Elite sport and the new economic development geographies. Comment on “The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sports” by Veerle De Bosscher, Bruno Heyndels, Paul De Knop

De Bosscher, De Knop, Heyndels and van Bottenburg develop an objective methodology for the measurement of success of nations in elite sport contests. After discussing the merits of absolute and relative measures of success, they argue in favour of the latter because controlling for “exogenous macro-influences” such as GDP per capita, population size and political system allows for an evaluation of the effectiveness of national sport policies. I have no problems with the argument in its own ri..

Elite sport and the new economic development geographies. Comment on “The paradox of measuring success of nations in elite sports” by Veerle De Bosscher, Bruno Heyndels, Paul De Knop

De Bosscher, De Knop, Heyndels and van Bottenburg develop an objective methodology for the measurement of success of nations in elite sport contests. After discussing the merits of absolute and relative measures of success, they argue in favour of the latter because controlling for “exogenous macro-influences” such as GDP per capita, population size and political system allows for an evaluation of the effectiveness of national sport policies. I have no problems with the argument in its own ri..

The critical relationship between collective space and collective use

Ponència presentada a: Session 8: Post-ocupación / Post-occupancy: buildings and citie

In search of recognition

Existing scholarship on the active citizenship of undocumented migrants is inconclusive on its perils and promises. While some scholars see it as symptomatic of the moral economy that makes legal recognition dependent on demonstrating civic deservingness, others argue that it represents a potential site of contestation against illegalisation. In this paper, we argue that we need to focus on the complex processes that drive undocumented migrants’ quest for recognition in order to understand the political ambiguities implicated in how they civically engage themselves. We use the case of CollectActif (CA), an undocumented-led anti-food waste collective in Brussels, to argue that methods of participatory action research (PAR) are better placed than ex-post analyses to show how recognition processes unfold and evolve over time. We show that recognition depends on establishing ‘equivalence’ to prevailing norms and forms of civic organisation. Hence, CA members generated solidarity and created new publics by behaving as active citizens. Yet, despite increased visibility, CA struggled to be recognised by established actors in the field as actors with equal rights t

Editorial

About a decade ago, this journal published a review article by De Lannoy and De Corte (2000). In this review, the authors scrutinized the (then recent) urban studies carried out by researchers explicitly adopting a geographical perspective. The purpose of this special issue is to update De Lannoy and De Corte’s (2000) assessment by bringing together a range of papers that collectively provide an overview of the research foci and methodologies presently adopted by Belgian geographers in their ..

When strategic plans fail to lead : a complexity acknowledging perspective on decision-making in urban development projects: the case of Kortrijk (Belgium)

Nowadays, cities formulate long term strategies to address the challenges and opportunities they face. Numerous strategic plans or planning instruments are developed to this purpose. In this article we want to examine the role, impact and relevance of these types of plans in decision-making processes concerning urban development projects (UDPs) in the Flemish Region of Belgium. To what extent do strategic plans succeed in capturing and steering the complexity of spatial interventions in contemporary urban contexts? We argue that a complexity acknowledging perspective provides a more realistic and adequate view here by seeing strategic plans as only one among many elements in the set of tangled inter- and intrastrategic processes which together determine UDPs. A comparative and qualitative case study was carried out in the city of Kortrijk. The decision-making of three UDP’s was studied thoroughly. Interviewing key actors and analysing policy documents helped us to (re)construct the complex decision-making processes and to stipulate the meaning of all involved formal plans and planning tools

Lokaal middenveld & lokale besturen: focusgroepen : CSI Spotlightpaper 20

Dit rapport geeft de bevindingen weer van focusgroepen die in 5 kleinere gemeenten georganiseerd werden. In elke gemeente was er een bijeenkomst met mensen uit het lokale verenigingsleven en eentje met lokale bestuurders. Deze resultaten zijn niet per se representatief maar wel indicatief voor wat er gaande is bij het lokale middenveld in kleinere gemeenten. Het rapport gaat in op zeven deelaspecten van de gesprekken die in elke gemeente gevoerd werden. 1. Op zoek naar de nieuwe, jonge vrijwilliger? 2.De verzuiling voorbij? 3. De relatie tussen 'koepels' en 'afdelingen': andere werelden? 4. Het belang van de deelgemeenten 5. Het ontsluiten van etnisch-culturele diversiteit: "wij" en "zij"? 6. Lokaal bestuur en middenveld: een LAT-relatie? 7. Naar nieuwe impulsen? Vernieuwing en innovatieve praktijken

Hart boven Hard op een kruispunt

Hart boven Hard nam in september 2014 een vliegende start en ontpopte zich al gauw tot de motor voor een hernieuwde politisering van het middenveld. De beweging bestaat ondertussen meer dan twee en half jaar. Op 7 mei staat alweer een volgende Grote Parade gepland. Vandaag staat Hart boven Hard echter op een kruispunt en krijgt de beweging met interne spanningsvelden te maken, die het zal moeten overwinnen om een gamechanger te zijn