From Planning to Management of Cult Ural Heritage Sites: Controversies and Conflicts Between Unesco Whl Management Plans and Local Spatial Planning in South-Eastern Sicily

The paper investigates the relationship between the preservation of cultural heritage and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites, with special reference to the relation between Management Plans and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This will be explored through a case study related to South-Eastern Sicilian UNESCO sites (in particular Syracuse). The analysis of this case study will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning regimes - which mainly refer to a performative model - in a (still) very conformative planning system. The paper will show how supranational protection tools and models often lose their efficacy in relation to local planning systems

Antigone, today: Dignity and human rights in contemporary spaces

The tragedy of Antigone revolves around the theme of conflict. Both the version written by Sophocles and the one by Jean Anouilh are mainly focused on conflicts. The conflict between Antigone and Creon is real and symbolic at the same time. It is the conflict between a woman’s body and the law, between women’s and men’s conditions, between two anthropologies. It is also a conflict between two opposite ethical perspectives, and two opposite political visions. It is the conflict between the rule of individuals and the rule of laws, between non-violence and violence, social responsibility and individual egoism, and self-identification and identity. The conflict between Antigone and Creon is the heterogeneous sum of many conflicts. If we try to fit all conflicts within a broader framework, we could say that Antigone’s choice of disobedience raises the high-level conflict between human dignity and the law. This conflict takes place within the positive law and cannot exist outside it. Human dignity cannot elude the law, since it is rooted within the legal system. It does not, however, originate from it, but its finalisation is actually in the law; where gaps and fallacies are revealed. Its strength lies in the lack of a definition. Human dignity helps the law to regenerate and not become locked in a formal stronghold

ANTIGONE, TODAY: DIGNITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONTEMPORARY SPACES

References to human dignity are now frequently heard in public forums and debates, particularly in defence against violations of the conditions of freedom, and justice, and in protests against humiliation. The content of dignity, as well as of felicity, cannot however be defined. The notion of dignity, despite general agreement on the value of the idea, is frequently criticized for its lack of conceptual clarity, and openness to misinterpretation. In light of these premises the article proposes a reflection on the theme of dignity and human rights in contemporary spaces starting from the solicitations offered by the tragedy of Antigone where the Antigone’s choice of disobedience raises the high-level conflict between human dignity and the law

Editorial

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, and according to a debate promoted by Benjamin Davy, we decided to have a special issue of the Transactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning on the intersections of human dignity, planning, and urban spaces. The articles in this special issue were written before the pandemic emergency, but nevertheless make a significant contribution in reflecting on the mutual relationships between human dignity and control of spaces, in ordinary as well as extraordinary times

EDITORIAL. DIGNITY AND PLANNING: FRAMING THE ISSUE

The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on the world’s population in unprecedented terms, both with regard to its economic and socio-spatial implications. Social distancing measures and restrictions on the use of public spaces are permanently changing our relationships with urban spaces. Space also represents a crucial dimension in the construction of policies for preventing, managing, and contrasting the spread of the virus. Urban studies have often faced the challenges raised by health emergencies, natural disasters, and traumatic events, seizing the opportunities and need for radical rethinking of spaces and the processes that govern them. in relation to these considerations, the article proposes a reflection about new urban structures capable of dealing with pandemic and post-pandemic contexts, and also to overcome some structural contradictions and injustices that characterize the current urban neoliberal regime: in particular, the need to protect the health of both individuals and communities, the increase in socio-spatial inequalities and the importance of guaranteeing forms of participation in social life

Sustainable Urban Revitalization within a Historical Urban Neighborhood-A useful Approach to Complete

The historically important urban neighborhoods are practically a significant entity, a rich reservoir of social and economical milieu and cultural inheritance. Though, it faces many problems due to the rapid growth of population and the steady increases in the new requirements with concern of decompose this historical urban neighborhood. Presently sustainable urban revitalization is a theory to integrate inclusive concept of sustainability into urban revitalization process. Therefore to fix up such theory into true practices, a useful approach of urban revitalization planning should be worked out at the start. To work out how urban design would affect inclusive sustainable theory i.e. economy, environment, social equity and cultural values of urban revitalization schemes within Boro Bazaar Area (Khulna city, Bangladesh), a study investigating this issue is initiated. The paper highlights different approaches and strategies taken by different interview, questionnaire and field survey towards the methodologies of assessing, refurbishing and adding new value to the study areas, in view of increasing not only the quality of economical and social significance but also the quality of public spaces and services, for a better excellence of life of the society and neighbourhood.It is also believed that the research findings of this paper can strengthen the understanding of local developers, urban designers and government officials on how to plan a sustainable urban revitalization scheme afterwards

Formal property rights in the face of the substantial right to housing

This paper explores the dichotomy between formal property rights and use value of rights in the field of the right to housing for homeless people, focusing on the entitlement of the squatting practices to claim the collective rights in the public domain. This collective claim can be considered an alternative to the ‘traditional’ conception of the public property as 'exclusive' domain of State. In the cities of Southern Europe, urban space has become an ‘object’ of contention by groups of inhabitants, who are organized at various levels, and an object of claiming – through illegal (although not illegitimate) forms of occupation of public or social private properties – the right to housing as primary expression of the broader ‘right to the city’. Starting from the evidences emerging from the informal practices of reappropriation of spaces (occupied spaces) in the case study of Palermo, the aim of the paper is to demostrate that the use value is applicable in the housing field through the lens of the right to the city. The self-help housing practises suggest a “third way” in the theoretic interpretation on the right to housing, overtaking the division between natural rights and legal rights

Planning Research Ethics

This chapter will discuss why planning researchers of all kinds – faculty, students, consultants – need to be ethically sensitive. The chapter is written against a background of what has been termed an ‘”ethical” turn’ in many disciplines, and an increasing regulation (and bureaucratisation) of planning (and other) research conducted within universities. Ladd (1980,) argues that there are no ethical principles which are specific to any occupation. In this chapter we argue that the circumstances of planning research, at least, raise distinctive ethical issues . The chapter begins by considering the ethical dimensions of research practice. These will differ according to the way research practice is understood. It then asks why regulation of researchers’ conduct is now such a preoccupation of universities and researchers. Finally, it examines the nature of codes of ethics and when they are likely to be most effective

Antibiotic resistance assessment in bacteria isolated in migratory Passeriformes transiting through the Metaponto territory (Basilicata, Italy)

Abstract Background Wild birds are considered to be reservoirs of human enteric pathogens and vectors of antimicrobial resistance dissemination in the environment. During their annual migration, they play a potential role in the epidemiology of human associated zoonoses. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of isolation and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of microorganisms found in the cloaca of common European passerines. Methods One hundred and twenty-one cloacal swabs were collected during a monitoring program of migratory birds in the Forest Reserve for Protection "Metaponto" (Basilicata, Italy). All samples were cultured using standard bacteriological methods and antibiotic susceptibility testing (agar disk diffusion test) of isolated strains was performed. Results The bacteriological analysis produced 122 strains belonging to 18 different species. The most commonly isolated species were Enterobacter cloacae and Providencia rettgeri (21 strains, 17.2%). Potentially pathogenic species including Klebsiella pneumoniae, Serratia marcescens and Pseudomonas spp. have also been identified. Isolates showed significant frequencies of antimicrobial resistance. The highest frequency of resistance was observed against amoxicillin (n = 79, 64.8%); ampicillin (n = 77, 63.1%); rifampicin (n = 75, 61.5%); amoxicillin–clavulanic acid (n = 66, 54.1%). Thirty-one strains (25.4%) showed resistance to imipenem and 8 (6.6%) to meropenem. Conclusions Migratory birds play an important role in the ecology, circulation and dissemination of potentially pathogenic antimicrobial resistant organisms. They can therefore be considered sentinel species and environmental health indicators. Our results suggest that the integration of epidemiological surveillance networks during ringing campaigns of wild species can be an effective tool to study this phenomenon

Self and physical activities in early adolescence: an action research with middle-school students

AbstractFew studies have so far examined the relation between Self concept, the variables linked to identity development and physical activity. The action-research wants to investigate the effects of specific training, based on the physical activity practice, on Self concept, physical and social self-esteem, self-efficacy, interpersonal psychological adjustment and meta-cognitive processes. Pre-adolescents from 11 to 14 years of age were involved in physical activities and educational itineraries. Results show that physical fitness may provide more positive social feedback and recognition from peer groups, and this will subsequently lead to improvement in an individual's self-image