Cultural economy and the creative field of the city

I begin with a rough sketch of the incidence of the cultural economy in US cities today. I then offer a brief review of some theoretical approaches to the question of creativity, with special reference to issues of social and geographic context. The city is a powerful fountainhead of creativity, and an attempt is made to show how this can be understood in terms of a series of localized field effects. The creative field of the city is broken down (relative to the cultural economy) into four major components, namely, (a) intra-urban webs of specialized and complementary producers, (b) the local labor market and the social networks that bind workers together in urban space, (c) the wider urban environment, including various sites of memory, leisure, and social reproduction, and (d) institutions of governance and collective action. I also briefly describe some of the path-dependent dynamics of the creative field. The paper ends with a reference to some issues of geographic scale. Here, I argue that the urban is but one (albeit important) spatial articulation of an overall creative field whose extent is ultimately nothing less than global

Abbazie e paesaggi medievali in Toscana

The volume collects the contributions of the \u27study day’ held on June 16, 2010 at the University of Florence on Abbeys and medieval landscapes in Tuscany, that is, on the forms of the territory that have structured the ways of life in the countryside of our region for centuries. Today an infatuation is observed for that kind of landscape, which is confirmed by a lack of interest for its conservation or for transformations respectful of the rules that produced it. It is therefore appropriate to submit to the historic method a synthetic view of the medieval landscape, from the ancient premises to the economic reasons that led to the monastic and feudal forms, up to the appearance of a new structure appreciated for its useful beauty, in a persistent substratum of mysterious storytelling. Tuscany allows multiple evidence of what actually survives of the pervasive order established in the Middle Ages also for its exemplary literary and iconographic representations, both contemporary and of the medieval times.Il volume raccoglie i contributi della giornata di studio tenuta il 16 giugno 2010 all’Universit\ue0 di Firenze su Abbazie e paesaggi medievali in Toscana, cio\ue8 sulle forme del territorio che hanno strutturato per secoli i modi di vita nelle campagne della nostra regione. Si afferma oggi una infatuazione per quel paesaggio, cui fa riscontro una mancanza di interesse per la sua conservazione o per trasformazioni rispettose delle regole che lo hanno prodotto. \uc8 quindi opportuno presentare, al vaglio del metodo storico, uno sguardo sintetico sul paesaggio medievale, dalle premesse di antica matrice alle ragioni economiche della formazione monastica e feudale fino alla comparsa di un nuovo assetto apprezzato per la sua utile bellezza, in un persistente sostrato di misteriosa affabulazione. La Toscana permette molteplici riscontri di ci\uf2 che effettivamente sopravvive del pervasivo ordine stabilito nel Medioevo anche per le sue esemplari rappresentazioni letterarie e iconografiche, coeve e moderne

Imaging of head and neck lipoblastoma: case report and systematic review

Lipoblastoma is a rare and benign tumour arising from embryonal fat cells, predominantly diagnosed in children younger than 3 years old. The most frequent locations are the extremities and trunk, while the head and neck areas are more rarely affected (10–15% of total cases). Clinically, the most common presentation is a fast-growing painless mass. Ultrasound is the first-line imaging examination, but Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) allows for better definition of the relationships with the adjacent vascular and muscular structures. It can help to identify the lipomatous components, and it is useful for preoperative planning. However, the definitive diagnosis is provided by histopathological examination. Complete surgical excision is the first-line treatment, with a good prognosis in case of total eradication. We report the case of a 7-month-old male child with a rapidly growing mass that had typical radiological features of lipoblastoma

Autonomy under contract: the case of traditional free-range poultry farmers

This article explores the autonomy developed by free-range poultry farmers in their daily work. In this type of livestock production, farmers are linked by a contract to a farmer organization, to which they sell their broilers in exchange for a payment resembling a salary. The farmers do have autonomy in their work, which is framed by a set of prescriptions and rules. As they experience the same constraints, farmers involved in the same production mode develop a collective identity. Relationships of confidence progressively develop between the farmers and their technical staff (veterinary practitioners and production technicians). These good relationships strengthen the collective identity while also enabling the collective work between the three professionals. Veterinary practitioners and production technicians consecutively share some of the constraints and transfer part of their decision-making to the farmers. The latter thereby acquire more autonomy, even in fields apparently out of their reach. We illustrate the latter idea with the example of antimicrobial use. We observe that while strictly supervised by veterinary practitioners, farmers nevertheless manage to get involved in the decision underlying the prescription of antimicrobials