Scrutinizing the link between participatory governance and urban environment management. The experience in Arequipa during 2003-2006

[EN] This paper conceptualises participatory governance as a process of deepening local democracy through the opening of new spaces for civil society and citizens' participation. It explores the link with the urban environment planning and management processes as proposed by UN-HABITAT's SCP/LA21 programmes.To this end, an analysis of the Urban Environment Management Support Strategy in Arequipa (Peru) promoted by UN-HABITAT and UNEP in 2003-2006 is undertaken to examine how Local Agenda 21 can contribute to institutionalise participatory governance processes which deepen democratic management of sustainable human development in cities. Methodologically, this is made by applying Gaventa's (2006) participatory governance approach in the case study with extensive fieldwork carried out in the city.According to that, conclusions are drawn in three different areas. Firstly, the participatory process itself and the role of the working groups, the use of objective data, the connection with citizens and some issues concerning facilitation. Secondly, the analysis goes inside accountability and explores the conflictive link between political action and negotiations which take place within a participatory planning process. Thirdly, the paper discusses institutionalisation and the importance of capitalising previous experiences and existing networks with a particular emphasis on the ones related to environmental education and training. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.This research has received financial support of Centro de Estudios para América Latina y la Cooperación Internacional (CeALCI) at Fundación Carolina.Peris Peris, J.; Acebillo-Baqué, M.; Calabuig Tormo, C. (2011). Scrutinizing the link between participatory governance and urban environment management. The experience in Arequipa during 2003-2006. Habitat International. 35(1):84-92. doi:10.1016/j.habitatint.2010.04.003849235

5th Generation mobile networks: a new opportunity for the convergence of mobile broadband and broadcast services

© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] This article analyzes the challenges and opportunities that the upcoming definition of future 5G mobile networks brings to the mobile broadband and broadcast industries to form a single converged network. It reviews the state-of-the-art in mobile and broadcast technologies and the current trends for convergence between both industries. This article describes the requirements and functionalities that the future 5G must address in order to make an efficient and flexible cellular-broadcasting convergence. Both industries would benefit from this convergence by exploiting synergies and enabling an optimum use of spectrum based on coordinated spectrum sharing.The authors would like to thank the funding received from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation within the Project number TEC2011-27723-C02-02.Calabuig Gaspar, J.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Gómez Barquero, D. (2015). 5th Generation mobile networks: a new opportunity for the convergence of mobile broadband and broadcast services. IEEE Communications Magazine. 53(2):198-205. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2015.7045409S19820553

Safety on the roads: LTE alternatives for sending ITS messages

© © 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.This article discusses different alternatives for sending intelligent transportation systems (ITS) messages using long-term evolution (LTE) networks. Specifically, it compares the unicast and evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) transmission modes by means of system-level simulations and a cost modeling analysis. The optimum configuration of the eMBMS carrier is studied for the case of ITS services. This article also includes some recommendations on the configuration of the ITS server in charge of distributing safety messages as well as on its interaction with the mobile network operator (MNO). The results show that eMBMS is significantly more efficient in terms of resource consumption than the unicast mode, implying an important reduction of the delivery costs.Calabuig Gaspar, J.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Gozálvez, D.; Klemp, O. (2014). Safety on the roads: LTE alternatives for sending ITS messages. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine. 9(4):61-70. doi:10.1109/MVT.2014.2362272S61709

Map-Based Channel Model for Urban Macrocell Propagation Scenarios

The evolution of LTE towards 5G has started and different research projects and institutions are in the process of verifying new technology components through simulations. Coordination between groups is strongly recommended and, in this sense, a common definition of test cases and simulation models is needed. The scope of this paper is to present a realistic channel model for urban macrocell scenarios. This model is map-based and takes into account the layout of buildings situated in the area under study. A detailed description of the model is given together with a comparison with other widely used channel models. The benchmark includes a measurement campaign in which the proposed model is shown to be much closer to the actual behavior of a cellular system. Particular attention is given to the outdoor component of the model, since it is here where the proposed approach is showing main difference with other previous models

Cooperative Spectrum Sharing of Cellular LTE-Advanced and Broadcast DVB-T2 Systems

The allocation of parts of the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band to International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) technologies on a co-primary basis with terrestrial broadcasting technologies has been the major change in worldwide spectrum allocation in recent years. Nowadays, thanks to the Second Generation for Terrestrial Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-T2) and the Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) technologies a new model of cooperation between cellular and broadcasting systems arises, where the cellular network can use of broadcast spectrum using time multiplexing. This paper proposes the cooperative spectrum sharing of DTT spectrum between DVB-T2 systems and LTE-A cellular networks by means of the use of DVB-T2 FEF for LTE-A analyzing the potential benefit.Calabuig Gaspar, J.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Gómez Barquero, D.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2013). Cooperative Spectrum Sharing of Cellular LTE-Advanced and Broadcast DVB-T2 Systems. Transaction on IoT and Cloud Computing. 1(1):1-16. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/46750S1161

Map-based channel model for urban macrocell propagation scenarios

[EN] The evolution of LTE towards 5G has started and different research projects and institutions are in the process of verifying new technology components through simulations. Coordination between groups is strongly recommended and, in this sense, a common definition of test cases and simulation models is needed. The scope of this paper is to present a realistic channel model for urban macrocell scenarios. This model is map-based and takes into account the layout of buildings situated in the area under study. A detailed description of the model is given together with a comparison with other widely used channel models. The benchmark includes a measurement campaign in which the proposed model is shown to be much closer to the actual behavior of a cellular system. Particular attention is given to the outdoor component of the model, since it is here where the proposed approach is showing main difference with other previous models.This work was performed in the framework of the FP7 project ICT-317669 METIS, which is partly funded by the European Union. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of their colleagues in METIS, although the views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the project.Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Inca Sánchez, SA.; Calabuig Gaspar, J.; Martín-Sacristán, D. (2015). Map-based channel model for urban macrocell propagation scenarios. International Journal of Antennas and Propagation. 2015(172501):1-5. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/172501S15201517250

Los discursos de la accountability en el sistema de cooperación español

La puesta en marcha de procesos recientes como el de la mejora de la eficacia de la ayuda, que tiene en la Declaración de París de 2005 su principal instrumento, hace que desde los ámbitos más oficiales de la cooperación al desarrollo se planteen principios como los de apropiación, armonización o mutua accountability, como aquellos que deben regir las intervenciones de cooperación y las relaciones entre donantes y países socios. Este trabajo se sitúa en el marco de este contexto actual internacional, dentro del esfuerzo llevado a cabo desde la cooperación española para la mejora del sistema de cooperación. Su objetivo es profundizar en los distintos discursos sobre accountability de los diferentes actores del sistema de cooperación internacional español y examinarlos a la luz de las distintas interpretaciones teóricas sobre la rendición de cuentas en el desarrollo.Boni Aristizábal, A.; Peris Blanes, J.; Hueso González, A.; Acebillo Baqué, M.; Mcgee, R.; Calabuig Tormo, C. (2010). Los discursos de la accountability en el sistema de cooperación español. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/5804

La geografia a les aules: quin és el seu espai?

L'ensenyament de la geografia a les aules, tant a primària com a secundària, topa amb una sèrie de contradiccions que en fan necessari un profund replantejament. La formació del professorat i els màsters de formació, la predominança dels historiadors entre els professors de geografia, el seguiment dels llibres de text, la visió de la geografia com a ciència descriptiva, la pèrdua de continguts de la matèria al batxillerat i de pes específic a les PAU, el propi examen de les PAU, la lluita de les universitats per no perdre estudiants dels graus de geografia, els currículums i el nou model competencial... són els temes que aborda aquesta taula rodona a través de diferents visions, des de mestres de primària a coordinadors de la formació del professorat de secundària, passant per la percepció dels alumnes.Teaching geography in the classrooms, both in primary and secondary education, clashes with a series of contradictions that require a profound rethinking. Those are: teacher training and teacher training masters; the overwhelming predominance of historians among professors of geography; textbooks and the predominant vision of geography as a descriptive science; the reduction of geography contents in secondary education and its specific weight in the PAU (university access exams), or the PAU exam itself, the struggle of the universities not to lose students in geography degrees, the curricula and the new competence model… This paper summarizes the results of a round table around all these topics with contribution of different views from primary teachers to coordinators of secondary school teacher training, including the perception of students.La enseñanza de la geografía en las aulas, tanto en primaria como en secundaria, choca con una serie de contradicciones que hacen necesario un profundo replanteamiento. La formación del profesorado y los másters de formación, el predominio de los historiadores entre los profesores de geografía, el seguimiento de los libros de texto, la visión de la geografía como una ciencia descriptiva, la pérdida de contenidos de la materia en bachillerato y de peso específico en las PAU, el propio examen de las PAU, la lucha de las universidades para no perder estudiantes en los grados de geografía, los currículums i el nuevo modelo competencial… son los temas que aborda esta mesa redonda a través de diferentes visiones, desde maestros de primaria a coordinadores de la formación del profesorado de secundaria, pasando por la percepción de los alumnos