Critical Landscape Planning during the Belt and Road Initiative

This open access book traces the development of landscapes along the 414-kilometer China–Laos Railway, one of the first infrastructure projects implemented under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and which is due for completion at the end of 2021. Written from the perspective of landscape architecture and intended for planners and related professionals engaged in the development and conservation of these landscapes, this book provides history, planning pedagogy and interdisciplinary framing for working alongside the often-opaque planning, design and implementation processes of large-scale infrastructure. It complicates simplistic notions of development and urbanization frequently reproduced in the Laos–China frontier region. Many of the projects and sites investigated in this book are recent “firsts” in Laos: Laos’s first wildlife sanctuary for trafficked endangered species, its first botanical garden and its first planting plan for a community forest. Most often the agents and accomplices of neoliberal development, the planning and design professions, including landscape architecture, have little dialogue with either the mainstream natural sciences or critical social sciences that form the discourse of projects in Laos and comparable contexts. Covering diverse conceptions and issues of development, including cultural and scientific knowledge exchanges between Laos and China, nature tourism, connectivity and new town planning, this book also features nine planning proposals for Laos generated through this research initiative since the railway's groundbreaking in 2016. Each proposal promotes a wider "landscape approach" to development and deploys landscape architecture’s spatial and ecological acumen to synthesize critical development studies with the planner's capacity, if not naive predilection, to intervene on the ground. Ultimately, this book advocates the cautious engagement of the professionally oriented built-environment disciplines, such as regional planning, civil engineering and landscape architecture, with the landscapes of development institutions and environmental NGOs

A briefing for mental health professionals : why asking about abuse matters to service users (REVA project, briefing 3)

There are high prevalence rates of violent and abusive experience in both the childhoods and adult lives of mental health service users. Histories of childhood sexual and physical abuse amongst women service users are particularly well documented. Although many of the samples in studies are small, figures of over 50% are not unusual (Palmer et al, 1992; Bryer et al, 1987; Walker and James, 1992; Wurr and Partridge, 1996). In secure settings this figure is even higher (Bland et al, 1999). Studies of severe domestic violence among psychiatric in-patients report lifetime prevalence ranging from 30% to 60% (Golding, 1999; Howard et al. 2010). The REVA study, on which this briefing is based, has also found that people who suffer violence and abuse are much more likely to have a mental disorder, self-harm or attempt suicide than those with little or no experience of this kind (Scott et al, 2013). Given the prevalence of experiences of abuse among users of adult mental health services it is vitally important that these experiences are identified to ensure appropriate diagnosis, support and referral. Since 2003 it has been Department of Health policy that all adult service users should be asked about experiences of violence and abuse in mental health assessments. Yet actually disclosing experiences of violence and abuse can be very difficult. Survivors can feel a deep sense of shame and responsibility for the abuse they have experienced – feelings that are often strategically encouraged by their abusers (Clark and Quadara, 2010). These feelings can be compounded by unhelpful responses from professionals when they try to disclose (Imkaanetal, 2014). And survivors consistently say that disclosure has to be ‘at the right time for them’, which may be immediately or many years after the abuse (McNaughton Nicholls, 2012). In this briefing paper we present findings from research funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme on responding effectively to the needs of survivors of violence and abuse: the REVA study. The study included specifically asking survivors of violence and abuse about their views on routine enquiry, their experiences of disclosing abuse and their recommendations for how staff should ask clients about abuse

Guidance for Trust managers : implementing and sustaining routine enquiry about violence and abuse in mental health services (REVA project, briefing 2)

Since 2003 it has been Department of Health policy that all adult service users should be asked about experiences of violence and abuse in mental health assessments. However, by 2006 it was apparent that mental health provider trusts were not generally implementing the policy and a two-year initiative was launched to pilot an approach to introducing routine enquiry and embedding it in clinical practice. The pilot involved a total of 15 trusts and its evaluation identified key lessons for effective implementation of routine enquiry in all trusts. In 2012 the Department of Health funded follow-up research on responding effectively to the needs of survivors of violence and abuse to include case-studies of four of the original pilot trusts to implement routine enquiry (the REVA study). This guidance is based on findings from this study

Violence, abuse and mental health in England (REVA project, briefing 1)

In 2006 the Department of Health introduced routine enquiry about peoples’ experience of violence and abuse as part of adult mental health assessments. This was in response to evidence that such experience was a significant aspect of the histories and difficulties of many service users. This research extends the evidence base by showing how mental illness is linked with experience of abuse and violence. It is based on a representative community-based sample rather than a patient population and examines experiences of both women and men across the life course

A briefing for commissioners : what survivors of violence and abuse say about mental health services (REVA project, briefing 4)

The Department of Health publication, Commissioning services for women and children who have experienced violence or abuse – a guide for health commissioners, clearly acknowledges that ‘victims of violence or abuse tend to use health services more than average’ and that this is ‘despite often finding it hard to access services’ (Golding and Duggal, 2011: 22). The guidance goes on to state that it is precisely because of this that ‘it is in the NHS interest to identify these women and children, provide opportunities for them to disclose, and provide services [..] to help them improve their physical and mental health’ (ibid). The policy that has been implemented to support this process is known as ‘routine enquiry’ (RE). Since 2003 it has been Department of Health policy that all adult service users should be asked about experiences of violence and abuse in mental health assessments. However, asking about experiences of abuse and violence is not enough. To be effective the policy of routine enquiry has to be underpinned by the provision of appropriate and effective services for survivors of abuse. As the commissioning guidance notes, ‘commissioners should be aware of the importance of clear referral pathways, so that health professionals know where and how to refer women and children to local services’. For appropriate services to be available, commissioners also need to be aware of the type of services and care pathways that people who have experienced abuse feel are appropriate to meet their needs. In this briefing we present information drawn from interviews with mental health service users who have experienced domestic and/or sexual violence. This briefing focusses on the links between experience of abuse and mental health and the implications this has for commissioners to create an effective service landscape. The REVA research included the experience of both male and female service users. Useful guidance focussing on commissioning services specifically for women and girls who have survived violence is also available: see Woman’s Aid and Imkaan, 2014 ‘Successful commissioning: a guide to commissioning services that support women and children survivors of violence’, see www.womensaid.org.uk for details

A briefing for service providers and commissioners : measuring outcomes for survivors of violence and abuse (REVA project, briefing 5)

The long-term consequences of violence and abuse can only be addressed if appropriate services for survivors are available. Many such services are located within the voluntary sector, and the fact that they are oversubscribed indicates a high level of demand, but there is limited robust evidence as to whether, how and why they work. Third sector organisations need to demonstrate their effectiveness, particularly in the context of competitive commissioning (Harlock, 2013). However, cuts to already under-resourced services in the violence against women and girls (VAWG) sector have made it difficult for many, especially smaller services, to develop meaningful measurement frameworks or to fully engage in commissioning processes (Callanan et al., 2012; Women’s Aid & Imkaan, 2014). The lack of standardised sector-specific outcome measures also means that services may be required to conduct multiple monitoring exercises for a variety of different funding streams, with none fully reflecting the reality of their work. To address these gaps, one strand of the REVA project has involved developing an outcomes framework to reflect the work of such services more accurately. In doing this, we built upon work underway in the specialist women’s voluntary sector by Women’s Aid, Imkaan, Rape Crisis England and Wales, and consulted with a range of individuals and organisations through the REVA Reference Network. We also drew on tools developed and used within the health and mental health sectors. Our aim was for the measures to be suitable for use in a range of types of services addressing various forms of violence and abuse located in both the voluntary and statutory sectors. The resulting outcomes tool was piloted in seven voluntary sector and NHS settings in 2013-14

The Social Justice Teaching Collaborative: A Collective Turn Towards Critical Teacher Education

In this article, we share the collaborative curricular work of an interdisciplinary Social Justice Teaching Collaborative (SJTC) from a PWI university. Members of the SJTC worked strategically to center social justice across required courses pre-service teachers are required to take: Introduction to Education, Sociocultural Studies in Education, and Inclusive Education. We share our conceptualization of social justice and guiding theoretical frameworks that have shaped our pedagogy and curriculum. These frameworks include democratic education, critical pedagogy, critical race theory, critical whiteness studies, critical disability studies, and feminist and intersectionality theory. We then detail changes made across courses including examples of readings and assignments. Finally, we conclude by offering reflections, challenges, and lessons learned for collaborative work within teacher education and educational leadership.&nbsp

H2 activation using the first 1:1:1 hetero-tri(aryl)borane

The novel 1:1:1 hetero-tri(aryl)borane (pentafluorophenyl){3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl}(pentachlorophenyl)borane has been synthesised and structurally characterised. This has been show to act as the Lewis acidic component in FLPs for the heterolytic cleavage of H2 with three Lewis bases

Drift Macroalgal Distribution In Northern Gulf of Mexico Seagrass Meadows

Drift macroalgae, often found in clumps or mats adjacent to or within seagrass beds, can increase the value of seagrass beds as habitat for nekton via added food resources and structural complexity. But, as algal biomass increases, it can also decrease light availability, inhibit faunal movements, smother benthic communities, and contribute to hypoxia, all of which can reduce nekton abundance. We quantified the abundance and distribution of drift macroalgae within seagrass meadows dominated by turtle grass Thalassia testudinum across the northern Gulf of Mexico and compared seagrass characteristics to macroalgal biomass and distribution. Drift macroalgae were most abundant in areas with higher seagrass shoot densities and intermediate canopy heights. We did not find significant relationships between algal biomass and point measures of salinity, temperature, or depth. The macroalgal genera Laurencia and Gracilaria were present across the study region, Agardhiella and Digenia were collected in the western Gulf of Mexico, and Acanthophora was collected in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Our survey revealed drift algae to be abundant and widespread throughout seagrass meadows in the northern Gulf of Mexico, which likely influences the habitat value of seagrass ecosystems