconstructions enhanced by motion and stereo

We investigated the question of how the perception of 3D information of digital holograms reconstructed numerically and presented on conventional displays depends on motion and stereoscopic presentation. Perceived depth in an adjustable random pattern stereogram was matched to the depth in holographic objects. The objects in holograms were a microscopic biological cell and a macroscopic coil. Stereoscopic presentation increased perceived depth substantially in comparison to non-stereoscopic presentation. When stereoscopic cues were weak or absent e.g. because of blur, motion increased perceived depth considerably. However, when stereoscopic cues were strong, the effect of motion was small. In conclusion, for the maximisation of perceived 3D information of holograms on conventional displays, it seems highly beneficial to use the combination of motion and stereoscopic presentation