Local Authorities and Pandemic Responses in Perspective. Reflections from the Case of Milan

While in general the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have been analysed in academic literature frommany points of view, such as themedical, occupational, social, economic and psychological ones, much less attention has been paid to the systems of norms which, in an emergency situation, have been elaborated and applied, and to their relationship with space. In order to explore this gap, the paper will propose to open a discussion on the role and effects of systems of pandemic regulation at local level, proposing a research framework and some very first applications to a specific case, the City of Milan in Northern Italy, an area badly hit by the pandemic. The paper thus moves from three research questions, related to questions of framing, governance, and timescale of the effects, as the main interpretive perspectives to understand and conceptualise the relationship between norms, actors, and decision-making processes, with a specific focus on the spatial realm. While the case in point chosen is the City of Milan, the research questions open to a wider debate, and to possible cross-context comparisons with other urban areas

New working spaces. Policy perspectives before and after the COVID-19 pandemic

This chapter maps the debate of new working spaces (particularly CSs) on the level of European policy making. It explores how new working spaces have been interpreted by the European Commission and how this debate has evolved from its origins up to the recent COVID-19 period. For these purposes, two diferent ideas of CSs will be presented and discussed: CSs as innovation drivers boosting economic development; and as opportunities for territorial regeneration, such as brownfeld redevelopment or local hubs promoting social cohesion. Specifc attention is devoted to identifying the evolution of policies supporting these spaces with a focus on place-based and urban planning measures before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This chapter empirically investigates this debate analyzing EU policy reports and case studies. Finally, remarks and suggestions for policy learning are presented

School segregation in contemporary cities: Socio-spatial dynamics, institutional context and urban outcomes

Social and social-spatial inequality are on the rise in the Global North. This has resulted in increasing segmentation between population groups with different social and ethnic backgrounds, and in differentiated access to cultural and material assets. With these changes, the relation between segregation in the educational sphere and segregation in the residential sphere has become crucial for understanding social reproduction and intergenerational social mobility. However, knowledge about this relation is still limited. We argue that the institutional and spatial contexts are key dimensions to consider if we want to expand this knowledge. The institutional context regards the extent of public funding, the degree to which parental choice and/or geographical proximity drive school selection, the role and status of private schools and the religious and pedagogical pluralism of the educational system. The spatial context refers to the geographies of education: the ethnic and social composition of school populations and their reputations; the underlying levels and trends of residential segregation; and the spatial distribution of schools in urban space. In this introduction to the special issue we will address these interrelated dimensions, with reference to theoretical and empirical contributions from the existing body of literature; and with reference to the contributions in this special issue. School segregation emerges from the studies included in this special issue as a relevant issue, differently framed according to the institutional and spatial contexts. A comparative typology will be proposed to illustrate how school segregation is peculiarly shaped in different national and local contexts

Emerging work patterns and different territorial contexts: trends for the coworking sector in pandemic recovery

Objectives: The paper aims to explore and unpack the complexity of coworking's users and supply (i.e. coworking spaces), based on the recent trends caused by Covid19. It is discussed whether and how coworking's environment increases its diversification in terms of users and the spatial and policy implications linked to this shift. Methodology: The study embraces a qualitative approach exploring the existing literature on the emerging dynamics in the field of work, moving from an overview of recent trends across Europe based on existing international surveys. Results: New possible scenarios may be based on different forms of proximity, not just in the dense metropolitan cores, but also in other types of territories, where the population may decide to selectively re-distribute, and the question will be how to supply all these areas with effective, efficient and equal opportunities in terms of jobs and services. The study highlights the diffusion of shared workspaces in different forms: traditional coworking spaces catering for freelancers and knowledge workers, but also workspaces in which employees from large organisations (public and private) will spend part of their working week, hybrid spaces based on peculiar combinations of locally required services (related to both jobs and care), third-spaces based on some form of everyday recreational activities, and many others. Limits and implications: The pandemic is still ongoing and, since the paper focuses on the review of existing literature and surveys in a changing context, its main limitation is the ability to collect verifiable and up-to-date data. Originality: The paper's uniqueness lies in the prefiguration of a range of development directions concerning the relationship between work practices and collaborative spaces in different territories, exploring how local and diffused dynamics might be the opportunity for a potential transformation of work patterns

An automatic system for modeling and controlling color quality of dyed leathers in tanneries

This paper presents an automatic system for modeling and controlling color quality of dyed leathers of an Italian tannery. The proposed software is implemented within the IT company system, and is fully integrated with the machineries of the finishing line, that is, a spraying cabin with a robotic carousel, and an electronic tintometer system. Suitable experimental tests according to the Design of Experiments (DoE) are firstly defined, executed and analyzed for a series of color tones of interest. In order to derive and validate a set of colorimetric models able to evaluate and predict the color rendering of painted leathers, a set of recipes of basic dye pigments and data of light reflection measured by a multispectral camera are used. Principal Component Analysis is applied for dimensionality reduction, and linear least squares regression is employed to identify these data-driven models, which are then used for color control purpose. A color correction feedback strategy is indeed developed in order to converge towards the various target formulations. The control algorithm aims at reaching the multispectral reading values of the reference, that is, the first sample of unknown color recipe starting from the most similar archive base and appropriately updating the recipe of pigments, by using the measurement of leather samples prepared from time to time by the finishing line machineries. A set of company data are used to successfully validate the identified colorimetric models and the proposed color correction strategy

Citizen-led micro-regeneration and the negotiation of new urban public spaces: A comparative case-study of civic crowdfunding in London

Alternative urban spaces across civic, private, and public spheres emerge in response to the great challenges that urban actors are currently confronted with. Labour markets are changing rapidly, the availability of affordable housing is under intensifying pressure, and public spaces have become battlegrounds of urban politics. This edited collection brings together contributors in order to spark an international dialogue about the production of alternative urban spaces through a threefold exploration of alternative spaces of work, dwelling, and public life. Seeking out and examining existing alternative urban spaces, the authors identify the elements which provide opportunity to create radically different futures for the world’s urban spaces. This volume is the culmination of an international search for alternative practices to dominant modes of capitalist urbanization, bringing together interdisciplinary, empirically grounded chapters from hot spots in disparate cities around the world. Offering a multidisciplinary perspective, The Production of Alternative Urban Spaces will be of great interest to academics working across the fields of urban sociology, human geography, anthropology, political science, and urban planning. It will also be indispensable to any postgraduate students engaged in urban and regional studies

Interpreting patterns of interaction between civic activism and government agency in civic crowdfunding campaigns

© 2019 Ingenta. Addressing the under-researched interplay between civic activism and government agencies, this paper focuses on the conditions for broad local support for civic crowdfunding projects and the interaction between proponents of such projects, their associated stakeholders, and traditional urban planning frameworks. Building on Carolina Pacchi's work on the relationships between community and state in examples of local activism in European cities, the paper applies four types of relationship between community and state: state regulation and community implementation; cooperation; community autonomy; and community opposition. These are used to unpack the different phases of civic crowdfunding projects and to show how relationships with the state evolve throughout the lifecycle of a project. Drawing upon qualitative research carried out in London and Milan between 2015 and 2017, we examine the case of the Peckham Coal Line in south London, a proposed urban elevated park along a disused coal line. Chosen for its long-term ambitions, its substantial local support and financial backing through mayoral match-funding, the case is used to examine the dynamic interaction between the digitally enabled activism of civic crowdfunding and local government agencies. Our study of the development of the Peckham Coal Line project gives insight into the shifting nature of the relationship between civic actors and the state, showing that while the 'autonomous' development of local projects is an important aspect of civic crowdfunding projects, the state does not disappear. Further, online and offline activities are only one step in the redefinition of contemporary forms of citizenship and the claim that civic crowdfunding can deliver extended citizen participation should be more closely scrutinized

Measurement of the total cross section and ρ-parameter from elastic scattering in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

In a special run of the LHC with β⋆=2.5 km, proton–proton elastic-scattering events were recorded at sqrt(s)=13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 340 μb^{−1} using the ALFA subdetector of ATLAS in 2016. The elastic cross section was measured differentially in the Mandelstam t variable in the range from −t=2.5⋅10^{−4} GeV^2 to −t=0.46 GeV^2 using 6.9 million elastic-scattering candidates. This paper presents measurements of the total cross section σ_{tot}, parameters of the nuclear slope, and the ρ-parameter defined as the ratio of the real part to the imaginary part of the elastic-scattering amplitude in the limit t→0. These parameters are determined from a fit to the differential elastic cross section using the optical theorem and different parameterizations of the t-dependence. The results for σ_{tot} and ρ are σ_{tot}(pp→X)=104.7±1.1 mb ρ=0.098±0.011. The uncertainty in σ_{tot} is dominated by the luminosity measurement, and in ρ by imperfect knowledge of the detector alignment and by modelling of the nuclear amplitude