Polycentric Metropolitan Form: Application of a ‘Northern’ Concept in Latin America

Since the mid 20th century, large urban areas in advanced economies have experienced a fundamental transformation from relatively compact monocentric cities towards more extended polycentric metropolitan areas. By now, it is being commented repeatedly, but not investigated systematically that the concept of polycentricity is also adequate to characterise recent metropolitan dynamics in Latin-America.This paper aims to present a few key-issues for a future research agenda into polycentricity in Latin-American metropolitan areas. These elements are identified from a review of existing literature. Since no clear-cut definition and operationalisation of polycentricity exist yet, we distinguish some key-elements of this phenomenon in North America as a frame of reference for this review. It reveals that ‘polycentricity U.S. style’ is at best dawning in Latin-America. In order to achieve a more appropriate picture of polycentricity of Latin American metropolitan areas, our ideas for a research agenda take into account these areas typical economic, social and spatial conditions

A semiotactic approach to modern Japanese

The aim of this research was to establish if the semiotactic theory of C.L. Ebeling could be applied to Modern Japanese and mathematical descriptions of Japanese sentences could be made that are consistent, clear and easy to understand. For this purpose example sentences from various sources, containing the most frequently used structures and expressions of Modern Japanese, were analyzed and described. In doing so, new light has been shed on various aspects of the Japanese language. Firstly, the general assumption that particles, also called postpositions, are similar in meaning and function to the prepositions in English proved to be true only for a number of the particles. Furthermore it was found that the traditional definitions for transitivity do not apply for Japanese, and the commonly assumed classification of noun phrases marked by the particle ga as direct objects has been rejected, in favor of the view that all noun phrases marked by nominative ga are subjects. That this method yields a better insight into the structure of the Japanese language is also demonstrated by the fact that, contrary to the classification commonly assumed until now, it was concluded that there are no indirect objects in Japanese.LEI Universiteit LeidenDescriptive and Comparative Linguistic

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Fernández-Maldonado A. M., Romein A., Verkoren O. and Parente Paula Pessoa R. Polycentric structures in Latin American metropolitan areas: identifying employment sub-centres, Regional Studies. The significant spatial transformations that have occurred within Latin American metropolitan areas since the 1990s have triggered many local studies claiming the formation of polycentric structures. This study explores the extent of that process, identifying sub-centres of employment using the double threshold methodology of job concentration and employment density in Mexico City (Mexico), Lima (Peru) and Fortaleza (Brazil). The results, although partial due to an absence of data on informal employment, indicate that Latin American metropolises are moving towards polycentric structures. But the identified employment sub-centres are mostly located in or near the metropolitan core, which practically excludes the formation of polycentric nodes in the metropolitan periphery

Rentier Statebuilding in a Post-Conflict Economy: The Case of Kosovo

Kosovo has been under various forms of international administration since 1999. Although the political dimension of this international experience has been widely studied by scholars — especially those associated with the critical theory of liberal peacebuilding — the economic dimension of international rule has received less attention. This article explores the economic dimension by linking insights from rentier theory with critical approaches to liberal peacebuilding and statebuilding. The postulate informing this article is that the sources of a state's income have an impact on its institutional development. The article discusses liberal peacebuilding through the lens of rentier theory, it analyses the economic management in the early years of the international administration of Kosovo, and describes and explores some of the unintended consequences of this massive international presence in Kosovo for the local economy

Crafting compromises in a strategising process: a case study of an international development organisation

This paper focuses on how organizational members in non-governmental organisations (NGO) can develop credible and legitimate strategic plans and positions out of diverse and conflicting perspectives. Using empirical data drawn from a strategic planning episode in an international development NGO, the study examines the process of ‘crafting compromises’ whereby organizational members make mutual adjustments and concessions to reach consensus on new strategic plans and positions. The analysis shows that two processes facilitate crafting compromises in strategising; being adaptive and responsive to critique as strategic positions are developed, and an ability to forge relevant connections between new strategic proposals and past strategic positions

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