El estado de las ciudades del mundo

ONU-Hábitat, es el organismo de las Naciones Unidas para los asentamientos humanos, ayuda a los pobres de las zonas urbanas, transformando las ciudades en lugares más seguros, más saludables y más verdes, que ofrezcan mejores oportunidades y donde todos puedan vivir con dignidad

La vivienda precaria y su repercusión sobre la salud y bienestar de sus habitantes.

La vivienda precaria y su repercusión sobre la salud y bienestar de sus habitante

Understanding the rise of faculty-student coaching: an academic capitalism perspective

We examine the rise of coaching within management education to support student learning. We question the assumption that faculty-student coaching (FSC) is beneficial and propose that there may be some limitations in the use of FSC that have yet to be adequately acknowledged and discussed in the literature. In particular, we propose that there is currently insufficient evidence to conclude that coaching can produce knowledge acquisition and therefore ask why we persist in the use of FSC when we have limited evidence of its efficacy in delivering a core education outcome. We suggest that the theory of academic capitalism provides a useful, critical lens through which to view the growing trend in FSC, identifying that FSC may be utilized as a method of increasing student satisfaction, perceptions of value for money and as a useful marketing tool for business schools competing for students. However, academic capitalism may also explain the use of coaching via its ability to enhance the skills and attitudes of students, providing outcomes that are valued by students, employers and governments. We conclude our essay by providing recommendations to mitigate these proposed dangers and consequently maximise the effectiveness of coaching as a development tool in management education

El fenómeno de la dispersión urbana en la Comunidad de Madrid. Evolución morfológica del tejido urbano de la periferia Nordeste de Madrid 1980-2010 / The phenomenon of urban sprawl in the Community of Madrid. Morphological evolution of the urban fabric

ResumenAl entender que, en la actualidad, los modelos de ciudad, cualquier que fuese su naturaleza, deberían de surgir a partir de la búsqueda de alternativas viables, teniendo presente, ante otros aspectos, el coste ambiental que los modelos de ciudad dispersa suponen, nace el interés por entender los fenómenos que, en primera instancia, han provocado la dispersión de la ciudad sobre el territorio.La presente investigación busca estudiar cómo se ha ido desarrollando el fenómeno de la dispersión urbana en la Comunidad de Madrid, a partir del análisis de la evolución de la morfología urbana de ocho municipios periféricos en concreto, destacando cómo se produjo y cuáles han sido los procesos que conforman su constitución, identificando las formas, tipo de crecimiento y desarrollo urbano de dichos municipios.Como conclusión del proceso de investigación, se plantea de manera comparativa cuáles de los aspectos estudiados han sido determinantes de la actual morfología urbana de los municipios estudiados, mostrando su evolución, y cómo se ha visto afectado tanto el crecimiento, como la utilización del territorio en los mismos. Palabras clave Dispersión urbana, periferia Nordeste de Madrid, morfología urbana.  AbstractComprehending that, in our day and age, city models, whichever their nature may be, must arise from the pursuit of viable alternatives, bearing in mind, amongst other aspects, the environmental costs which these dispersed city models pose, raises interest in understanding the phenomena which, in first instance, have caused the city to disperse upon the territory.The following research explores the development of the phenomenon which is the urban dispersion of the Community of Madrid, while analyzing the evolution of the urban morphology of eight particular municipalities, highlighting how it occurred and what have been the processes that make up its composition, identifying forms, type of growth and urban development of these municipalities.In conclusion of this research process, presented is a comparative epitome of which of the studied aspects have been determinants of the current urban morphology in said municipalities, showing its evolution, and how both its growth and its territorial use has been affected.KeywordsUrban sprawl, Madrid’s Northeast periphery, urban morphology

Leveraging the community of inquiry framework to support web-based simulations in disaster studies

Web-based simulations (WBS) are increasingly used by educators to deliver higher education curricula. Given the growing number and diversity of students undertaking study in higher education institutions worldwide, it is critical that WBS are situated within a wider social-constructivist approach that facilitates community-based learning. To this end, we argue that the community of inquiry (CoI) framework offers a suitable solution. Based on a series of interviews with university educators and emergency management practitioners this paper investigates how the CoI framework can support the effective use of WBS to deliver disaster studies curricula in the higher education context. The findings indicate that purposefully addressing cognitive, social and teaching presence within a CoI is valuable when WBS are used in higher education and emphasise a range of issues that are particular to the use of WBS and the disaster studies context