Housing Cooperatives and Social Capital: The Case of Vienna

Drawing on the case of Vienna, the article examines the role of third sector housing for social cohesion in the city. With the joint examination of an organisational and an institutional level of housing governance, the authors apply an interdisciplinary, multi-level research approach which aims at contributing to a comprehensive understanding of social cohesion as a contextualised phenomenon which requires place-based as well as structural (multi-level) solutions. Using a large-scale household survey and interviews with key informants, the analysis shows an ambiguous role housing cooperatives play for social cohesion: With the practice of “theme-oriented housing estates”, non-profit housing returns to the traditional cooperative principle of Gemeinschaft. However, community cooperatives rather promote homogenous membership and thus, encompass the danger to establish cohesive islands that are cut off from the rest of the city. Furthermore, given the solidarity-based housing regime of Vienna, fostering bonding social capital on the neighbourhood level, might anyway just be an additional safeguarding mechanism for social cohesion. More important is the direct link between the micro-level of residents and the macro-level of urban housing policy. In this respect, cooperative housing represents a crucial intermediate level that strengthens the linking social capital of residents and provides opportunity structures for citizen participation. However, the increasing adoption of a corporate management orientation leads to a hollowing out of the cooperative principle of democratic member participation, reducing it to an informal and non-binding substitute. Thus, it is in the responsibility of both managements and residents to revitalise the existing democratic governance structures of cooperative housing before they will be completely dismantled by market liberalization and privatization. In contrast to other European cities, third sector housing in Vienna has the potential to give residents a voice beyond the neighbourhood and the field of housing.Social Housing, Third Sector Housing, Housing Cooperatives, Social Cohesion, Social Capital, Governance

A Polanyi-inspired perspective on social-ecological transformations of cities

Based on a Polanyi-inspired research program, we analyze urban transformations as interrelations between infrastructural configurations, i.e. context-dependent material infrastructures and their multi-scalar political-economic regulations, and socio-cultural modes of living. Describing different modes of infrastructure provisioning in Vienna between 1890 and today, we illustrate how political-economic processes of commodification and decommodification have co-evolved with socio-culturally specific modes of living, grounded in different classes and milieus. We show how, today, two modes of living—“traditional,” established during postwar welfare capitalism, and “liberal,” formed during neoliberal capitalism—co-exist. In the current conjuncture of rising inequality, neoliberal urban regeneration, and accelerating climate crisis, these modes of living are not only increasingly polarized and antagonistic, but also increasingly unable to satisfy needs and self-defined aspirations. Therefore, we explore the potential of social-ecological infrastructural configurations as an alliance-building project for a systemic social-ecological transformation, potentially linking different classes, social segments and forces around a common eco-social endeavor

Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften: Herausforderungen der sozialökologischen Transformation

Die Welt, so wie wir sie kennen, ist im Umbruch. Geopolitische Konflikte verdeutlichen das Ringen um eine neue Weltordnung, komplexe Umweltkrisen gefährden Lebensgrundlagen und der gesellschaftliche Zusammenhalt schwindet. War die kapitalistische Wirtschaftsweise für viele ein Erfolgsmodell, werden ihre destruktiven Konsequenzen heute immer offenkundiger. Diese Vielfachkrisen friedlich und demokratisch zu bewältigen, erfordert die Auseinandersetzung mit vorherrschenden Machtkomplexen und die Fähigkeit, gemeinsam zukunftsfähige Rahmenbedingungen auf verschiedenen räumlichen Ebenen zu gestalten - mit unterschiedlichen Akteuren und vielfältigen Maßnahmen sowie mit Neugier, Dialog und Kompromissbereitschaft

An evaluation based on the analytic hierarchy process and GGEbiplot on French fry potato genotypes in Yunnan, China

A total of 33 potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivars and breeding clones imported from the United States and two local cultivars (Yunshu 401 and Cooperation 88, CK) were planted and evaluated. To determine their suitability for processing into French fries at five locations (e1-e5) in Yunnan Province, China, we developed a comprehensive evaluation system using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Eleven evaluation indicators for French fry quality, yield, and agronomic characteristics with a relative importance (weight coefficients) of 0.483, 0.301 and 0.216, respectively, were used to analyze the 35 potato genotypes (designated g1-g35).The genotypes were ranked and the results revealed that (1) on the average, the 33 potato genotypes imported from the United States showed a lower performance compared to the local cultivars. Compared with the CK, they were classified as not vigorous (Mean 5.11 vs CK 7.75), matured earlier (Mean 5.79 vs CK 1.70), and had a low resistance to late blight (Mean 3735.59 vs CK 1418.55), requiring the use of fungicides to control the disease at the five trial locations. (2) The US cultivar ‘Defender’ (g3) ranked in the top six at all five test locations because it had higher yield (29.56 t h m-2), better fry quality (4.64), higher dry matter content (20.41%), better tuber length/width ratio (1.99), longer tubers (13.57cm), stronger plant vigor (7.17) and higher resistance to late blight (AUDPC: 3134.2). (3) By using GGEbiplot analysis, superior genotypes with high and stable yields were g3 and ‘Echo Russet’ (g33). ‘Yunshu 401’ (g34) and ‘Yukon Gem’ (g4) had high but not stable yields. The ideal test environments and hence experimental locations were Luquan (LQ, e2) and Lijiang (LJ, e4) which resulted in the best discrimination between genotypes among the five experimental locations in Yunnan. Overall, the developed evaluation system based on AHP and GGEbiplot analysis including 11 evaluation indicators for French fry quality, yield and agricultural traits can be a model for evaluation and promotion of new French fry cultivars, and evaluating and selecting the test location

Huckleberry Gold: A Specialty Market Potato Cultivar with Purple-Skin, Yellow-Flesh, High Tuber Antioxidants, and Resistance to Potato Cyst Nematode (H1) and Potato virus X (Nb and Rx1)

Huckleberry Gold is a purple-skin, yellow-flesh fresh market cultivar with similar culinary qualities to the market standard Yukon Gold. It has lower specific gravity, sucrose and vitamin C content, but a significantly higher level of tuber antioxidants than Yukon Gold. Notable disease resistant characteristics are Potato virus X resistance based on the presence of molecular markers for the PVX resistance genes, Nb and Rx1. In addition it also has the H1 gene present which confers resistance to the potato cyst nematode, Globodera rostochiensis, which has been confirmed by bioassay to pathotype Ro1. The size profile of Huckleberry Gold is smaller than Yukon Gold, allowing a better fit into specialty markets that are geared to smaller size for fresh use. Huckleberry Gold represents the first purple-skin, yellow-flesh cultivar to come from the Northwest (Tri-State) Potato Variety Development program.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is copyrighted by the Potato Association of America and published by Springer. It can be found at: http://link.springer.com/journal/12230Keywords: Solanum tuberosum, Variety, Globodera rostochiensis, PV

"AmaRosa," a Red Skinned, Red Fleshed Fingerling with High Phytonutrient Value

The diversity of traits in varieties of potato outside of its South American birthplace is a small subset of that available in the Andean center of origin. Among the traits that evoke most interest are skin and flesh pigments. Recent studies have pointed to the high antioxidant activity and potential healthful benefits from these pigments or other antioxidant compounds. The market for potatoes with unusual color patterns has been supplied largely by heirloom varieties of uncertain origin and the highly successful Yukon Gold. Interest has intensified and been transformed into a focused effort in the breeding of specialty varieties, remarkable for their unusual colors. The purpose of this paper is to describe a new potato variety in the Fingerling Class with red skin and red flesh.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The article is copyrighted by the Potato Association of America and published by Springer. It can be found at: http://www.springerlink.com/content/1099-209x/Keywords: Fingerling, ORAC, Anthocyanin, Antioxidant

The 1430s: a cold period of extraordinary internal climate variability during the early Spörer Minimum with social and economic impacts in north-western and central Europe

Changes in climate affected human societies throughout the last millennium. While European cold periods in the 17th and 18th century have been assessed in detail, earlier cold periods received much less attention due to sparse information available. New evidence from proxy archives, historical documentary sources and climate model simulations permit us to provide an interdisciplinary, systematic assessment of an exceptionally cold period in the 15th century. Our assessment includes the role of internal, unforced climate variability and external forcing in shaping extreme climatic conditions and the impacts on and responses of the medieval society in north-western and central Europe. Climate reconstructions from a multitude of natural and anthropogenic archives indicate that the 1430s were the coldest decade in north-western and central Europe in the 15th century. This decade is characterised by cold winters and average to warm summers resulting in a strong seasonal cycle in temperature. Results from comprehensive climate models indicate consistently that these conditions occurred by chance due to the partly chaotic internal variability within the climate system. External forcing like volcanic eruptions tends to reduce simulated temperature seasonality and cannot explain the reconstructions. The strong seasonal cycle in temperature reduced food production and led to increasing food prices, a subsistence crisis and a famine in parts of Europe. Societies were not prepared to cope with failing markets and interrupted trade routes. In response to the crisis, authorities implemented numerous measures of supply policy and adaptation such as the installation of grain storage capacities to be prepared for future food production shortfalls

Acrylamide-Forming Potential and Agronomic Properties of Elite US Potato Germplasm from the National Fry Processing Trial

Processed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) products, such as chips and French fries, contribute to the dietary intake of acrylamide, a suspected human carcinogen. One of the most promising approaches for reducing its consumption is to develop and commercialize new potato varieties with low acrylamide-forming potential. To facilitate this effort, a National Fry Processing Trial (NFPT) was conducted from 2011 to 2013 in five states. More than 140 advanced breeding lines were evaluated for tuber agronomic traits and biochemical properties from harvest through 8 mo of storage. Thirty-eight and 29 entries had significantly less acrylamide in French fries than standard varieties Russet Burbank and Ranger Russet, with reductions in excess of 50%, after one and 8 mo of storage, respectively. As in previous studies, the glucose content of raw tubers was predictive of acrylamide in finished French fries (R² = 0.64–0.77). Despite its role in acrylamide formation, tuber free asparagine was not significant, potentially because it showed relatively little variation in the NFPT population. Even when glucose was included in the model as a covariate, genotype was highly significant (p = 0.001) for predicting acrylamide, indicating there may be yet-unidentified genetic loci to target in breeding. The NFPT has demonstrated that there exist many elite US breeding lines with low acrylamide-forming potential. Our ongoing challenge is to combine this trait with complex quality attributes required by the fry processing industry.This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the Crop Science Society of America and can be found at: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/c