Recognizing sustainability frontiers in the peri-urban

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Use and perceptions of second life by distance learners: comparison with other communication media

Research has demonstrated that the use of communication media in distance education can reduce the feeling of distance and isolation from peers and tutor, and provide opportunities for collaborative learning activities (Bates, 2005). The use of virtual worlds (VW) in education has increased in recent years, with Second Life (SL) being the most commonly used VW in higher education (Wang & Burton, 2012). There is a paucity of information available on students’ use and perceptions of SL in relation to other online communication media available to the distance learner. Consequently, in the study described here, this area was explored with a group of students registered in a part-time distance education Master’s program at a large UK University open to international students. A self-completion survey was designed to assess students’ use and perceptions of using SL compared with other communication media. The majority of students rated SL lower than other forms of communications media such as email, WebCT discussion boards, Skype, and Wimba for facilitating communication, promoting the formation of social networks, fostering a sense of community, and benefiting their learning.  It is possible that the results of this study were influenced by the lower frequency of use of SL in this program compared to other work reported on this subject. Further work is required to evaluate the effect of frequency of use of SL and availability of alternative communication media on students’ use and perceptions of this virtual world

Why Peri-Urban Ecosystem Services Matter For Urban Policy

This briefing draws on recent research to show how people benefit from ecoystems in and around cities, and how these benefits can be integrated into urban planning and policy. There is a growing international consensus that cities must form the vanguard in addressing the numerous challenges of sustainable development. Sustainability is also an essential ingredient for a globally competitive city. However, in rapidly growing cities of South Asia, governments and international agencies must not simply think of cities as urban islands. Cities must be understood in terms of the processes of urbanisation which unfold across the rural-urban continuum, with environmental processes integral. We argue that failure to do so is undermining the ability to build inclusive and resilient cities.DFIDESRC-DFIDNER

Evaluating the roles of directed breeding and gene flow in animal domestication

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Transformative innovation in peri-urban Asia

This paper draws on two case studies from India and China to discuss how and why rapidly urbanizing contexts are particularly challenging for transformative innovation but are also critical sustainability frontiers and learning environments. We argue that lack of understanding and policy engagement with peri-urbanization in its current form is leading to increasing exclusion and unrealized potential to support multiple sustainable urban development goals. Peri-urbanization is often characterized by the neoliberal reordering of space and a co-option of environmental agendas by powerful urban elites. Changing land-use, resource extraction, pollution and livelihood transitions drive rapid changes in interactions between socio-technical and social-ecological systems, and produce complex feedbacks across the rural–urban continuum. These contexts also present characteristic governance challenges as a result of jurisdictional ambiguity, transitioning formal and informal institutional arrangements, heterogeneous and sometimes transient communities, shifts in decision making to distant authorities and the rapid growth of informal market-based arrangements with little incentive for environmental management. These unique features of peri-urbanization may reinforce a lack of inclusion and hinder experimentation, but they can also present valuable opportunities for transformative innovation. This innovation is unlikely to follow the lines of niche management and upscaling but rather should take advantage of peri-urban dynamics. There are possibilities to build new alliances in order to renegotiate governance structures across the rural–urban continuum, to reframe urban sustainability debates and to reconfigure socio-technical and social-ecological systems interactions

Early hunters and herders of northern Ethiopia: The fauna from Danei Kawlos

It is generally agreed that Ethiopia is one of the world’s primary centers of prehistoric plant domestication. It is also known that domestic fauna (cattle and domestic caprines) were brought in from outside. Unfortunately, very few Holocene archaeological sequences have been excavated in the Horn. Even fewer sites have yielded domestic fauna dating to > 3000 years ago. The excavations at the site Danei Kawlos in northern Ethiopia provide new Holocene archaeological sequences for Northern Ethiopia and document the presence of cattle, sheep and goat with a direct date of 3358 ± 47 BP on a Bos molar. We discuss here the zooarchaeological data from the site

Can an Evaluation of Students’ Stress Levels Help us Manage Anxiety During OSCEs and Other Assessment Modalities?

With an increased awareness of mental health issues, in both the student population and the veterinary profession in general, it is important that we obtain a greater understating of the stress experienced by students so as to better prepare them to deal with stress and ameliorate any negative effects it may have on performance. This study aims to characterise various measurements of stress (e.g. HRV, EEG, cortisol, self-report questionnaire) in students within the School of Veterinary Medicine in familiar test modalities, focussing on OSCE assessment. We would also investigate how performance is impacted and what potential factors may influence stress levels. Ultimately, our aim would be to evaluate intervention strategies to assess if students stress levels and performance can be improved

Transdisciplinary research as transformative space making for sustainability: enhancing propoor transformative agency in periurban contexts contexts

In this paper we discuss how transdisciplinary development research (TDR), if approached in particular ways, can not only to produce new knowledge, but also foster deeper systemic changes in the knowledge system itself. We are concerned with systemic change that supports pro-poor sustainability transformations, and conceptualise the processes that contribute to this type of systemic change as 'transformative space making' (TSM). TDR as TSM can generate possibilities for the integration of diverse knowledges into decision making, whilst also creating new opportunities for subaltern knowledges to achieve greater influence, through enhancing the transformative agency of the poor. Thus, our conceptualization goes beyond the idea of TDR for the co-creation of solution-oriented knowledge, and recognizes the need to address structural injustices in knowledge systems. In TDR as TSM the development of strategies to reveal power relations and navigate the politics of structural injustices becomes as important as refining the principles for robust collaborative knowledge production. To demonstrate the operationalization of TDR as TSM, we draw insights from our long-term involvement in TDR case studies of emergent environmental and health challenges in peri-urban contexts in India. We identify mechanisms which build legitimacy of pro-poor knowledges, whilst simultaneously creating ‘readiness’ to take advantage of opportunities for interventions to support change in policy and practice at multiple scales. We highlight the politics of alliance building both within and beyond the research team; arguing that attention to alliances is central to understanding the role of TDR in creating possibilities for transformative change. Finally, we argue that development research funding and commissioning agencies should pay attention to the mechanisms of TSM, alongside more recognised aspects of the planning, monitoring and evaluation of TDR initiatives, in order to provide appropriate support for enhanced impact

Making the Most of Peri-Urban Ecosystem Services

Ecosystem services are vital for peri-urban and urbanising areas, and the people who live within them. In contexts of rapid urbanisation, these services are under threat from redevelopment, pollution and overconsumption, and there are gaps in the policies and structures that should protect them. Despite these challenges, there are opportunities for local authorities and citizens to work together and join up policy with action on the ground. Peri-urban ecosystems can provide vital support for functions such as disaster risk management, flood control, reduction of urban heat island effects, air and water purification, food and water security, and waste management. Supporting them is essential in order to meet national government policies and commitments on multiple issues linked to environment, health and poverty reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and the resilient cities agenda. There are important governance challenges involved in safeguarding and harnessing peri-urban ecosystem services. These include rapid change, ambiguity over boundaries, and gaps in policies and regulations. Involving communities in appraisal and decision-making is crucial to the success of initiatives to protect peri-urban ecosystem services. Taking account of local cultures and histories is important. In many cases, the process will also provide crucial missing data and insights, build trust and avoid misunderstandings. There is a need to share good practice, cases and opportunities between municipalities; and to provide opportunities for decision-makers at national level to learn from them. This briefing was prepared for the Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme and draws on material from the Risks and Responses to Urban Futures project