Toward a sociology of global comparative placemaking

I call for a globally informed sociology of comparative placemaking that integrates historical and contemporary processes and includes the ephemeral, institutional, and personal. By placemaking, I am referring to the explicit or tacit cooperation among people to create, maintain, and give meaning to places in space through bodily occupation given differential resources and constraints. I review select place, space, and community-based literature about urban, Black, migrant, LGBTQ, and international populations to think about how we can build upon and integrate multiple theoretical, methodological, and epistemological insights to form an explicit placemaking research agenda. A US focus on neighborhoods contrasts with a comparative examination of global urban networks, social polarization, and transformation of the built environment in the interdisciplinary field of global urban studies (Ren, 2018). I argue for a placemaking research agenda that bridges insight from US Urban Sociology with Global Urban Studies to consider how various structures and actors constrain and facilitate place projects. With a globally reaching and comparatively informed sociology of placemaking, we can illuminate our multi-structured story of place and agency in context. We can answer questions about how and why we co-create and are simultaneously disciplined by the process of creation.     

Teaching technologies for immigrant children: an exploratory study of elementary school teachers in Russia*

ABSTRACT

Educational institutions are an important setting where psychological, pedagogical, sociocultural, and language adaptation of immigrant children occurs. A number of teaching strategies, practices, approaches, and methods have been described in the literature. In the Russian context, such strategies have been called ‘technologies’. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to describe teaching technologies used by teachers in Russia when working with immigrant students in elementary schools. Responses of forty-five elementary school teachers to open-ended questions describing technologies they use when teaching children with migration backgrounds were analyzed using content analysis. Findings suggest that Russian elementary school teachers used ethno-cultural group, communicative technologies, games, individualized instruction, and differentiated teaching. Many approaches mentioned can be used inclusively with groups of immigrant and non-immigrant students. Importantly, while teachers supplemented classroom instruction with additional Russian language lessons, none mentioned specific techniques for teaching Russian as a non-native language. These findings are discussed in relation to teaching strategies described in the international literature focused on migrant students. Finally, implications for further research are discussed.     

Adoption and permanence planning in Scotland: Impact of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 on key processes and timescales

Adoption and permanence planning has been a key feature of Scotland's policy in relation to children and young people who are “looked after.” Although policy and law has significantly developed in recent years, there has been comparatively little research on permanence processes in Scotland. This paper outlines key findings from the first comprehensive study of permanence planning in Scotland. It examines the process for two cohorts of children where adoption or other types of permanence orders were made. The children were selected under the long standing Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 and the more recent Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. In total, 300 cases were examined, analysing data from the children's first contact with services through to the order made by the Scottish Courts. This paper pays particular attention to the timescales found at key stages under the two sets of legislation and asks what difference the change in legislation has made.     

组织支持、城市融入与新生代农民工离职:一个被调节的中介模型

新生代农民工过于频繁的离职行为导致企业用工成本上升,同时也阻碍了农民工的城市融入进程.基于组织支持和互惠理论,采用问卷调查的方式,实证检验了组织支持感、城市融入感及互惠与新生代农民工离职意愿之间的关系与作用机制.研究结果表明,组织支持感负向影响新生代农民工的离职意愿,城市融入感在其中起到了中介作用.同时,新生代农民工的互惠倾向对城市融入感与离职意愿的关系具有强化调节作用,并进一步调节城市融入感在组织支持感与离职意愿之间的中介作用,也即新生代农民工的互惠水平越高,城市融入感的中介作用越强.文章首次测度了新生代农民工的互惠倾向,并且验证了微观企业的组织支持能够促进新生代农民工的城市融入.研究结论为用工企业更好地理解新生代农民工心理行为机制,从而建立有效的管理措施提供了理论指导,同时为寻找新生代农民工城市融入的实现路径提供了依据.     

‘Colour-evasiveness’ and racism without race: the disablement of asylum-seeking children at the edge of fortress Europe

This article explores discriminatory discourses articulated by Italian professionals operating in educational, health and social services for refugees in Rome, in relation to the educational and social inclusion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children. It locates such narratives within the historical ‘concealment and invisibilisation of race and racism’ that have characterised Italy particularly since the end of the Second World War, while showing how they legitimate contemporary processes of disablement and over-representation of forced migrant children in the category of Special Educational Needs. A theoretical framework influenced by Dis/ability Critical Race Studies, Italian postcolonial studies, and Judith Butler’s notions of subjectivation and performative politics is used to discuss how a ‘colour-evasive’ racial ideology has seeped into various institutions in Italian society, and importantly into education policies and practices.     

Urban greening and mobility justice in Dhaka’s informal settlements

ABSTRACT

Urban greening in Dhaka, Bangladesh is fraught with injustice for slum dwellers. Access to the commons for the enactment of gardening, farming and foraging by the urban poor, many recent internal migrants from rural areas, is contested by wealthier citizens, developers and political elites. Through qualitative research with households within the informal settlement of Korail in Dhaka’s urban core, and a range of stakeholders in governmental and non-governmental organizations, this study critiques competing policy visions that involve urban greening and urban green infrastructure. Repurposing the conceptual lense of ‘mobility justice’ to analyse environmental and ecological issues in the global South, the findings highlight the importance of mobility concerns to just futures for urban planning.     

历史城区自行车绿道系统规划与设计的实证研究

为提升历史城区的绿道品质，优化非机动车出行环境，对自行车绿道系统的规划与设计方法进行了实证研究。根据自行车绿道系统的特性，按照空间形态特性将历史城区的自行车绿道系统分为单元、廊道及节点等3类要素，通过自组织映射图模型、最短路算法、旅行推销员算法及自行车路阻函数等，在地理信息系统上建立了基于赋权系数的自行车绿道系统规划方法，并应用所提出的方法对西安市主城区自行车绿道系统进行实证研究。研究结果表明，西安可以构建成包括22条骑行廊道、总长度142.6 km的自行车绿道网络，证明提出的方法能建立适用于历史城区出行特性的自行车绿道系统。     

Rural-urban differences in college students’ cardiovascular risk perceptions

Abstract

Objective: To examine rural-urban differences in college students’ cardiovascular risk perceptions. Participants: College students in rural (n?=?61) and urban (n?=?57) Kentucky counties were recruited from November 2012 to May 2014. Methods: This was a secondary data analysis of a cross-sectional study examining rural-urban differences in cardiovascular risk factors. Students rated their risk for developing high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, having a stroke, and gaining excess weight. Chi-square and logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: Rural students had lower odds of perceived high risk for developing high blood pressure compared to urban students (odds ratio (OR): 0.32, 95% CI: 0.11–0.96) after adjusting for race, sex, and body mass index. This association was not observed after adjusting for healthcare access variables. No other significant differences were observed. Conclusions: Efforts to raise perceived risk for developing hypertension among rural college students may be warranted.