The ICT Revolution: Opportunities and Risks for the Mezzogiorno

The question of the spatial impacts of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has animated intellectual and policy debate for a long time. At the beginning of the 1990s the advent of the Internet brought a new surge of debate: it was argued that the Internet would free the economy from the constraints of geography (Cairncross, 1997), bringing about a more even economic landscape. New opportunities seemed to arise for the poor regions in peripheral areas such as the Italian Mezzogiorno. However, this contrasts sharply with the popular view of, for example, Silicon Valley, a congested area where world-class ICT and high-tech industries cluster together. In theory, geographical agglomeration of economic activities results as an equilibrium solution of a tension between centripetal and centrifugal forces. ICT has the potential to alter the balance between centripetal and centrifugal forces and therefore the final equilibrium solution. Literature shows that, from a theoretical point of view, there are a number of counterbalancing effects rather than a one directional trend. The question therefore begs empirical research. This paper investigates the effect of the ICT revolution on industrial locational patterns across Italian provinces. It shows that the increasing use of ICT in the economy may indeed lead to greater dispersion of economic activity, i.e. less regional disparities. On the other hand, there is evidence that the parallel shift towards more knowledge- and skill-intensive activities might counterbalance this dispersion effect.ICT, Regional cohesion, Convergence

Impact of Cultural Tourism upon Urban Economies: An Econometric Exercise

In recent years, interest in tourism has spread rapidly throughout many small and medium European cities, which previously have not necessarily considered themselves as tourist destinations. Tourism is increasingly seen as a potential lever towards high economic growth, measured both in terms of income and employment. In the present Working Paper we report the analysis on the economic impact undertaken in the framework of the PICTURE Project, showing the results of a novel econometric exercise to statistically assess the impacts of cultural tourism upon European municipalities. More precisely the analysis aims at estimating the effects of tourism specialisation on local income and prices. The Working Paper is built as follows. Section 1 presents and discusses secondary data about tourism facts and figures, including the economic impact of tourism upon European economies, with a focus on cultural tourism. An extensive review of literature, which identifies the main categories of impacts and the currently available methodologies to assess them, is undertaken. Section 2 focuses on the state of the art. Section 3 describes the database built for the analysis, sources and variables. In order to visually represent the spatial variability of the main parameters, a series of thematic maps at NUTS 3 level(“Maps of European tourism”), using GIS (Geographical Information System) are also included in the Working Paper. Section 4 shows the results of the econometric analysis of European panel data for the estimation of the effects of tourism specialisation on both local incomes and prices. Section 5 concludes.Cultural Tourism, Economic Growth

Effects of Tourism Upon the Economy of Small and Medium-Sized European Cities. Cultural Tourists and “The Others”

The paper presents the results of the application of an Input-Output-based approach for the estimation of direct, indirect and induced effects of tourist spending on local economies, in a static partial equilibrium setting. The methodology has been successfully applied in three case studies – Bergen (Norway), Elche (Spain), Syracuse (Italy) –, in the framework of the 6th FP project PICTURE (Pro-active management of the Impact of Cultural Tourism upon Urban Resources and Economies), in order to quantify the monetary impact of cultural tourism upon urban economies. The analysis was carried out in two major steps: firstly, interviews to tourists in each case study city, in order to estimate the scale and variability of the spending patterns of different profiles of visitors (e.g., culture-driven vs. leisure tourists); secondly, application of the Input-Output model of the economy of concern (eventually re-scaling the matrix at the Region or County level) to quantify the effects of tourist expenditure on sales, income and employment for the several impacted economic sectors. Tourists driven by cultural interest are often assumed, in literature, to have a higher than average income and to spend more on holiday. The paper reports the main findings of the analysis, discussing them against the “cultural tourist” stereotype. The analysis aims at assisting local decision makers in identifying the value of different tourist typologies to their region, in understanding how different sectors of local economy and society can benefit from tourism and in determining how to maximise, or more equally redistribute, the positive impact.Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Economic Impacts, Input-Output Analysis

Cultural Diversity and Economic Performance: Evidence from European Regions

We investigate the relationship between diversity and productivity in Europe using an original dataset covering the NUTS 3 regions of 12 countries of the EU15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, former Western Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). In so doing, we follow the empirical methodology developed by Ottaviano and Peri (2006a) in the case of US cities. The main idea is that, as cultural diversity may affect both production and consumption through positive or negative externalities, the joint estimation of price and income equations is needed to identify the dominant effect. Based on this methodology, we find that diversity is positively correlated with productivity. Moreover, we find evidence that causation runs from the former to the latter. These results for EU regions are broadly consistent with those found by Ottaviano and Peri for US cities.Cultural Diversity, Economic Performance, Productivity, Europe

Cultural diversity and economic performance: Evidence from European regions

We investigate the relationship between diversity and productivity in Europe using an original dataset covering the NUT3 regions of 12 countries of the EU15 (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, former Western Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). In so doing, we follow the empirical methodology developed by Ottaviano and Peri (2006a) in the case of US cities. The main idea is that, as cultural diversity may affect both production and consumption through positive or negative externalities, the joint estimation of price and income equations is needed to identify the dominant effect. Based on this methodology, we find that diversity is positively correlated with productivity. Moreover, we find evidence that causation runs from the former to the latter. These results for EU regions are broadly consistent with those found by Ottaviano and Peri for US cities. --

Interdisciplinary approach to evaluate environmental users’ perceived restoration in hospital public spaces

Objective – The study aims to: 1) assess the relationship between the quality of hospital's public spaces expressed in terms of accessibility and visibility of art and greenery and users' restorative experiences; 2) highlight how physical environment may promote health and wellbeing of patients and staff/user. Background – The issue of public spaces in hospitals is very debated today: the direction taken by a few decades is to implement these spaces giving them a humanization feature to promote the well-being of patients and staff. Architectural trends have developed around the creation of halls, mostly glazed, with more volumes appearing, and large dimensions. The importance of restorative spaces as a mediator factor for health outcomes among the users is increasingly recognized. Research questions – 1) Which public spaces are perceived to be more restorative? 2) Does familiarity with a place affect the users’ perception of restoration in hospital public spaces? 3) To what extent does the perception of restoration vary across settings that support similar functions but present varying levels of art and greenery? 4) How does the combined use of Technical Environmental Analysis (TEA) and Observed Based Environmental Assessments (OBEA) measures support our understanding of perceived restoration across different public spaces in hospital settings? Methods – A cross-sectional investigation was performed in seven public spaces of the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital (IT) by adopting TEA and OBEA tools. Technical Environmental Analysis: • Visits on site to evaluate the quality of the space, to assess the presence of artworks and/or greenery and to describe the historicity of the space • Spatial analysis: Space Syntax evaluation parameters (Hillier, 2007) to evaluate the integration of the space (e.g., visibility, accessibility) and to quantify the presence of artworks and green view (% isovist area from key points), performed by Visibility Graph Analysis (VGA) and Isovist Analysis. Observed Based Environmental Assessments: • This type of assessments implies an evaluation of public spaces done by the users (n = 327) (i.e., outpatient, staff, relative, volunteer and social services). Their recruitment was done in place. • Adapted version of the Perceived Restoration Scale (PRS) (1-5 Likert scale). Results – Overall the results seem to suggest that the public spaces had relatively high restorative qualities. However, significant higher perceived restoration was also found for the Medicherie cloister, suggesting that some architectural and natural features affected the result. In order to gain a better understanding of what aspects of the physical environment of hospital public spaces might have had an impact on users’ perception of restoration TEA and OBEA, data were merged together and their interaction was discussed. Conclusion – New insights about the concept of restoration and its interaction with physical characteristics of hospital’s public spaces is put forward. Furthermore, the methodology proposed by linking TEA and OBEA data contributes to a more reliable understanding of the influence that existing buildings might have on users’ well-being.publishedVersio

Ambienti sensoriali “terapeutici” che rendano Abili

People with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) have a particular sensory sensitivity, causing their surrounding environment to affect the quality of life significantly. It is called a “spectrum”, because there is a great variety of behaviours making it difficult to define universal and design criteria. These behaviours do however require a new dynamic and flexible approach, enabling the customization of the feedback to the project. Starting from the study of the specific needs of users, the environmental conditions and the design approaches, this research aims at providing innovative tools to support the design of “therapeutic” environments which could reduce the discomfort and stress related to the person’s enablement, in order to include them in the social community within an integrated life project, concerning “home”, applied living spaces (school, work, day centres...) and emergency conditions with respect to treatments

Sensory Design in the Birth Environment: Learning from Existing Case Studies

Studies have shown how built environments for hospitals can influence psychological and physiological conditions and status for childbearing women. Sensory attributes of birth spaces can enhance comfort, feelings of wellbeing, and, to some extent, clinical outcomes. Recently, some case studies of multisensory rooms for the birth environment have been developed based on, e.g., Snoezelen room examples. The aim of this research is to develop an overview of how sensory aspects for birth environments are designed, used, and tested in current and recent studies. Case studies were selected according to sensory aspect significance, observing space factors, and relationship with the experience and comfort of users (women, partners, midwives). All case studies were analysed to collect information about the design and validation process. The collected data were organised in categories and compared for the selected case studies. Main findings were summarised in tables with the aim of underlining how sensory design processes and projects can positively influence comfort for birthing. Conclusions about how to bring forward the issue of sensory design so that it can be used and applied to support childbearing women is discussed