Local Territories Research Articles

Methodology for assessing the development potential of the AIC of the Federal District

The article presents the methodological foundations of AIC functioning, formation of its potential as an element of strategic space planning. The purpose of the study is to create a methodology that allows us to assess the level of AIC development potential of a federal district, a territorial entity consisting of regions, subjects of the Federation. The potential of the federal district is considered as an aggregate value, which is based on the potentials of its components - the potentials of the regions, set in the form of values resulting from the integration of the elements of the potential, reflecting the current state of AIC in the field of: harvesting and processing of products, investment in fixed capital of AIC, expenditures on scientific research. The algorithm of the methodology implies the calculation of indicators: reflecting the comparison of the rate of transformation of the value of gross output and the rate of change in its physical volume; comparing the rate of change in the amount of investment in the results of applied scientific activity with the rate of change in the value of investment in R&D, which determines the relevance of further investment activity in view of the achieved level of demand for the results of scientific activity. The methodology is intended for researchers whose research is related to solving the problems of regulation of socio-economic development at the local level, at the level of the subject of the Federation and at the macro level for making managerial decisions. The results of the research will serve as methodological tools for assessing the achieved level of development of local territories of the federal district, forecasting the values of components and the level of development of AIC, based on the planned values of indicators of economic development of the territory.

PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM IN MARGINAL RURAL AREAS: A GIS DATABASE FOR THE PLANNING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUESTRIAN TOURISM (CASE OF STUDY IN TUSCANY - ITALY)

A form of rural tourism in expansion is horse tourism. Equitourism is a form of hiking that allows for an intimate and natural use of landscapes and local territories. Equestrian tourism today no longer represents a small elite market niche, as it has become a true form of pastime for an increasing number of users. Trail planning and management need to consider the changes that are already occurring, as well as those that are predicted to lie ahead. The key trends that are expected to have an impact on recreational horse trail planning and management are highlighted in this research. Many of these trends have been emerging over decades and have rapidly increased due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent years, in many Italian regions, especially in Tuscany, thanks to the enhancement of the Tuscan equestrian routes, projects for the promotion of equestrian tourism have been developed. In this work the methodology applied was based on the identification of an appropriate database created in the GIS context and specifically coded for equestrian tourism. The aim is to guarantee the creation of an innovative and functional product to meet the needs of this sustainable tourism sector, providing information capable of facilitating the end user, who, through their GPS, georeferenced images and maps, will have the possibility of planning and traveling the horse trail in complete safety. The final result of this research (the first case study in Italy) is the creation of a modern and complete information database of a horse trail that can be managed using GIS.

ОЦЕНКА ДИФФЕРЕНЦИАЦИИ РЕГИОНОВ АРКТИЧЕСКОЙ ЗОНЫ РФ НА ОСНОВЕ ИНФОРМАЦИОННО-АНАЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ

The formation of a single economic space in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is considered as the main task, which is the basis for realizing the development goals of the regions of the Russian Arctic. One of the solutions to the problem of creating a common spatially localized territory of the Russian Arctic megaregion, taking into account the significant differentiation of regions according to socio-economic indicators, is to identify tools for smoothing regional disparities. The use of the tested by the authors IRES RAS methodology “Information and analytical technologies for complex verification of the information base of economic and mathematical modeling of spatial economic systems” is proposed as a tool for constructing data sets suitable for full-fledged mathematical research compiled on the basis of collections of the Federal State Statistics Service.

Szkoła i terytorium. Refleksje edukacyjne wynikające z uczestnictwa w szkole letniej ILS – Innovative Learning Spaces „Schools to be lived”

SCHOOL AND TERRITORY: EDUCATIONAL REFLECTIONS ARISING FROM PARTICIPATION IN THE ILS SUMMER SCHOOL – INNOVATIVE LEARNING SPACES „SCHOOLS TO BE LIVED” The article contains considerations on the feedback relationship between the school as an educational institution and the local territory (city, town or village) in which the school operates, as well as the impact of the spatial organization of the school and its external environment on the educational process. The reflections are based on the results of the international and interdisciplinary summer school ILS – Innovative Learning Spaces “Schools to be lived,” which took place in the fall of 2022 in Pula, Sardinia, pilot surveys and interviews conducted among Polish teachers and primary school students, as well as the author’s many years of observations. The presence of local cultural, social and natural heritage in school curricula and the influence of the arrangement of school spaces may have a significant impact on the quality of education and its adequacy to the challenges of the 21st century. The article is a preview of the author’s more extensive research and strengthens the pedagogical discourse in the context of the European topic of the local territory as an educational space.

Territorial Dynamics Supported by a Collaborative Network of Innovation Labs: Toward an Approach to Establish a Portfolio of Indicators to Monitor and Assess their Territorial Impact

The multiplication of apparently similar Innovation Labs throughout the local territories raises questions about their role and their positioning. Innovation Labs are generally supplied by local resources. This substantial growth could facilitate the connection of various regions within a territory, thereby creating new areas for experimentation. The public authorities need these labs to bring added value to their territory. This study shows that a network of Innovation Labs could be a strategic means to support territorial dynamics at a local scale. The literature does not provide concrete tools, resources, and methods to evaluate the territorial impacts of Innovation Labs. Furthermore, no literature review regarding the networking of Innovation Labs in a territory has yet been conducted. This paper begins to fill this gap and shows that the linking of innovation labs can support territorial dynamics. Through a review of the literature, research trends pertaining to territorial dynamics and innovation laboratories were identified. The contribution of this paper is the proposal of an approach to design a system of indicators to analyze a network of ILs adapted to a local territory as well as a portfolio of indicators. These results will allow us to follow the evolution of these labs, their interactions and their impacts on a local territory.

Networking and spatial interactions: What contributes most to increasing museums' attractiveness?

AbstractGiven the relevance of museums in promoting cultural, tourism and economic development in local territories, we investigate the influence of both spatial and non‐spatial interactions on museum attractiveness. In particular, we assess whether non‐spatial collaborations such as partnerships and networking, contribute to enhancing their level of competitiveness and if spatial dependence occurs among neighbouring museums. Additionally, we differentiate the analysis by considering various location typologies, that is, sites located in highly attractive and remote areas. Findings from this study can assist policy‐makers in designing ad hoc strategies to encourage the active role of museums in their local context.

War and Peace in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt

The process of formation of the first state in ancient Egypt was very long. From chiefdoms to regional, and then all-Egyptian kings, the entire predynastic period took place, from the 4th millennium B.C., when the Nagada culture developed in Southern Egypt. The largest were local territories in Hierakonpolis, Nagada and Abydos. Already in the Nagada I phase, there were social elites under a leader — in chiefdoms, and in the Nagada II phase, institutions of regional kings arose in social property societies. In protodynastic times, during the Nagada III phase, significant changes occurred. The leaders of Hierakonpolis, Nagada and Abydos became the collectors of all Egyptian lands, assimilating the Lower Nile. For a long time in Egyptology, it was believed that already in early times there were two kingdoms in Egypt: The Northern in Lower Egypt and the Southern in the Nile Valley. The Palermo Stone depicts the red-crowned kings of Lower Egypt. And in a fragment from the Cairo Museum, they are already wearing a double crown: the white crown of Southern Egypt is inserted into the red crown of the Lower. And this is evidence of the unification of Egypt into a single kingdom. But who were these first Egyptian kings? Modern archaeological excavations in combination with long-known artifacts allow us to reinterpret these dark pages of the creation of the first dual state. It is believed that the Lower Egypt was annexed to Upper Egypt in protodynastic times. In this article, the author hypothesizes that from late predynastic times, the Northern Kingdom was headed by elites who were appointed by the king of a united Egypt.

The mosaic of language and identity: territorial identification, linguistic attitudes, and proficiency in young immigrants of Catalonia

ABSTRACT This study investigates the relationship between identification with the local territory, language attitudes and language proficiency in young immigrants in Catalonia, a region in Spain. The aims of the study are to examine how identification with the local territory affects attitudes and proficiency in languages, and whether language attitudes have a mediating effect on these relationships. The study used a sample of 543 students from the three main immigrant groups in Catalonia. Multigroup path analysis was performed. The results showed that identification with the local territory favoured attitudes to, and proficiency in, the language associated with that territory while disadvantaging the other language. However, the effect that identification with the local territory had on the level of language proficiency depended on the mediating effect of language attitudes. These findings help to explain why young immigrants’ acquisition of language proficiency varies, and they highlight the facilitating or attenuating roles in the process of language acquisition of identification with the local territory and language attitudes.

Pedagogical experience with Public Health campaigns from the design of socio-educational projects with insertion in the local territory

Introduction: in today's society, educational management has become an imperative for the creation of knowledge and innovative educational experiences. In the context of the Bachelor's Degree in Nursing at the University of Buenos Aires, a pedagogical experience focused on a public health campaign on Dengue was carried out. The main objective of this experience was to promote the democratization of scientific and health knowledge in relation to Dengue, guaranteeing the right of access to public health information. We sought to create an environment conducive to learning, active participation of students and interaction with the community.Development: the experience was divided into three stages: initial, progressive and territorial anchoring. In the initial stage, students were prepared through theoretical and technical sessions. The progressive stage involved adjustments and corrections in collaboration with the teaching team. In the territorial anchoring stage, groups of students carried out the public health campaign in sectors close to the university. The evaluation was carried out using group monitoring instruments and a checklist to evaluate the individual performance of the students. A review and feedback meeting was also held at the end of the experience.Conclusions: the proposed pedagogical experience demonstrated that effective educational management can promote the democratization of knowledge in the field of public health. Collaboration among students and the focus on the right of access to public health information are key elements. In addition, the importance of constant adaptation of educational practices to scientific and technological advances is highlighted. On the other hand, it provided an effective framework for the training of nursing students and the promotion of public health, demonstrating the importance of educational management in today's society

Eco-building for eco-living, an essential step to face climate change

The article provides an historical overview of ecological design within the context of intentional communities. It explores how this design approach has evolved over time and emphasizes its significant contributions to the struggle against climate change. The key principles used by ecovillages (renewable energies, waste recycling, water consumption, voluntary simplicity and degrowing economies, shared governance) are recalled, bringing into light interactions between eco-housing and eco-living designs at all scales. The paper discusses the various challenges faced by ecovillages, such as the need to deeply articulate their own project to a local territory, while simultaneously being part of international networks. The demonstration argues that ecovillages already act, and could have a wider potential to promote sustainable living if they were considered as “setting an example”. The critical discussion acknowledges the difficulty in quantifying ecovillages’ current contributions. However, for their qualitative potential, they are seen as a valuable and strong potential resource in the fight against global warming. In summary, the article highlights the holistic approach of ecovillages in addressing all climate change issues and suggests considering them as laboratories for “empathic” architecture.

Geo-spatial accounting for the socio-economic impacts of megaprojects: Towards operationalization of Megaproject Social Responsibility

Megaprojects are crucial to address the current challenges of climate change and sustainability. Despite the growing interest in Megaproject Social Responsibility, there is still a lack of accounting protocols, standards and frameworks so widespread to monitor the short, medium, and long-term impacts megaprojects may generate both on local territories and communities. This work presents an original geospatial accounting protocol for megaprojects to monitor and assess the generated impacts during all the life cycle phases, from the initial planning and design to the construction and use phase. The proposed protocol includes a three-step methodology - definition of relevant indicators and aspects, 2) identification of a counterfactual territory, and 3) comparison of trends - and six macro areas - from socio-economic impacts to cultural identity preservation or the governance of sustainability. The protocol has then been applied to a relevant highly contested megaproject, i.e., the Turin-Lyon high-speed railway in Italy, to highlight the pros, cons, and limitations of such protocol. This work represents a first development and test of a geospatial accounting application for megaprojects and it can support future policies and managerial decisions, as well as it represents a highly scalable and reproducible operationalization approach for Megaproject Social Responsibility.

Community risk perception for flood management: A structural equation modelling approach

The importance of considering risk perception for the support of flood risk management is widely recognised. Therefore, evaluating citizens' risk perception is essential to understand the elements belonging to the social sphere that can affect the increase of risk. This knowledge can support policy makers and disaster managers in establishing more effective management strategies, priority setting, resource allocation and prevention activities. The presence of urban areas exposed to flood risks poses complex decision-making problems for the planning and management of future organisations of local territories and communities.This work provides an assessment of citizens' perception of flood risk through the construction of a Structural Equation Model (SEM) to identify useful elements to support flood management in a new type of vulnerable areas which have 'episodic streams’ called lame. This was achieved by investigating the citizens’ risk perception and knowledge in the city of Bari. The data was collected using a online survey. Based on the data from 752 respondents, our modelling results provide insights and suggestions to support flood management decision-making as they highlight the heterogeneity of the sample involved, bringing out the categories of citizens most exposed to risk, to which specific measures can be addressed.

A spatio-temporal approach to population diversity: Immigration and rural areas in France

This article provides a spatio-temporal analysis of population diversity in French rural areas between 1975 and 2015 by considering the weight of the immigrant population and the variety of countries of birth of this population. It is based on a quantitative and longitudinal analysis of detailed data from the 1975, 1999, 2008 and 2015 population censuses. The originality of this article lies in a global approach to the different types of migration and the analysis of the trajectories of local territories over time. With this approach, the article shows that diversification trajectories have been dominant in the French countryside for the past forty years, but also that they have varied in pace and intensity according to the economic and demographic characteristics of the territories and their migration history. Taking into account these temporalities of social change is therefore essential to inform local public action on social integration.

Fisheries local action group managers as reflexive practitioners: The enhancement of projects and networks and the renewal of the Finnish fishing livelihood

AbstractThe implementation of the European Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) system applies a neo‐endogenous approach, which can restructure public intervention in favour of a mosaic of local territories. By resting on a Finnish case study, this article studies the local adaptation of the FLAG system and how FLAG managers are positioned as intermediaries in horizontal and vertical networks that enhance local fisheries’ livelihoods. The analysis of the FLAG system's approaches and various roles of the managers is based on qualitative interviews and a stakeholder survey, set in the interactive governance framework. Our findings show how via its intermediary role, expertise, commitment and networking, the FLAG system, and especially FLAG managers, can mend the failures of the governance system. We conclude that the recruitment of the right type of FLAG managers can be a path towards the enhancement of local small‐scale fishers in a well‐functioning governance system .

Policing freedom campers: the place, class, and xenophobic dynamics of overtourism in Aotearoa New Zealand

The concept of ‘overtourism’ has boomed in the past five years as the latest term to refer to anti-tourist sentiment in tourist hotspots. News media’s widespread use of the term suffers from conceptual slippage and a tendency to incite moral panic. However, a deeper theorization of overtourism as embodied, place-based social conflicts shows that this phenomenon is not about absolute visitor numbers or particular tourist activities, but rather about the connection between place, class and the political economy of tourism. Drawing on Urban Political Ecology and qualitative case-studies of freedom camping in two urban areas of Aotearoa New Zealand, we examine how social conflicts between tourists and hosts erupted in poorer urban areas as NIMBYism in privileged areas with greater access to state resources pushed freedom campers out. Both hosts and tourists are agentic in these encounters. Locals frustrated with tourist behaviour they deem visually invasive and physically polluting ‘police’ freedom campers, ranging from facilitating formal police action and governance regulation to vigilante behaviour. Freedom campers subvert these acts of policing, often through the very rules and technologies that are in place to regulate and monitor them. At the heart of these issues is a problem of neoliberal governance which stresses tourism’s ‘economic benefit’ to the regions, while placing responsibility for managing tourist/host relations on local territories.

Wineries in the Itata and Cauquenes Valleys: Local flavors, multiple dispossessions and care for the commons as pluriverses for (neo)peasant climate resilience

Within the framework of the global climate crisis and its specific effect of the mega-drought affecting dryland agriculture in the central-southern area of Chile, this study analyzes peasant wineries as a historical and collaborative commons, with traditional and agroecological knowledge and practices, which is organized and represents an important pluriverse for climate resilience. This takes place despite the threat of dispossession and multiple enclosures associated with the advance of industrial-level wineries and corporate forest plantations. The text analyzes the ways that small winegrowers in the Itata and Cauquenes Valleys protect their heritage and income by integrating interdisciplinary contributions from geology (evaluating climate change manifestations in their valleys), social sciences (observing the care and production practices of the wine-growing commons), and law (analyzing possible legal frameworks to develop in this common defense). All these actions are integrated from an analytical framework of political ecology and climate justice. In these experiences, we recognize multiple elements of climate resilience adapted to the agroecological conditions of dryland farming, showing that wineries are an activity which can protect the local territory and provide climate justice, contributing to protecting cultural heritage and socioenvironmental well-being in communities.

Fjäll, o le altre Alpi: costruire nelle montagne del Nord

Contemporary Nordic architecture is shaped by its relationships with the global architectural practice and its material and cultural ties to the regional context. This essay investigates the specificities of mountain and rural architecture in the Nordic countries over the last two decades, with case studies from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Due to their proximity to the Arctic Circle, the living conditions in these territories are very close to those in the Alpine regions, despite the lower elevation. The essay analyses several factors that are currently at play when it comes to the architectural practice in the North: the relationship between landscape and tourism, the reuse of 20th century rural heritage, the resilience of traditional building techniques, and the clashes between local territories, extractive policies, and colonial power.

FEATURES OF LOCAL-LEVEL TOURIST DESTINATIONS AS GEOGRAPHICAL OBJECTS

The tourist destination, both in terms of its ontological essence and, especially, in terms of the variety of epistemological reflections, is imagined as a rather specific object, moreover, it is rather variegated and controversially covered in scientific publications. Following the evolution of scientific positions, it is worth noting their gradual structuring, which was manifested in the formation of four methodological directions of research: geographical, marketing (management), client-oriented, socio-cultural.
 Geographical studies combine the interpretation of the destination as a certain territory, a geographical object that has real boundaries (continent, country, island, city, center of purposeful development of tourism, etc.) and is visited by tourists. This approach is probably the most common, and it gives an idea of the tourism product of a destination as a "typical model", which includes at least the following elements: attractions, tourism services and infrastructure, accessibility, image and price.
 The results of the study and analysis of a large number of scientific and educational publications provide the necessary grounds for the following conclusions: first, all authors agree that a tourist destination is a rather complex socio-geographical system; secondly, the vast majority of authors directly point to such an important fact that an integral basic element of a tourist destination is the territory (geotory), this is a very significant argument in favor of the need to apply the epistemological model of the destination as a geographical system; thirdly, there is a rather large disagreement regarding the formulation of the actual term "tourist destination", where there are disagreements or even contradictions in different approaches (organizational, technological, economic, territorial, etc.); fourthly, the biggest, in our opinion, disagreements are observed regarding the definition of the concept of tourist destination, it is this aspect that deserves detailed consideration.
 From the above, it can be concluded that a tourist destination is a relatively small tourist system (local territory), which is characterized by territorial integrity (compactness and isolation) and within which the visitor consumes a specific tourist product.
 In order to substantiate the territorial dimensions (scales), typical dimensions of the destination, establishing the differences (similarities) of the tourist destination and the tourist region, it is necessary to start from geographical positions, while creatively using the results of scientific investigations and practical experience of the tourist process. The necessity and expediency of applying the principle of interdisciplinarity, adopting the development of traditional and modern concepts of geography of tourism, economics, management and marketing, socio-cultural studies, etc., is quite obvious.
 The geographic approach combines the interpretation of the destination as a certain territory, a geographical object that has real boundaries (continent, country, island, city, center of purposeful development of tourism, etc.) and is visited by tourists. It usually combines geospatial, economic, infrastructural and resource aspects of a tourist destination.
 Thus, a tourist destination should be understood as a territorially compact tourist system at the micro-regional level, which has a certain specialization and concentration of tourist activity, and usually includes one or several attractions. The provisions and arguments presented here, in our opinion, outline sufficiently unsolved scientific tasks regarding the geographical methodology of tourist destinations and indicate certain directions for deepening scientific research and should be perceived as a continuation of discussions.
 Key words: tourist destination, local level, socio-geographical system, attraction.

Commons of the South: Ecologies of Interdependence in Local Territories of Chile

In a context of global social–ecological crises, a growing number of researchers, policymakers, activists and politicians have given importance to the “commons”. This is mainly because the commons are associated with a logic of regulation and collective organization over the use and conservation of those goods considered essential for both human and ecosystem co-existence. This article seeks to draw attention to the commons from the standpoint of an ecology of interdependence and understand their modes of co-existence in the Global South. We analyze four case studies along with the tensions and junctures faced by the communities and the goods that sustain their continuity over time in southern Chile, a territory where extractivism and resource exploitation have increased over the last decades. The case studies use a combination of qualitative methodologies, including document analysis, literature review, ethnographies, participant observation, interviews and other means of participatory action research with community actors. Integrative analysis and discussion of the results reveal the fluidity and dynamism of the commons of southern Chile in contexts where there is pressure for their institutionalization and/or privatization, as well as various forms of resistance on the part of the territories for their protection and revitalization.

Regeneration towards suitability: A decision-making framework for determining urban regeneration mode and strategies

Urban regeneration has become a popular research topic globally against the critical challenges that cities face with the decay of urban function, urban fabric, and residents living condition. However, it is the proper decision-making on urban regeneration mode and strategies to bring the long-term effectiveness of urban regeneration, no matter how much efforts and resources are devoted. This study introduces a “two-step” decision-making framework for determining the suitable urban regeneration mode and strategies. The decision-making variables are mobilised to delineate the status-quo decay of the local territory across the facets of sustainable performance and physical conditions, thus the most suitable regeneration mode can be designed (step 1). On top of the regeneration mode design, the most suitable urban regeneration strategies can be further tailored by considering the regeneration constraint factors including the requests for historical and cultural conservation, government financial capacity and previous regeneration experiences (step 2). The proposed decision-making framework is proven effective via the case study of nine districts of Chongqing municipality in China. The framework is instrumental for assisting urban governors to identify the most critical issues that need to be addressed, and to tailor suitable mode and strategies for implementing urban regeneration programs in order to tackle the decay challenges and revitalise their urban territory. Via enabling the effective integration between the resources within a city and rationalising the investment allocation, the introduced decision-making framework is effective for the overall planning and (re)development at city level.