Evaluating the Quality of Urban Development Plans Promoted by the European Union: The URBAN and URBANA Initiatives in Spain (1994–2013)

Since the 1990s, the European Union has launched different programs to promote urban development plans. Implementation and outcomes evaluations have resulted in a “European urban acquis” concerning the importance of comprehensiveness, collaborative governance, and participation to promote “good plans.” However, the evaluation of the quality of local plans, has received less attention. This article analyses quality of local plans developed under the framework of European Policies in Spain applying the plan quality evaluation approach, as well as factors explaining quality levels of these local plans. A scale to measure plan quality is proposed based on five main dimensions (fact base, objectives, policy actions, plan governance, evaluation). 64 local plans are analyzed applying content analysis. RgW and AD tests are used to measure codification reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to assess the validity of plan quality scale. Lineal regression is applied to analyze the impact of different aspects of planning process included in the ‘European urban acquis’ on plan quality. Main results show that CFA validates the scale proposed to measure local plan quality as a second-order factor; and point out objectives and policy actions as the most important first-order factors. Public participation during planning process, and more comprehensive plan across different policy areas, are the main factors explaining ‘good plans’. Therefore, the importance of the ‘European urban acquis,’ is confirmed in order to produce ‘good’ urban development plans; and the article provides a validated scale to evaluate the quality of urban development plans, and their main dimensions.

     

A review of the relevance of demography to Australian water planning

Australia is in the process of implementing a new and comprehensive agenda of water policy reform, notably under the National Water Initiative (NWI). National, regional and local water plans are crucial components of the water policy framework. Together with other disciplines, demography can make important contributions to the water planning process. Demography is clearly relevant to urban water supply planning. It is also relevant to national, State/Territory and regional water planning: for example, demographers can assist with understanding who is affected by water plans, who uses water, and who is likely to be affected by new water policy initiatives such as markets and trading.     

Who Makes the Most? Measuring the “Urban Environmental Virtuosity”

This paper advances a composite indicator called urban environmental virtuosity index (UEVI), in order to measure the efforts made by public local bodies in applying an ecosystem approach to urban management. UEVI employs the less exploited process-based selection criteria for representing the original concept of virtuosity, providing makes a cross cities comparison. In developing such a framework the main technical issue of constructing a composite indicator, involving the weighting and the aggregation phases will be overcame by using a multivariate approach.     

城市社区长期照料体系的现状与问题——以上海为例

随着人口老龄化的发展,老年长期护理需求日益增强。而在现代化过程中,家庭护理功能日趋削弱,传统的老年长期护理面临严峻挑战。根据中国的社会经济发展条件,居家养老为基础的社区服务是具有普遍意义的社会化养老模式。本研究以上海为例,从服务的提供、人力资源、资金运作、照料质量等方面系统分析了城市社区长期照料服务体系的现状与特征。文章最后提出,应该通过加强人力资源的培训、完善质量监控机制、扩展日托所功能、提高政府对社会服务事业的投资、建立税务激励机制等途径推动社区长期护理社会化服务事业的进一步发展。     

中国生态移民的研究——一个文献综述

生态移民是近年研究移民和生态环境方面的热点问题之一,国内的研究还处于初级阶段,但已经有一些可喜的研究成果。本文试图归纳总结其中部分有代表性的观点进行分析,以期对以后更深入的研究提供些许铺垫。     

Strategic HR Management with an Aging Workforce: Using Demographic Models to Determine Optimal Employment Policies

A key component of the strategic plan for any company is the determination of the optimal number of workers needed to produce the desired level of output. Unless workers of different ages have the same skills and productivity, managers must also decide on the best age structure of their workforce and adopt compensation and employment policies to achieve these objectives. Employer responses to the shifts in the demand for their output impact the age distribution of the workforce while employment and compensation policies influence age specific hiring, retention, and retirement rates. This paper examines how demographic models can be used to project the future age structure of a labor force. In addition, we describe how compensation policies can be used to alter trends in the age distribution of employees. Thus, employers can develop strategic plans for achieving the desired labor force.     

Demokratie für den Irak?

The situation in Iraq remains unstable. This is, among other factors, due to the lack of a realistic, long-term and integrative model for democratization. The current occupying powers neither dispose of a long-term plan, appropriate to the local circumstances, which could be able to include systematically local culture and social forms. Nor do they obviously have a clear step-by-step plan within the framework of an integral model which could take into account the experience of the past decades regarding sustainable democratization of Islamic core areas. This essay presents the three currently most promising and most realistic models of how Iraq can be democratized by means of a long-term, comprehensive, holistic and systematically differentiated strategy. The focus of attention is on the methodical inclusion of cultural, socio-psychological and sociological aspects. The three democratization models for Iraq are: 1) the Tatarstan model, 2) the Turkey model, 3) the model of stratified democracy. These three models are critically discussed and evaluated; in conclusion a short outlook will be drafted.     

Population Scenarios Based on Probabilistic Projections: An Application for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Probabilistic population forecasts offer a number of advantages to users. However, in some cases population is one component of a larger analysis that may take a different approach to uncertainty. For example, integrated assessments of environmental issues such as climate change or ecosystem degradation have typically used a small number of alternative scenarios to explore uncertainty in future environmental outcomes. In such cases, population projections that are provided only as probability distributions are difficult to use. I present a method of employing probabilistic population projections to derive individual, deterministic projections that can be used within scenarios for integrated assessments. The principal advantages of this approach are that (1) it provides a less ad hoc way of defining deterministic projections intended to be consistent with more comprehensive scenarios that describe, among other things, future socio-economic developments; (2) it provides more flexibility in specifying input assumptions for deterministic projections as compared to choosing off-the-shelf projections, allowing population assumptions to be tailored to the scenario; and (3) it provides a quantitative assessment of the uncertainty associated with any given deterministic projection. I describe the application of the method to the development of population projections used in integrated scenarios for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, an international scientific effort to assess the current conditions of and future outlook for global ecosystem goods and services. Results show that the MA scenarios are each consistent with a relatively wide range of demographic outcomes. For some scenarios, ranges of plausible outcomes in some regions overlap substantially, indicating that particular population projections could be consistent with more than one scenario. In other cases, uncertainty ranges for different scenarios are distinct, indicating that a projection consistent with one scenario is unlikely to be also consistent with another. Comparing variances of the conditional projections also provides insight into how much different storylines constrain future demographic developments. The development of the MA projections points to important areas of future research on correlations among demographic rates and on uncertainty across scales. It also serves as an illustration of how probabilistic and alternative scenario-based approaches to uncertainty can be combined within a single integrated analysis.This revised version was published online in April 2005 with corrections to figures 1-3.     

我国养老保险制度应考虑性别差异

包括我国在内的多数国家的养老保险制度没有考虑性别差异 ,使得妇女的养老保障没有男子充分。本文首先分析老年经济安全的性别差异 ;其次论证我国养老保险制度考虑性别差异的必要性 ;再次讨论了养老保险制度考虑性别差异的原则 ;最后对养老保险制度考虑性别差异的具体内容进行探讨     

Towards the Use of Crowdsourced GIS Data to Georeference Child Well-Being Globally

Child well-being is described as a social problem, such that in most cases social indicators defined by experts are used, without much input from local and heterogeneous communities. This article makes the case for an innovative way to monitor and explore child well-being globally, while also critiquing currently used indices. Based on Nussbaum’s Capabilities approach, we propose to formulate indices by using GIS and a comprehensive list of relevant geospatial datasets, using uniquely designed meta-layers and feature catalogues. Moreover, we argue that these geospatial data can be collected and mapped by the local communities, through participatory approaches, thus not relying on authoritative engagement and data. This will contribute to the empowerment of communities, making them relevant stakeholders with valued contribution to the process. This paper outlines preliminary work related to concepts and ideas, whereas future work is planned to develop an elaborate and comprehensive GIS model, and conduct further spatial analysis in the framework of a small scale campaign.     

Mitigating an elephantine epidemic: gendered space for HIV/AIDS outreach through Namibian conservancies

As the reach of HIV/AIDS continues to devastate communities and create potential pressures on natural resources, conservation organizations have increasingly become involved in education and outreach to address the disease. This paper’s purpose is to investigate how increasing HIV infection rates and AIDS deaths relate to community-based conservation and livelihood strategies in the Caprivi Region of northeastern Namibia, and demonstrate that conservation organizations can play a unique role in combating the disease. As the epidemic is more widespread in the Caprivi than in any other region of the country, local organizations such as Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) are responding to the disease by integrating it into conservation work. IRDNC’s efforts reflect a particular focus on gender, including changes in the way that HIV/AIDS is discussed in local communities, strategies to promote access to testing and care, and bringing to light the experiences of individuals and families struggling with HIV/AIDS. This approach shows that there are benefits to be gained from approaching HIV/AIDS mitigation through familiar, existing structures such as those of community conservancies in Namibia—especially the ability to circumvent heavy local stigma. Using data collected through participant observation and participatory discussions, this paper demonstrates that conservation programs can positively affect people with HIV/AIDS, highlighting the importance of mainstreaming outreach efforts that address the particular localized manifestations of the disease in the context of natural resource management.     

A Method of Assembling Cross-sectional Indicators into a Community Quality of Life

This study develops a new method of measuring quality of life at the local and state level. Further, it presents a methodology that combines heterogeneous indicators from different fields, such as economics, social, and health, into one total measurement. The technique shown can be used to compare one region with another, or compare one metro area with its own performance through time. The analysis shows which categories and indicators are ranked as the highest and serves as a measurement of economic development and potential targets for marketing plans. Every analyst interested in an aggregate, community measurement tool should be interested in the procedure and results.     

Two hundred years and counting: the 1990 census

On April 1, 1990, the US will take a national census, marking 200 years of census taking in America. A national census has been taken every 10 years in the US since 1790. Mandated by the US Constitution, the decennial census is the basis for reapportionment of the House of Representatives. California, Texas, and Florida are expected to gain the most Congressional seats following the 1990 Census, reflecting above-average population growth in these states. The census also provides important information about the characteristics of the American people, and a growing number of federal, state and local government programs, private corporations, and community agencies use census data. Each census provides a portrait of America, and over the decades these portraits have revealed much about how our country has changed as we have grown from a young agrarian nation of about 4 million people clustered along the Eastern seaboard to a complex post-industrial society of nearly 250 million spread across the continent and beyond. Techniques for taking the census have steadily improved over the past 2 centuries. The 1990 Census will rely heavily on computerization in all its aspects, including field operations, processing, geography, data tabulations, and products. It is likely to be the most accurate census in our history. The 1990 Census is already the subject of a lawsuit, however, charging that minority groups will be counted less completely than the white population. A series of similar lawsuits followed the 1980 Census, but all were unsuccessful. This Bulletin discusses the Census Bureau's plans for taking the 1990 Census, looks back on 200 years of census taking in America, and details such key aspects of the 1990 Census as the questionnaire, census geography and data dissemination plans, census undercount and the homeless.     

吉林省生态人口容量研究——以2002年为例

测定现今人类为了维持自身生存而利用的生物生产性土地面积的量,评估人类对地球生态系统的影响的模型叫做生态足迹模型,这是一种用来衡量可持续发展程度的有效方法。近年来,国内的一些学者纷纷开始将其应用于对生态承载力的计算。而一个区域生态人口容量的确定取决于区域生态承载力与区域人口对生态资源的需求。吉林省作为一个农业大省,其自然资源和人口数量的协调尤为重要。     

Toward a U.S. population policy

The gratifying media results from a concerted national and local publicity effort when Zero Population Growth (ZPG) released its recommendations for a national population policy are reported. Support was received from 10 members of Congress and local leaders. 8 ZPG chapters and the Washington office held press conferences casting the meaning of increased population growth in regional terms. In Cincinnati, ZPG focused on the shortage of landfill space, in San Francisco the water shortage, and in Massachusetts the rapid urbanization of prime farmland. The Congressmen emphasized that the U.S. must have a comprehensive population policy before it can tell other countries they must. Among the ZPG policies recommended are: zero population growth by 2008, increased funding for family planning services and education, special programs for teenagers, greater public education on population dynamics, increased funding for contraceptive research, enforcement of existing immigration laws, comprehensive review of immigration policy, equal rights for women, and more equitable income tax policy.     

Planners’ Perspectives on Governing and Producing Sustainable Cities in Malaysia

Since the mid-1990s, sustainable principles have been embedded in Malaysia’s development plans. The assumption has been that policies, programs, and plans that promote good communities—requiring a mix of housing types, uses, and densities—will produce sustainability. This study examines planning policies and interviews data with local planners to understand the challenges in interpreting and implementing a sustainability agenda in practice. The findings of the study suggest that although planners use various strategies and mechanisms to achieve sustainable cities, problems and barriers limit efforts to produce sustainable cities. Planners have reached a consensus on the need to improve current practice in producing sustainable cities and find effective solutions to deliver good governance practices. The weak commitment of different agencies and leadership, and limited staff resources and unnecessary political intervention, mean that planners in Malaysia face increasing challenges when implementing sustainable cities.

     

Population planning in Asia in the 1970s

Summary To what extent is family planning integrated with broader population planning in the countries of East Asia and South Asia? To what degree do these countries combine population planning with economic and social planning in their development plans? An attempt to answer these questions suggests that, despite variability from country to country in development goals and policy implementation, family planning has been largely separated from economic planning, and birth control programmes have often been substituted for intermediate and long-range population planning. Demographic factors have been treated as exogenous variables rather than as integral parts of social-economic-demographic plans. Such comprehensive planning is difficult for both technical and political reasons, but in any case is unlikely to be achieved so long as family planning and population planning continue to be confused.     

经济发达农村地区外来劳动力的性别差异研究

本文考察了苏南农村发达地区外来劳动力在个人特征、工作条件及收入等方面的性别差异 ,分析了女性在就业和工作中面临的不同于男性外来劳动力的待遇及其原因。主要结论有 :发达地区男女外来劳动力收入存在着较大差异 ,除了受教育程度 ,地区差异外 ,性别歧视也是一个重要原因。经济发达农村地区应当进一步规范就业制度 ,尽快消除各种限制劳动力自由流动的市场障碍 ,加强对外来劳动力的综合管理和服务 ,为劳动力的充分自由流动创造条件     

Determined to stop? Longitudinal analysis of the desire to have no more children in rural Mozambique

Classic demographic theories conceptualize desired family size as a fixed goal that guides fertility intentions over the childbearing years. However, a growing body of research shows that fertility plans, even nominally long-term plans for completed childbearing, change in response to short-term conditions. Because of data limitations, much of this research has focused on low-fertility contexts, but short-term conditions are likely to be even more important in high-fertility contexts. This paper uses three waves of survey data collected in rural Mozambique to study predictors of the desire to stop childbearing in a context of relatively high fertility and high individual and social instability. We use fixed effects models to assess how women’s desires to stop childbearing are shaped by demographic factors, household economic conditions, and health status, controlling for constant individual characteristics. Results provide evidence that fertility desires both reflect stable underlying goals and evolve in response to individual and social circumstances.