Consolidation Of Districts Research Articles

Challenges toward Sustainability? Experiences and Approaches to Literary Tourism from Iran

Interdisciplinary narrative studies are of great importance in several disciplines, especially in the humanities and social sciences. Cultural tourism and its sub-disciplines, including the complex issue of ‘literary tourism’, is an interdisciplinary field of investigation, positioned in between geography and urban–rural studies. In Iran, this form of tourism has been neglected so far—with no distinction between urban and rural areas—despite a particularly rich literary heritage. The present study recognizes the challenge of literary tourism in Iran, delineating some possible actions to develop it as a future engine of economic growth, especially in rural districts. As a contribution to a refined comprehension of literary tourism development paths, a content analysis was run collecting views and textual data on literary tourism in Iran. The empirical results of this study indicate that the mentioned challenges can be classified into several main dimensions and a broader set of sub-themes. The possible actions responding to such challenges can be classified into more dimensions and a vast number of sub-themes. Actions reducing territorial disparities and fueling entrepreneurship in local communities are appropriate to stimulate the emergence (and, possibly, consolidation) of literary tourism districts in Iran, giving an original contribution to sustainable development especially—but not exclusively—in rural settlements.

І. О. Павлова ДЕТЕРМІНОВАНІСТЬ ДИНАМІКИ ТА СПРЯМОВАНОСТІ ІНКЛЮЗИВНОГО РОЗВИТКУ СІЛЬСЬКО-МІСЬКИХ АГЛОМЕРАЦІЙ УКРАЇНИ

The purpose of the study is to substantiate the determinism of dynamics, sectoral and socio-spatial orientation of the inclusive development of UTC and districts as rural-urban agglomerations. To achieve it, the task of defining the essence of the inclusive development of rural-urban agglomerations and its gradual deployment was formulated; characteristics of factors determining the dynamics and direction of inclusive development of rural-urban agglomerations; revealing the peculiarities of the manifestation of the determinism of the dynamics and orientation of inclusive development in certain types of these agglomeration formations. Methodology of research. In the process of research, the principle of interdisciplinarity was used to understand the essence of the reform of the territorial organization of society, systematic and synergistic approachs in identifying the relationship between the decentralization of public power and management in a community format, in the consolidation of districts and the creation of prerequisites for the formation of a common rural-urban inclusive environment, statistical and comparative methods, methods of analysis and synthesis regarding comparison of agrarian and industrial directions of development and of socio-spatial orientation of inclusive development of UTC and districts. Findings. Defined the essence and phasing of the deployment of the inclusive development of rural-urban agglomerations as a social process, which begins with involvement (the formation of UTC and of new districts, «mixed» in terms of the composition of settlements and their inhabitants), is continues with the overcoming of the second stage ‒ inclusivity (dynamic functioning within a single the space of communities and districts) and ends with the third stage ‒ of integration (combining joint efforts of rural and urban UTC and districts) with the aim of creating an environment of inclusion. It has been proven that, in view of their natural resource potential and population composition, rural UTCs have an inherent agrarian or agro-industrial sectoral and rural socio-spatial orientation of inclusive development. Urban and, to some extent, large township UTCs, having in their composition villages and the rural population are rural-urban agglomerations of rural-urban socio-spatial orientation and of sectoral agrarian, agro-industrial, industrial, service orientation of inclusive development. All districts are «mixed» in terms of the composition of communities, settlements and population, therefore they are distinguished by the appropriate sectoral and socio-spatial orientation of inclusive development. Nominally more likely to achieve full inclusion by overcoming all three stages of inclusive development are UTCs and districts whose administrative centers are large cities and, above all, regional centers. Practical value. The practical use of the proposed scientific provisions and recommendations of an applied nature will contribute to the post-war reconstruction and further development of rural-urban agglomerations on the basis of inclusiveness.

Організаційні зміни в системі управління регіональним розвитком

The authors have proved that the problem of reforming the administrative-territorial structure in Ukraine is moving from the level of staging and discussion to the practical plane of implementation. A particularly influential impetus to the acceleration of these changes was given by the process of creating amalgamated territorial communities (ATCs) in Ukraine. Currently, the next stage of reforming local self-government is taking place in Ukraine, which is the consolidation of districts. In the process of formation of new districts, it is proposed to use information on the development of ATCs and take into account the EU experience in this area, which in the future will lead to an increase in the efficiency of the use of available resources along with the improving of the standard of living of the population against the background of betterment of the ecological situation in the region. The study substantiates proposals for applying a process approach to the consolidation of districts. The advantages of implementing these proposals include: consistency with EU structures in the field of district management; the possibility of implementing the conception of «RURBAN»; ensuring sustainable development of the region; increasing the importance of ATCs in the process of territorial management, etc. Success in development depends not only on the starting potential, but also on the mechanisms of development management, one of which can be considered the mechanism of «balancing resources, directions, tasks and methods of development management». The implementation of measures of suburbanization (the process of growth and development of the suburban zone of large cities, as a result of which urban agglomerations are formed) will ensure long-term economic growth of the regions, improve the standard of living of the population and achieve other strategic goals. In the suburban area, the «middle class» of the population should appear and grow. And for this it is important to organize and support the transfer «out of town» of industries, housing, infrastructure, organize eco-protection of systems, create a suburbanization economic space, cultural, tourist and recreational space, developed and high-quality infrastructure for life support of the population and transport links.

ПЕРЦЕПЦІЯ НАСЕЛЕННЯ ДЕЦЕНТРАЛІЗАЦІЙНИХ ПРОЦЕСІВ В УКРАЇНІ. КЕЙС КЕЛЬМЕНЕЦЬКОЇ ТА ЛІВИНЕЦЬКОЇ ГРОМАД

The ratification by Ukraine of the European Charter of Local Self-Government in 1997, and the subsequent creation of the Concept of Reforming Local Self-Government and Territorial Organization of Power in 2014 marked the beginning of a new stage in the development of our state, one of the most important tasks of which was the creation of capable, self-sufficient communities. Therefore, the importance of researching the attitudes of the community population, their perception of the changes that have taken place, ideas and expectations from the reform is unquestionable and necessary at all stages of decentralization and after its implementation. The paper presents the results of a study of the awareness and perception of residents of Kelmenetska and Livynetska territorial communities regarding certain aspects of decentralization processes. The survey involved 630 respondents, and their answers were analyzed according to their gender, age, level of education and the size of the settlements in which they live. The paper analyzes people’s feelings about the changes due to the reform of local self-government and territorial organization of power, and how exactly their lives changed after such changes. The level of awareness of the changes in the administrative-territorial structure of the region that occurred as a result of the consolidation of districts in Chernivtsi region and the formation of united territorial communities, including Kelmenetska and Livynetska within the former Kelmenetskyi district, whose residents are the respondents themselves, was determined, and their relationship was analyzed in relation to such division. The level of respondents’ willingness to take direct part in the development of their territorial community was determined. As a result of the conducted research, it was discovered, that the residents of Kelmenetska and Livynetsk communities have a high level of awareness of the administrative and territorial changes to which the reform has led. A significant number of the population did not feel the effect of bringing the authorities closer to the people and transferring budgets to the localities. On the other hand, residents of the studied communities show a significant level of social awareness and have a high level of readiness to participate in the development of their own community.

Ecological consolidation of lands and federal districts in Russia

It is proposed to identify the hierarchy of federal districts in terms of ecological opportunities for consolidation of vegetation cover by three classes of soil cover according to the UN classification (grass + shrub + trees) on the territory of Russia by ranking the shares of vegetation cover and human-modified lands, as well as ecological coefficients. The total ecological coefficient is calculated by dividing the share of vegetation by the total share of anthropogenic land. The forest-agricultural coefficient is convenient as the ratio of the forest area to the arable land area. The article contains the identification method revealing stable regularities of rank distributions in the form of trends and wave equations.

Decentralization of power in Ukraine in the conditions of the COVID-19

Decentralization and coronavirus - these are the two words that have recently been most often used in the information space of Ukraine. Therefore, the relevance of the topic of this article is twofold, as it stems from two current social and political issues addressed in the article - the fight against coronavirus and the fateful reform of decentralization of power for Ukraine. The purpose of the article is an objective analysis of the process of decentralization of power in the face of a serious challenge facing the Ukrainian state due to the coronavirus pandemic. The methodology of historical science is used for this purpose. The study is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, specificity, systematics; analytical, descriptive methods were used in writing the article. The events of the final stage of the decentralization reform phase (2020) are considered, when the tasks of consolidation of districts, formation of a new administrative-territorial structure of the country, holding elections to new district councils and communities were solved. At the same time, all this was carried out in the context of the economic crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, the decline in the living standards of most people, and the decline in confidence in all branches of government. An important problem of decentralization of power has been the balance of state and regional interests, the establishment of interaction between the central government and local elites, mayors of large cities, whose role has increased due to anti-virus measures. An indicator of this was the successful performance in the local elections of regional parties and personally acting mayors. The novelty of the article is that it first considers the reform of decentralization of public administration in an unprecedented pandemic, which threatened the survival of large masses of people, the economy, the social order of Ukraine. Like most countries in the world.

A tale of two districts: The impact of district consolidation on property values in Shanghai

The consolidation of municipal districts is a momentous change in administrative divisions, which are formulated by municipal governments to optimize the layout of urban functions and coordinate regional development. How the consolidation of municipal districts affects property values in relevant areas has yet to be empirically tested. Using resold property transaction micro-data, this study empirically explores the impact of the consolidation of Jing'an and Zhabei districts in Shanghai on the property values via boundary difference-in-difference estimation. Empirical results show that, during the sample period, i) the overall property values in the consolidated region increased by 1.6% after the consolidation, ii) the consolidation increased property values by 4.8% in the less developed Zhabei but had no significant impact on the property values in the more developed Jing'an, and iii) the consolidation had an expanding impact on the property values in Zhabei district over time.

Адміністративні реформи в Німеччині на місцевому рівні: досвід для України

Розглянуто досвід адміністративних реформ у Німеччині в контексті його використання в Україні. Показано, що адміністративно-територіальні реформи самі по собі є недостатньо ефективними і повинні супроводжуватися якісними змінами управлінських процесів, наприклад діджиталізацією, зміною управлінських завдань, передачею частини завдань приватному сектору. Зазначено, що не треба сподіватися на концептуальну зміну управлінської моделі. Зауважено, що перевірена часом модель бюрократії М. Вебера є надійнішою основою для проведення реформ, аніж “нові” модні концепції, які розширюють дискурс, але не враховують функціональні особливості управлінських інституцій. Зазначено, що досвід Німеччини свідчить, що проведення реформ сприяє продуктивності та підвищенню якості роботи публічних службовців, але внаслідок різних обставин не призводить до скорочення витрат.

総括 課題研究報告II 学校の学区再編・統合と学校経営の課題(課題研究報告II 学校の学区再編・統合と学校経営の課題)

総括 課題研究報告II 学校の学区再編・統合と学校経営の課題(課題研究報告II 学校の学区再編・統合と学校経営の課題)

Physician leadership development: Evidence-informed design tempered with real-life experience.

This article describes key considerations for creation of evidence-informed in-house physician leadership development. Ten elements extracted from a scan of the peer-reviewed and grey literature are presented, and key learnings at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, a quaternary academic health sciences centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, are highlighted. Each element is briefly described with practical considerations and challenges to implementation outlined in the context of the former Capital District Health Authority, where the authors collaborated to create in-house physician leadership development prior to the consolidation of health districts in that province. The purpose of this article is to share how the authors used evidence to plan physician leadership development and to explore the additional situational and contextual factors and considerations needed for implementation.

Education Reform: The Effects of School Consolidation on Teachers and Teaching

At least as early as the nineteenth century, the two most related approaches to societal improvement have been restructuring and systemic reform. For education, that has meant school closures as well as consolidation of schools and school districts. Although there exists a substantive literature on educational reform there appears to be little discussion on the impact such actions have on schools. This paper briefly describes research on current issues in rural education with a focus on consolidation. The methodology emphasizes teachers’ knowledge of practice and is followed by the findings, which highlight the impact these reforms have on practicing teachers. The argument is made that government reforms have adopted consolidation of schools and districts as a primary strategy for fiscal accountability. This focus singles out economics, while excluding the cultural and social context embedded within schools and central to the communities in which the schools are situated. In this paper, the argument put forth is that consolidation as a single-minded strategy of education reform is an inadequate framework that places teachers’ work and student learning at risk. The accounts of practicing educators speak for using consolidation only where absolutely necessary and maintaining as many small schools as possible.

Of food courts and other demons: shopping malls in Mexico as new centers for urban life

Shopping malls are a global phenomenon that has transformed the urban landscape towards a division in homogenized spaces worldwide throughout the last decades. We find malls in almost every bigger city. They offer a space where everybody, no matter where they are from, knows one’s way around. Especially Mexico seems to offer a fertile ground for the success of malls as they offer a presumably needed safe and prestigious space for social encounter. Furthermore, they often provoke the consolidation of whole new city districts. In consequence, what makes this phenomenon interesting for an anthropological study, are the socio-spatial practices that go beyond the intended use of a mall. This article wants to give a brief insight on the impact that malls can have on Mexican cities, using the city of Puebla as an example. Therefore it shall be questioned what makes malls so attractive and how this changes social dynamics in the urban landscape.Keywords: Shopping Malls. Urban Anthropology. Globalization. Public Space. Social Exclusion.

Growing Pains: The School Consolidation Movement and Student Outcomes

Between 1930 and 1970, average school size in the United States increased from 87 to 440 students and average district size increased from 170 to 2300 students, as over 120,000 schools and 100,000 districts were eliminated through consolidation. We exploit variation in the timing of consolidation across states to estimate the effects of changing school and district size on student outcomes using data from the Public-Use Micro-Sample of the 1980 US census. Students educated in states with smaller schools obtained higher returns to education and completed more years of schooling. Reduced form estimates confirm that students from states with larger schools earned significantly lower wages later in life. Although larger districts were associated with modestly higher returns to education and increased educational attainment in most specifications, any gains from the consolidation of districts were far outweighed by the harmful effects of larger schools. (JEL I2, H7, H4) The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Yale University. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.

The Fight for School Consolidation in Arkansas, 1946-1948

FORCED CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS has often been looked upon as the third rail of Arkansas politics: one approaches the subject with considerable caution so as to avoid political electrocution. This issue was again placed on the public agenda, at least indirectly, by an Arkansas Supreme Court decision in November 2002, which held that the state's funding of public schools did not provide children with the general, suitable, and educational system mandated by the Arkansas Constitution. Although the Lake View opinion did not require school consolidation, this method had been proposed in the past to help the achieve a suitable and efficient system.1 The Lake View decision's broad scope seemed to require major changes in policy, utilizing a variety of innovative plans and techniques. Gov. Mike Huckabee in a of the state address to the Arkansas General Assembly on January 14, 2003, offered a bold plan to help satisfy the requirements of Lake View. Huckabee proposed that Arkansas school districts with less than 1,500 students merge with bigger districts. He especially stressed that larger high schools could offer a richer curriculum.2 This proposal aroused great controversy, which remained at fever pitch for the next year. After heated discussions, many downward revisions of the threshold for consolidation, and frequent compromises that often unraveled, the General Assembly passed a bill that required consolidation of districts with fewer than 350 students rather than 1,500. Under the measure, the number of school districts in the was expected to drop from 310 to 254. A companion bill changed the state's school funding formula and increased expenditures for public education.3 While Huckabee's effort accomplished limited consolidation, a similar attempt in 1966 had been completely annihilated. The trigger for consolidation proposed then was 400 students, and voters rejected the measure by a landslide vote of 115,452 (26.41 percent) in favor and 321,733 (73.59 percent) against.4 Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas at the time, opposed the measure as did the two major gubernatorial candidates in that year's general election, Jim Johnson and Winthrop Rockefeller. Despite endorsement by the Arkansas Gazette, the proposed consolidation legislation was even defeated in Pulaski County, where 61 percent of the voters opposed the measure.5 Given the automatically hostile response to any attempt at consolidation in Arkansas, it might seem astonishing that the state's voters in 1948 passed a comprehensive school consolidation act requiring the dissolution of all school districts with fewer than 350 students. Initiated Act 1 was approved in the absence of any court order and with virtually no newspaper advertising, the main method by which campaigns were conducted at that time. And it passed despite the defeat of a very similar proposal just two years earlier. What relevance, if any, does this episode hold for the present? School consolidation had been proposed as early as the 1920s to help districts provide better educational opportunities. In the 1920s, public school education in Arkansas was in a deplorable state, with 5,000 school districts varying enormously in the quality of education they could provide. Gov. Thomas McRae in his inaugural address in 1923 said that the faced an educational crisis in which only a little over half of [Arkansas's] children are in daily attendance, and the average school term is only one hundred and thirty-one days.6 An even harsher indictment had come from a legislative study in 1921 : For thousands upon thousands of children, Arkansas provides absolutely no chance. To these children, to be born in Arkansas is a misfortune and an injustice from which they will never recover and from which they will look back with bitterness when plunged, in adult life, into competition with children born in other states which are providing more liberally for their children. …

Public-Private Symbiosis in Nashville Special Education

The conventional historiography describing a strict public-private divide in United States schooling is misleading. The standard story claims that public schooling was a fuzzy concept 200 years ago; the division between public and private education for children thus developed largely over the nineteenth century. In the early nineteenth century, public funds went to many private schools and even large private systems, such as the New York Public School Society. In some instances, public funds went to parochial education, either explicitly or as part of an arrangement to allow for diverse religious instruction using public funds. However, the nineteenth century witnessed growing division between public and private, largely excluding religious education (or at least non-Protestant religious education). By the end of the nineteenth century, the standard educational historiography suggests, public schools meant public in several senses: funded from the public coffers, open to the public in general, and controlled by a public, democratically controlled process. Tacit in that definition was a relatively rigid dividing line between public and private school organizations. Historians know that this implicit definition of “public” omits key facts. First, the governance of public schools became less tied to electoral politics during the Progressive Era. Public schooling in nineteenth-century cities generally meant large school boards, intimately connected with urban political machines. By the 1920s, many city school systems had smaller boards in a more corporate-like structure. The consolidation of small rural school districts in the first half of the twentieth century completed this removal of school governance from more local politics. A second problem with the definition above is unequal access to quality education (however defined). Historically, the acceptance of all students was true only in a limited sense, either in access to schools at all (with the exclusion of many children with disabilities) or, more generally, to the resources and curriculum involved in the best public schooling of the early twentieth century (as with racial segregation).

Potential cost savings from school district consolidation: A case study of New York

This article presents the results of a detailed study of potential cost savings from consolidation of New York school districts. It extends past research on consolidation by developing a theoretical framework which distinguishes several dimensions of economics of scale and defines an empirical cost function for schooling. The results indicate potentially sizeable costs savings from consolidation of districts with fewer than 500 pupils. Using such districts as candidates for consolidation, the study examines in detail the implications of merging these districts with one of their neighbors and finds relatively few districts strong candidates for full consolidation in New York, although some may benefit from sharing of administrative and support functions. The estimated cost model also sheds light on potential diseconomies associated with large city school districts. While findings apply directly to New York, the method developed here has general relevance to state education policy by helping to target candidate school districts for consolidation, and, where consolidation is not feasible, adjusting state aid formulae to reflect more accurately the cost impacts of scale.

Planning for pedestrian networks in North American downtowns

AbstractWhile North American urban regions are served by mechanical modes of transportation, downtowns are largely pedestrian environments. The growth and consolidation of office districts over the last twenty years have revived interest in developing coherent and efficient pedestrian networks, which can be coordinated with other transportation needs within the downtown. Ambitious plans for expansion of the downtown for offices, the retail and service industries as well as for housing and entertainment have been adopted in many North American cities during the 1980s. The successful integration of these large central areas depends to a considerable extent on the implementation of expanded pedestrian networks. This paper discusses certain spatial characteristics of North American cities which call for specific network designs and research into the walking environments of central areas. More knowledge is needed of the relative contributions to pedestrian regeneration of land use combinations, the design of networks and of walking paths.

The Federal Role in Elementary and Secondary Education, 1940-1980

One of the central dynamics of American educational history is the long-range trend from local and parental schooling arrangements to increasing government funding and centralized control. The trend does not represent simply a benign process of modernization and improvement. Centralization has exacted costs and elicited fierce opposition. In the nineteenth century there were two key developments in this trend: the involvement of state governments in encouraging and regulating schooling, and the consolidation of small local districts into larger, townwide systems. Advocates of local control and nonpublic schooling who opposed these initial steps in the creation of state school systems voiced their objections in much the same terms as opponents of federal involvement do today. Notwithstanding, town-level consolidation and increasing state involvement continued into the twentieth century. Today Americans in both rural and urban areas are accustomed to centralized school districts, detailed state supervision, and substantial state financial aid for education. Curriculum, financial decisionmaking,teacher preparation and licensing, length of the annual school session—all are subject to state regulation. Opponents may contest individual policies and decry excessive bureaucracy,but the general role of the states in financing and regulating school districts'educational practices is widely accepted.