Local Actors Research Articles

Airbnb and Mountain Tourism Destinations: Evidence from an Inner Area in the Italian Alps

Starting from this decade, peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation has witnessed a valuable growth that has interested both urban and rural environments. With reference to the Italian context, the Airbnb platform represents the main platform used by tourists, contributing to reshaping tourism offerings and to the “drive” of the image of tourism destinations. The aim of this study is to present insight into the Airbnb phenomenon in a marginal mountain destination in the Italian Alps, for a better understanding of how the environmental dimension is considered by both guests and hosts. In order to reach this goal, 727 guests’ reviews in 35 Airbnb accommodation facilities of the municipalities of Soana Valley were analyzed through a qualitative sentiment analysis performed with NVivo 14 software. The evidence was compared with the hosts’ viewpoint, thanks to semi-structured interviews with three local actors. Preliminary considerations of the guests’ reviews reported positive comments (79.5%) for both the accommodation per sé (perfect, excellent, beautiful, welcoming, and clean) and the mountainous area as well, particularly appreciated for its natural characteristics. These were confirmed by the hosts’ interviews, who underlined how nature represented one of the main guests’ highlighted aspects. Moreover, visitors’ needs and expectations have increased over the years, forcing the need to improve the quality of offerings. This contribution concludes with a reflection on the opportunities that second home tourism can represent for Italian inner mountainous areas.

Integrasi Sosial-Politik Hindia Belanda dengan Kerajaan Bungku

This study aims to describe the socio-political integration that occurred between the Dutch East Indies and the Bungku Kingdom. The research method used in this study is historical research, in which the existing research refers to heuristic steps, source criticism, formulating facts, and presenting new thoughts as a process of analyzing data sources found during the research period. The results of this study indicate that the values of the colonial state system also left an impression and were integrated into the thoughts of local aristocratic political figures; it can be seen in the struggle of H. Husen during the transition from the Japanese occupation to Indonesia during the revolution. In his battle, H. Husen also joined the Red and White struggle group in the Poso area until the 1950s, when he was elected as a member of the Provisional DPRD of Central Sulawesi Province. In addition to H. Husen, representatives of the people in the DPRD-S at that time included J. Magido, Lumentut, Monoarfa, Sengka Marunduh from Mori, and H. Husin from Bungku. In addition, there are also Bungku figures who became local political actors after the Dutch East Indies colonial era or at the beginning of the formation of the new state of Indonesia, including Ngitung, Muin Pusadan, and Abdul Malik Syahadat.

Stakeholders’ Participation in the Creative Economic Development of Cirebon City

This study aims to examine the participation level of stakeholders, identify the dominant stakeholders, and investigate the factors inhibiting stakeholders’ participation in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of creative economic development in Cirebon City. “Creative City” is politically and legally stipulated as the city vision in the regional mid-term development plan 2018-2023 of Cirebon City. As the creative economy is centered around the production, exchanges, and consumption of goods and services from human creativity, Cirebon City is, therefore, a significant case study to investigate how the local government implements participatory processes in developing a creative city.Using qualitative methods, data were collected through a semi-guided interview of 190 respondents from five stakeholders: academics, businesses, communities, government institutions, and media organizations. It was followed by a focus group discussion of 12 key respondents selected purposively from the five stakeholders. With primary and secondary data sources, qualitative data was analyzed through the process of data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing/verification.This study concluded that stakeholders' participation in all stages of creative economic development in Cirebon was still minimal. The businesses in culinary subsectors as the most dominant stakeholders in the participation processes. The lack of socialization from the municipal government and the limited collaboration amongst the stakeholders were identified as the inhibiting factors of inclusive participation in creative city development. The government needs to accelerate creative economic development through multisectoral policies, including improvement of business knowledge and skills of the local business actors, goods and services’ quality upgrading and assurance, certification and legal assistance, as well as promotion and market expansion

Kampung Durian Pranan Agritourism Initiatives: An Analysis of Actor Dynamics

Developing agritourism is a useful strategy to enhance the value of the local agriculture industry. Agritourism utilises agricultural products and activities to attract tourists to rural areas. As an early stage of agritourism development, land conversion has become a supporter of attempts to create agritourism attractions. The notion of locality exists to distinguish and identify the tourism attraction area. This research focuses on durian agritourism in Padukuhan Pranan, Banjaroya Village, Kalibawang, Kulon Progo Regency, Special Region of Jogjakarta. Special attention is made to the dynamics of the local actors. Data collection was carried out using ethnographic methods through observation and in-depth interviews, for approximately three months (July-September 2023). The informants in this research were several actors involved in the development and management of Kampung Durian Pranan agritourism. The study discovered that converting the property to agritourism benefited Padukuhan Pranan by establishing the Kepranan durian as a symbol of local identity. With its central emphasis on the local populace, the Pranan Durian Village Festival serves as an outstanding instance of the substantial contributions made by community members. The collaborative efforts of local actors to effect positive change are exemplified through the festival’s design and execution, which are built upon their roles as initiators, motivators, and educators. However, it is worth noting that the reestablishment of a sustainable family farm as a means to regenerate agritourism’s sustainability has yet to transpire due to the continued dearth of interest among the younger generation in agritourism. Hence, agritourism planning needs to be designed by organising activities involving the younger generation and rebuilding family farms to create resilience and sustainability.

Teacher assistants’ values in a discursive space: emerging change and re-negotiation of teacher professionalism in Sweden

ABSTRACT In the Nordic context, transnational discourses influence recontextualisation of ideas and discourses, and thus, how local actors negotiate around values imbued with ideas and discourses. In Sweden, the idea of teacher assistants has been prompted – through policy discourses on teacher professionalism – under imperatives of reducing teachers’ workload and increasing professional responsibility and accountability. The aim of this article is to explore teacher assistants’ values regarding roles and responsibilities in relation to teachers and education in light of policy discourses on teacher professionalism. Drawing on discursive institutionalism and curriculum theory, the concept of ‘discursive space’ is utilized to explore values in an institutional context. Based on twelve interviews with teacher assistants in compulsory schools, the analysis shows how a reductionist notion of teaching gives rise to dilemmas around being teachers’ ‘alter ego’ when values around teaching as ‘core’ are prioritized. Dilemmas around local pluralization emerge when teacher assistants are viewed as a ‘solution’ to a plethora of issues. Challenges emerge in the context of ambiguity around teacher assistants’ orientation towards teaching or processes ‘surrounding’ teaching. The analysis illustrates conditioned values highlighting dilemmas and challenges, but also possibilities for discursive action. Altogether, a re-negotiation of teacher professionalism emerges in the discursive space.

Colombia-Venezuela border: Securitisation of migration and Venezuela’s political crisis

Colombia and Venezuela share a geographi­cal border of 1,274 miles. Although both countries have historically had contentious border crossings, the antagonistic nature of migration across the borderlands has increased following Venezuela’s current in­ternal political crisis. The article argues that Venezuela’s political climate has led to further securitisation of migration across the Colombian-Venezuelan border. It sup­ports this argument in three ways. First, the article discusses the border as both a geo­graphical and a man-made border. It also examines the similarities and differences that exist across the Colombian-Venezuelan border. The countries share the same lan­guage, Spanish, which unites the region and its diverse peoples with a shared history. Nevertheless, socio-economic, environmen­tal and cultural differences widen the divid­ing lines between these two nations. Second, the article explores the bor­der crossing (migration) trends. The article further discusses the effects and reasons for such border crossings. Third, it explains the securitisation theory and uses it to discuss how the border has become increasingly se­curitised by local and international actors. Finally, the article calls for a de-securitised approach to cross-border migration. In this regard, the article supports greater bilateral, regional and international cooperation to address the plight of people crossing the border and living in border regions

Dependency in the Digital Age? The Experience of Mercado Libre in Latin America

ABSTRACTThis article uses Mercado Libre, the leading digital platform company in Latin America, as an illustrative case to analyse the effect of regional platforms on development, by considering their interplay with both global leaders and local actors. Building on dependency theory, the article identifies the company's structural dependence on algorithms and computing power provided by the largest information technology (Big Tech) companies in the United States. Nonetheless, it also finds that Mercado Libre is at the frontier in applied data analysis solutions tailored for its businesses. Together with a privileged access to personalized and cross‐fertilized market and financial datasets, the company's internal and purchassed technologies are the source of asymmetric relationships with its platforms’ users. The article conceptualizes Mercado Libre's place in digital capitalism as extractivist with local actors and, just like local elites when dependency theory was first formulated, it is complicit with global powers. But, unlike those elite firms, it is not technologically laggard, and its value capture is underpinned by its technological advantage. Thus, this article conceptualizes (digital) dependency as multiple layers of economic power in which leading firms from the peripheries occupy intermediate and interconnecting positions. It shows that, while these regional leaders operate at the technological frontier, economic power relations based on technological asymmetries remain crucial for studying underdevelopment.

Geomedia Perspectives for Multiple Futures in Tourism Development

This article draws on five participatory action research studies to address how geomedia theory can induce multiple imaginations of the future. Critical future research advocates that societies need to collectively create visions of multiple futures, transcending the single rational (neoliberal) future path. The studies were conducted in collaboration with rural communities and local tourism entrepreneurs who were exploring geomedia technologies to develop destinations. The tourism sector uses geomedia technologies but often depends on commercial platforms that seek upscaling and generalisation, becoming detached from local practices and place-specific settings. By applying critical geomedia studies, we problematised the relationship between people, place, and technology in the present, the past, and the future. Geomedia studies provided a critical lens that provoked future visions beyond preformatted technological infrastructures and media practices. The participants were asked to engage with complex issues such as access, restrictions, equality, authority, and legitimacy in relation to the specific place, bringing forth a multitude of local assets and narratives envisioning alternative geomedia technologies. As a result of this process, participants paid greater attention to local assets, gained a more critical approach towards technology, and dared to use digital solutions in a more visionary manner. We, therefore, argue that researchers need to engage with society to bypass hegemonic geomedia representations. By illustrating how geomedia theory can be utilised within community development, we provide a framework for how collaborative research can more explicitly engage with local actors’ thoughts and imaginings of possible futures.

Southern agency in global norms creation: Bangladesh in the SDGs formulation process

This paper examines which institutions, ideas, and interests have shaped the position of Bangladesh in creating the norms of the United Nations (UN)’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Bangladesh’s contribution to the SDGs norms creation process is examined in two distinct stages: drafting a position paper (June 2012–June 2013) and participating in UN Open Working Group (OWG) negotiations (March 2013–July 2014). Findings reveal how a small cohort of policy entrepreneurs played a key role in both stages. They gave prominence to ideas such as poverty alleviation, global inequality, and migrants’ rights in structuring the SDGs agenda. In the final round of OWG negotiations, Bangladeshi delegates calculated that active participation in the norms creation process would best serve the interests of the Global South by challenging the Global North which wanted to impose its interests. This paper offers an important insight into the norms literature by showing convergence and divergence of interests and agendas of global and local actors.

Transforming the residential built environment: Land-use policies and the influence of the growth machine across the United States

What effects do growth machine actors have on transformation of the built environment in terms of localities' enacted land-use policies and actual development? To the best of our knowledge, this study is among the first to answer this question for communities across the United States. We draw on the growth machine theory and speak to some of its proponents’ puzzling findings that policies designed to limit growth often facilitate it. Our analysis is grounded in the urban-quantitative tradition of large-sample studies of U.S. localities. We find that involvement of growth machine business actors in local government is related to transformation of the built environment as indicated by the issuance of new residential building permits. Intriguingly, involvement of local growth actors is also associated with greater use of land-use control policies, which, in turn, have positive rather than negative effects on issuance of new residential building permits. Thus, it seems growth machine actors support policies that outwardly appear to stymie growth, although they in practice do not. These findings suggest land-use policies are often designed with enough leeway for continued growth. Supporting such policies allows growth machine actors to publicly signal support for managed growth and environmental protection, although the reality on the ground remains business as usual.

“Mapping Out” Sustainable Social Farming Paths in Italian Municipalities

Social farming in Italy has not developed homogeneously. In view of this, this article adopts a multivariate analysis approach to analyse the heterogeneity and the similarities in the development paths of social farming in Italian municipalities. The article takes into account the information from a representative sample of 410 interviews. The results suggest that the offer of social farming activities is highly correlated with the distinct nature of the enterprises and with the interest of local actors, who in many cases finance these activities. Regarding the characteristics of social farms, the results of principal component analysis show that the consolidated experience of offering social services and the continuation of activities are the most important organisational elements. Concerning the territorial distribution, the findings of a hierarchical cluster analysis show that Italian municipalities have distinct experiences according to the level of maturity of the social farms in each cluster, with differences in location, the agricultural system, the organisational culture and the social services provided. Assessing enterprise characteristics and recent development paths for social services in Italy can have far-reaching implications for policy. The latter should provide information and training to farmers and users to increase understanding of the social value of social farming and foster a collaborative and sustainable approach to social farming practice.

Regional analysis of tourism competitiveness in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico. A vision of local actors

Objetivo: analizar la competitividad turística integrando la parte socioeconómica, ya que por sus condiciones naturales y geográficas Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, México, conserva un lugar privilegiado como destino turístico tanto de turistas extranjeros como mexicanos, es por ello que para realizar el presente análisis se aplicó la siguiente. Metodología: al aplicarse una encuesta a los actores locales ligados al turismo, con 60 items donde mayormente tiene como unidad de medida una escala Likert, la encuesta fue procesada con SPSS versión 21 y EQS 6.1, para obtener en el análisis exploratorio y factorial inicialmente. Resultados: en términos cuantitativos, se determina cuáles son las diferentes variables que explican los niveles de competitividad turística por medio de un análisis de correlación. Limitaciones: la encuestas que se aplicaron en Puerto Peñasco se realizaron a los actores ligados al turismo por lo que no fue posible incluir la percepción de otros actores sociales. Conclusiones: Puerto Peñasco es un lugar turístico competitivo de Sonora, el cual tiene un gran potencial para seguir creciendo económicamente de lo que se espera un incremento del turismo en los próximos años y esto se vea reflejado en la generación de valor agregado.

The Variety of Lengger Banyumas’ Performances

This article aims to center on the variety of styles of lengger - a traditional art found in Banyumas, Central Java, Indonesia. The article offers a new approach towards understanding lengger by indicating the development that underwent in the performance structure. The study was conducted in Banyumas, Central Java, Indonesia for the period of over a year, between 2022 and early 2024. Using qualitative approach, this study is aimed to explore the variety of the dance practiced by local actors. By using qualitative approach, data was collected using in-depth and semi-structured interviews and participatory observation. There are 13 participants that participated in this study, consisting of local figures engaged in various lengger activities, such as dancers, teachers, and owners of dance studios. The study indicates that lengger evolved greatly in terms of its dance performance. In order to demonstrate this, I use “dance fragments” – a specific moments of performance, time and space to indicate the development of the art’s structure, based on personal etnographic study. Nine varieties of lengger were identified – lengger klasik, lengger barangan, lengger resmi, lengger muslimah, lengger garapan, lengger calung barasai, lengger selingan, lengger campursari, and lengger modern. Pointing out the various styles of lengger helps further understand the cultural processes and current trends of the society in Banyumas. Having these changes in its structure where dominant trends overshadow the traditional understanding is a way of keeping the art alive, while lengger’s peaceful cohabitation with other arts speaks about the tolerant nature of people in Banyumas.

Nonviolent Knowledge(s) and Unarmed Civilian Protection

Abstract In its claim to take the human, and in particular the civilian, as the referent object of security, human security seeks to build not only physical but ontological security for those who live and work in conflict-affected communities; those who shape conflict and are shaped by it. Unarmed civilian protection (ucp), a method of civilian-to-civilian and civilian self-protection, is led by the civilians who make up conflict-affected communities. Rather than ‘including’ local actors in their protection or seeking to extract information about conflict from them, ucp is a practice in which local and international actors work together to co-create and build spaces of protection. This protection is based on conflict knowledge which enables nonviolent protection methods to be practiced effectively. This knowledge comes not from armed actors nor state delegates, but rather from and with conflict-affected communities. Embracing civilian experiential knowledge of armed and violent conflict, ucp instrumentalises civilians, their knowledge(s) of and relationships to armed conflict in the creation of protection networks. Taking ucp as a case study of nonviolent protection, and ucp practitioners as conflict knowledge producers, this article argues that civilian experiential knowledge of armed conflict is essential to the pursuit of civilian protection. Rather than being a prescriptive set of aims, the human security agenda must take seriously the experiences of civilians affected by conflict, centring their experiential knowledge(s) and agency in order to move beyond the unintentional yet harmful (re)production of binary security logics.

Climate change resilience and social capital: Insights from informal urban neighbourhoods in Kumasi, Ghana

This research addresses the pressing need to strengthen climate change resilience of the urban poor living in informal settlements by leveraging social capital - skills and networks. This research builds upon existing works to understand how social skills and networks contribute to building climate resilience in two informal settlements of Kumasi, noted to have diverse and strong community skills and networks. Through a qualitative research approach encompassing household surveys and focus group discussions, we gathered data from residents of Aboabo and Asawase, two of Ghana's largest informal neighbourhoods in Kumasi. We observed a strong presence of social bonding among the residents, characterized by tight-knit networks and reciprocal relationships. This form of social capital played a critical role in facilitating information sharing, resource pooling, and collective action in response to climate hazards. Despite limited government support, residents demonstrated a remarkable capacity for self-organization and community resilience-building, leveraging their social ties and local knowledge to address climate-related risks. However, we identified that the insular nature of these networks may hinder the inclusion of marginalized or vulnerable groups within the community, potentially exacerbating existing inequalities in climate resilience outcomes. These findings highlight the implications of our research for policy and practice, emphasizing the need for inclusive and participatory approaches and multi-scalar responses that involve local, national, regional, and global actors to climate resilience in informal settlements.

Pengembangan Program Pasar UMKM Jago Silo (Jajani Tonggo Nglarisi Bolo) Sebagai Upaya Pemberdayaan Ekonomi Lokal Di Kelurahan Bendogerit Kota Blitar

This service partner is a business actor who is domiciled in Bendogerit Village, Blitar City and is classified as an economically productive partner. The aim of this service is to create the Jago Silo MSME market (Jajani Tonggo Nglarisi Bolo) as a way to encourage the local economy in Bendogerit Village, Blitar City. It is estimated that the Jago Silo MSME market can become a center of sustainable economic activity that provides benefits for MSME players and society as a whole by involving various parties, including local entrepreneurs, regional government and the community. As a result of Jago Silo activities, local business actors feel that they have received greater financial benefits, which for their partners has contributed to improving their quality of life.

Progress in understanding the social dimensions of desalination and future research directions

The piece outlines the contributions of key works in the field of the political ecology of desalination over the past decade. We note that the field is diverse in terms of contributions from geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, and public policy scholars. The research to date has been concerned with the ways in which the deployment of desalting techniques can reflect and reinforce social processes of inequality, political power and economic flows. In this way, desalination has been opened up for intellectual debate beyond technical considerations of the desalting industry and engineers. A critical perspective that complements the recent discussions of environmental harm caused by the desalination industry has emerged as well across a number of global and transboundary contexts. A number of themes emerged that will continue to be of interest to scholars and that need to be addressed in the years ahead. First, desalination intersects transboundary water governance and geopolitics between different water uses and emerges from complex assemblages of local and global actors, including financial actors, water companies, governments, technologies, and natural forces. Second, critical scholarship on desalination needs to continue to pay attention to the interests in and overarching patterns of, the Green New Deal and Blue Economy, each of which intersect with the worlds of academia and policymaking, and involve issues of climate adaptation and mitigation. Third, questions about equity remain with desalination as it is a solution deeply imbricated in the unequal distribution of resources, and questions about representation in decision-making remain. Fourth, research on finance and infrastructure have been at the core of critical desalting research and should remain so. Fifth, there is a growing heterogeneity in terms of research in types of desalting, from reverse osmosis to inland desalting to nuclear and more. This variety will make for rich research for the years ahead. Our hope is that the epistemological, theoretical, and methodological flexibility of this area of research will remain a strong point continuing its rigor, as well as the already robust collegiality among scholars in this interesting, and still nascent field.

What’s (in) a CBO? Analyzing community representation in the Kenyan aid chain

Abstract Within the field of development research and practice, there is a growing realization that interventions aimed at supporting emancipation struggles in the Global South should prioritize local actors and agendas. Consequently, community-based organizations (CBOs) are increasingly considered vehicles of change. The label ‘community-based’ has become central to the work of non-governmental organizations and donors seeking to connect with ‘grassroots’ populations and is frequently used by groups engaged in self-representation on different levels. In this article, we seek to study various forms of CBOs involved in the aid chain in their own right, rather than as mere recipients of aid. Drawing on comparative empirical case studies involving a queer male sex worker-led organization in Nairobi and a group of CBOs in rural Kenya, we illustrate how, despite uniform approaches in development discourse, these organizations take on completely different forms, functions and practices, which influences their relationships with development actors. We seek to problematize over-simplified depictions of CBOs by showing that these in reality comprise a wide range of groups, from local ad hoc initiatives, to highly professionalized actors operating on the (trans)national level. We therefore argue that CBOs should be understood as comprising a continuum in forms, functions and practices, which influences their power positions within transnational aid chains. We recommend that development actors explore the organizational structures of the local groups they work with, including questions of voice and representation, and take into account individual CBOs’ desired roles within the aid chain.

Spatial analysis for water supply in seismic emergencies: the Lima-Callao metropolitan area

Introduction: In urban areas exposed to high-magnitude earthquakes, the drinking water supply would be severely damaged, and domestic services would be disrupted for a large part of the population in the event of an earthquake. The Lima-Callao metropolitan area in Peru, South America, is expected to experience an 8.8 Mw earthquake, and it is estimated that approximately 90% of the population would not have immediate access to emergency water in the case of such an event. The main objective of this paper is to define criteria for a spatial analysis method to guide the design criteria for an Emergency Water Supply System (EWaSS).Methods: This paper combines territorial, urban resilience and participatory approaches and presents the results of an interdisciplinary research with social impact. Thus, it examines the urban territory at macro-, meso- and micro scales; physical-spatial variables indicating risk levels and possible public spaces to implement the system; and socio-spatial variables regarding the population, risk perception and participation in management to strengthen urban resilience. Normative tools and the Geographic Information System are used to spatialize and systematize quantitative and qualitative information.Results and discussion: The EWaSS is an alternative for safe water supply in a post-disaster situation that would provide immediate and autonomous operation during the first 72 h of the emergency. The results show the physical-spatial and social viability of urbanized areas and the system design criteria that guide local actors in making decisions at the three levels of emergency management.

New Atheism and the Criticism of Islam

One of the ideas in the debates concerning anti-Islamic activities is that atheists, especially prominent celebrity atheists – commonly known as ‘New Atheists’ – have provided support and justification for anti-Islamic attitudes and activities. Given that Sam Harris, one of the so-called New Atheists, stated that he started writing his first book, The End of Faith (2004), immediately after the 9/11 attacks, criticism of Islam is expected to be prevalent among some atheists. The more interesting questions, however, concern what kind of criticism there is, how to make sense of its reasons and motivations, whether it dominates the New Atheist agenda (as some argue), and whether the criticism has been somehow influential in various localities. In examining New Atheist publications and their possible presence at the local level, particularly in Finland, this article suggests that an exceptionally pronounced anti-Islamic approach applies mainly to Harris rather than to New Atheism as a whole. Instead, several other significant aspects come into play, highlighted by other New Atheists, and this is largely true of local atheist activism too. Thus, while a weak link between New Atheists and anti-Islamic activities can be made because of their promotion of strong criticism of religion, New Atheism is not the key to understanding such activities, at least in the Finnish context.