Public Assets Research Articles

Enabling coordination in energy communities: A Digital Twin model

Starting from the EU vision for Energy Communities (EC), our purpose is to support them by proposing a Digital Twin (DT) that includes a bi-level optimization model to deliver coordination, economic, social, and environmental benefits to its members that can be quantified as Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The diversity of EC members from the size and interest perspectives leads us to consider a bi-level optimization model. It offers support to individual consumers/prosumers (first level) and coordination for EC (second level). This model is embedded into a DT that replicates the EC and the operation of individual entities such as consumers/prosumers and public assets. The DT is created as an automatic assistant with two components: iEMS – as a member's assistant and eEMS – as an EC assistant. These components optimize the schedule, generate bids for the Local Electricity Market (LEM) and control the flexible appliances of the participants to deal with deficits and surpluses. The DT receives input from EC members, LEM, metering system and improves the operation of the EC in a two-way continuous exchange data flow. Furthermore, it is a reliable framework to test and improve models, regulations and policies in emergent EC as DT provides alternatives regarding its functionalities: optimization, market operation, setting the clearing price, settlement, value sharing for distributing benefits, etc. It can be extended to support grid operators to design tariffs, testing regulation and offer additional energy services. The proposed DT model is tested within an EC case study, both on a seasonal and an annual basis. The average trading index on LEM is 0.6 during the summer and 0.3 during the winter months, while the Degree of Local Sufficiency (DLS) for the EC is 0.45 in summer and 0.28 in winter. Moreover, the proposed LFM model reduces the exchanges with the main grid by an average of 45 kW in summer, that represents almost 15% of the average exchange at peak hours.

Housing Experimentation and Design Guides: Affordable Housing in Guangzhou since 2006

This paper examines the recent growth of government-led affordable housing in Guangzhou, addressing a paucity of global housing studies that explore experimental and contextual policy approaches in China. It also addresses the lack of Chinese housing studies recognizing the impact of housing design governance, including regulatory controls and design standards, on housing preferences, supply and lifestyles. Since 1995, the supply of affordable housing has surged, now surpassing that of market housing for the first time. This response to failures in the private housing market and a lack of equitable access to housing signifies a significant shift, acknowledging the need to re-establish a state-led and long-term public housing supply after decades of housing marketization. Employing an architectural design research perspective, this paper investigates the interplay between affordable housing supply and the emergence of housing standards, examining resulting housing design outcomes. It poses the question: What changes in housing policy and interventions in housing markets are necessary to increase public rental housing supply, and how do these changes affect housing outcomes? The paper explores these questions through a discussion of the key moments in affordable housing policy and housing estate development in Guangzhou that facilitated the creation of widely accessible public housing and long-term housing assets. This provides new insights into China’s unique approach to translating central government social welfare and housing policy through contextual design experimentation and pilot housing projects, departing from the conventional top-down policy implementation found in most other countries.

Framing Moroccan Judiciary on tv Dramas: a Public Asset under Constraints

Abstract An efficient, impartial, and independent judiciary is a major demand for Moroccan citizens. In online advocacy, citizens denounce the flawed judiciary, sometimes virally circulating content on its corruption and susceptibility to interference. On tv, non-fiction programs respond to frequent requests for legal advice from audiences. Meanwhile, dramas employ frames that reflect codes on how society should perceive the judiciary and the rule of law. This article assesses the dominant frames of the judiciary on tv dramas. Two programs, Moudāwala and Al-Māḍī Lā Yamūt, are selected based on their relevance and popularity. The qualitative analysis of these programs incorporates character and narrative portrayals into thematic and frame analyses. As the two programs illustrate judicial struggles from within and without, they exemplify portrayals of the legal system that uncover discrepancies between normative practices and ruthless realities. The judiciary’s dominant frames focus on individual solutions and blame citizens for ignoring judicial texts or institutions. Frames reflect how media avoid watchdogging the judiciary and extend, directly or otherwise, hegemony over both the judiciary and the media.

Driving Factors of Concession Period in Healthcare Public Private Partnerships

Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) play a vital role in infrastructure development and public service delivery, with government entities collaborating with private sector organizations to achieve shared goals in the long term. An essential aspect of PPP contracts is the concession period, during which Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) are responsible for financing, building, operating, and maintaining public assets. The concession period has significant implications, associated with project risk, revenue, operations expenses, profitability, and bankability. While numerous studies focus on determining “optimal” concession periods, fewer explore the factors driving concession periods in national PPP programs, especially for social infrastructure projects relying primarily on availability payments. To fill this gap, this research aims to identify and analyze the effect of various potential factors on the length of the concession period, using linear regression analysis on a data set of healthcare PPP projects in Italy. This research theoretically contributes to understanding the driving factors of concession periods in PPP projects and provides insights for a balanced approach to PPP project planning and regulation and related strategies. On the practical side, decision makers can negotiate optimized concession periods, ensuring successful and sustainable public infrastructure projects.

Digital Optimization of Public Assets for Enhanced Resilience to Socioeconomic and Environmental Disruptions

Digital Optimization of Public Assets for Enhanced Resilience to Socioeconomic and Environmental Disruptions

AUCKLAND COUNCIL’S PROGRESS ON SUSTAINABLE SHORELINE ADAPTATION PLANS

Auckland Council is currently developing shoreline adaptation plans across the Auckland region to support the sustainable management of public assets into the future with increasing coastal hazard risks. These build upon the Coastal Management Framework (Carpenter et al. 2017) and are being developed as 20 phased plans. At the time of writing the ‘Whangaparāoa’ and ‘Beachlands and East’ Shoreline Adaptation Plans (SAP) have been completed. The ‘Āwhitu Peninsula’ and ‘Manukau South’ SAPs are well underway, and the remaining SAPs are programmed to be completed over the next 4 years. To inform the development of the adaptation strategies numerous datasets were required. Coastal erosion and coastal flooding predictions have been mapped for the Auckland region to assess the evolving coastal hazards. Up-to-date coastal asset information was gathered through hundreds of coastal asset inspections for each SAP area. This asset data fed into adaptation strategy decisions as well as being incorporated into a regional risk assessment to assess the relative risk across Auckland’s SAP units.

Development of GPS Track and Trace System in Dewantara Smart City Application to Realise Mobile-based Good Governance and Clean Government

Smart cities with GPS track and trace implementation have great potential to achieve good and clean governance. This technology enables the government to gather and analyse real-time data concerning mobility, public assets, and the allocation of funds. With precise and transparent information, the government can enhance efficiency, accountability, and responsiveness to the needs of the public. The primary goals of this application are to promote transparency, improve the management of community activities, and encourage community engagement. The approach employed in the creation and development of this smart city application follows the waterfall method. This methodology simplifies the system's initial development and its potential for future enhancements. The results from implementing and testing the smart city system, utilizing usability testing, yield scores exceeding 3, specifically 3.56. This indicates that both government officials and the community find the system and application highly user-friendly

Quantification and Reduction of Uncertainty in Seismic Resilience Assessment for a Roadway Network

The nation’s transportation systems are complex and are some of the highest valued and largest public assets in the United States. As a result of repeated natural hazards and their significant impact on transportation functionality and the socioeconomic health of communities, transportation resilience has gained increasing attention in recent years. Previous studies on transportation resilience have heavily emphasized network functionality during and/or following a scenario hazard event by implicitly assuming that sufficient knowledge of structural capacity and environmental/service conditions is available at the time of an extreme event. However, such assumptions often fail to consider uncertainties that arise when an extreme hazard event occurs in the future. Thus, it is essential to quantify and reduce uncertainties to better prepare for extreme events and accurately assess transportation resilience. To this end, this paper proposes a dynamic Bayesian network-based resilience assessment model for a large-scale roadway network that can explicitly quantify uncertainties in all phases of the assessment and investigate the role of inspection and monitoring programs in uncertainty reduction. Specifically, the significance of data reliability is investigated through a sensitivity analysis, where various sets of data having different reliabilities are used in updating system resilience. To evaluate the effectiveness of the model, a benchmark problem involving a highway network in South Carolina, USA is utilized, showcasing the systematic quantification and reduction of uncertainties in the proposed model. The benchmark problem result shows that incorporating monitoring and inspection data on important variables could improve the accuracy of predicting the seismic resilience of the network. It also suggests the need to consider equipment reliability when designing monitoring and inspection programs. With the recent development of a wide range of monitoring and inspection techniques, including nondestructive testing, health monitoring equipment, satellite imagery, LiDAR, etc., these findings can be useful in assisting transportation managers in identifying necessary equipment reliability levels and prioritizing inspection and monitoring efforts.

Institutional pressures and procurement cycle time in Uganda’s central government procuring and disposing entities: the mediating role of opportunistic behavior

PurposeThis study focused on establishing the mediating role of opportunistic behavior in the relationship between institutional pressures and procurement cycle time (PCT) in Uganda’s central government (CG) procuring and disposing entities (PDEs). The study also sought to establish the relationship between institutional pressures and PCT, between institutional pressures and opportunity behavior and between opportunistic behavior and PCT. This study was carried out because most PDEs had failed to perform well in terms of PCT, and beneficiaries had often complained of the lengthy PCT.Design/methodology/approachThe unit of analysis was 126 CG PDEs within Uganda while the unit of inquiry was three employees per PDE, namely, giving a total of 378 respondents. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey, the study realized a response rate of 88% for the unit of analysis and 71.7% for unit of inquiry. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS 4 with focus on ascertaining regression and mediation results.FindingsThe findings show that institutional pressures negatively and significantly predict both institutional pressures and PCT (ß = –0.569**; ß = –0.688**, respectively). Also, institutional pressures and opportunistic behavior are significant predictors of PCT, predicting 60.6% change in PCT. Furthermore, opportunity behavior partially moderates the relationship between institutional pressures and PCT.Research limitations/implicationsFor Uganda’s CG PDEs to reduce procurement delays and to procure within PCT, they should put more emphasis on institutional pressures and curtailing opportunistic behavior. The study recommends further amendment of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Act 2003 to reduce delays.Practical implicationsThere is need for further amendment of the PPDA Act 2003 to reduce delays, especially those attributed to approvals by contracts committee and the minimum bidding period for competitive bidding.Social implicationsThe study explores PCT and its antecedents whose understanding is critical in exploring avenues of reducing PCT and boosting service delivery to the beneficiaries.Originality/valueThe PPDA Act (2003) was amended in 2014, but still the time spent in the procurement processes has remained long, hence delaying or denying citizens service delivery. This is a matter of concern to the country at large and may spill into political unrests, and yet, there is scant literature exploring PCT and its antecedents. This makes the present study one of the pioneer empirical studies on PCT, with emphasis on Uganda. This study provides a framework for examining PCT in a context where scholarly explanation of PCT is still limited.

Consequencialismo jurídico e desconsideração da personalidade jurídica: aplicação nos processos de controle externo

The court of audit has a relevant role in the protection of public assets, in observance with their constitutional duties. In this context, there has recently discussion about the application of the disregard doctrine in external control processes, in order to safeguard public funds. The hypothesis to be analyzed with the deductive method is the study of the possibility or not of the application of this measure by the audit courts. This analysis takes into account the Law No. 13.655/2018, which determines that the practical consequences of the decision to be made must be observed, positivizing consequentialism in the national legal system.

Establishing a public option for asset management in the United States

Asset managers – financial institutions like BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard – manage trillions of dollars of US household financial assets, including public pension funds at the federal, state, and municipal level. The structural power of asset managers means they play a decisive role in corporate decision-making, while the conflicts of interest inherent in their business model and a short-term interpretation of their fiduciary duties means they do not serve the actual interests of their economic beneficiaries in a sustainable economy. I propose establishing a public asset manager in the United States to serve as the asset manager for public pension funds. This article situates this proposed institutional reform in the broader evolution of asset manager capitalism and explains how establishing a public asset manager is an institutional reform that would shift the financial system toward serving the actual interests of the people and social systems on which it depends.

Design thinking for city dashboard development: Recommendations from a study of smart asset management in Sydney, Australia

AbstractThe city dashboard has become an integral component of smart city asset management systems. It leverages data collected from multiple sources to monitor performance and enable evidence‐based decision making. This article investigates the use of a design thinking framework to develop a functional and easy to understand city dashboard. The Smart Social Spaces project is used as a case study to illustrate how design thinking can be employed to develop an asset management dashboard, enabling efficient management of public space and infrastructure. The article profiles the unique collaboration between a local government, a multi‐disciplinary team of university academics, and a street furniture designer and manufacturer, all located in Sydney, Australia. We unpack some of the design practice nuances that led this project to receive national awards and international recognition, and most importantly, created a user‐friendly system to track and maintain public micro assets. We conclude with lessons learnt and recommendations for dashboard development through a design thinking process.

Exploring Financial Approaches to Evaluate Commercial Bank Profitability: An Empirical Analysis on Capital Adequacy Ratio, Loan Deposit Ratio and Non-Performing Loans

Banking is a high-risk industry since it is responsible for managing public assets and investing them in securities or loans. As a result, assessing commercial bank performance is critical for understanding their health and efficiency. A financial approach is used to assess credit risk, liquidity, and bank adequacy in accordance to the requirements of Financial Service Authority (OJK). This research aims to determine the impact of the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), Loan Deposit Ratio (LDR), and Non-Performing Loans (NPL) on bank’s performance in 2017-2019. Using the purposive sampling technique, the final sample consists of 114 observations-sample. A multiple linear regression analysis was adopted on balanced panel data using the secondary data from commercial banking sector in Indonesia Stock Exchange. Chow test and Hausman test were used to finalize the findings which is to ensure that the right model to be used for the analysis. The findings demonstrate that CAR, LDR, and NPL simultaneously impact significantly the performance. However, partially only CAR and NPL show impact on the performance whilst LDR does not. The study provides implications for bank managers in managing capital and loan portfolios. It also contributes to the existing literature on bank performance.

A Rigorous Economic Analysis of Corruption in the Landscape of Pakistan

Background: Corruption can be defined as the misuse of public assets, which is a global issue because it can affect the overall economic condition of the country. Since 1947, Pakistan has faced a lot of corruption, which affects various factors of the country including political growth as well as economic growth. Research Aim: This paper has studied the relationship between economic growth and corruption and what are the factors of corruption in Pakistan. Methodology: This study is an empirical study based on using the data from 1998-2022. The following analysis which includes the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test and Tobit Model of Censored Regression has been used for analyzing the determinants of corruption in Pakistan. Results: The results found that there is a negative influence of GDP growth and the literacy rate of Pakistan on corruption while most prominently inflation has been found to be a positive influence on corruption. Conclusion: To conclude GDP, Literacy rate and Economic integration have a positive influence on corruption in Pakistan while Literacy Rate and Inflation are significant economic determinants of corruption.

Assessments of the Application of Earned Value Management System for Construction Project Performance Measurement in Zanzibar

Many construction projects in developing countries including in Zanzibar suffer from time and budget overruns. The Revolution Government of Zanzibar established different bodies such as Zanzibar Contractors Registration Board (ZCRB), Zanzibar Architects, Engineers and Quantity Surveyors Registration Board (ZAEQRB), Zanzibar Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Asset Authority (ZPPDA), among others with the aim of controlling the performance of project. Often scope creep, time and cost overruns are very common problems in construction projects. This study aims at addressing those problems by assessing the use of Earned Value Management (EVM) methodology in measuring construction industry performance in Zanzibar. The study used purposive sampling to select the sample. A self-administered questionnaire and round table discussions were deployed to architects, engineers, project managers, and quantity surveyors for data collection. Also, a case study design was employed whereby four ongoing construction projects were used as samples to collect data. The data were processed using Microsoft Excel where Chi- square, ANOVA, and Earned Value Analysis (EVA) were used to analyze the data. The study findings indicate that majority of key players of construction industry of Zanzibar were unaware of the EVA as a tool for monitoring the performance of the projects, although they practice EVMS to some extent. Also, all four cases used in this study, indicated underperformances in terms of scope, time and cost parameters.

China and Africa: A new narrative on debt sustainability and infrastructure financing

Strategic and collective efforts are needed from both the creditors and borrowing countries facing the looming debt crisis, with a full understanding of what are good debts and what are bad debts depending on how they are used. The current narrative on debt sustainability often ignores the issue of what a government owns (assets) versus what a government owes (liabilities). While conventional approaches largely focus on the liability side, the kinds of assets a country tries to build are vital to economic development and debt sustainability. This paper proposed a new narrative on debt sustainability and thoughts on infrastructure financing under the circumstance of debt restructuring. The empirical part of the study presented both the conventional and a novel method to investigate the role of completed infrastructure projects, co-financed and jointly built by China and African countries, focusing on whether and to what extent they have addressed infrastructure bottlenecks. Both methods validate the hypothesis that China-financed and completed projects match the host country’s most backward sectors and address their development bottlenecks. These completed projects form a part of a country’s public operational assets that generate essential social services, jobs, government revenues, exports and growth.

"Nothing in my years of community organizing has affected me as deeply as this closure did”

Public schools are more than educational institutions; they are public assets that have long proven essential parts of healthy, sustainable, and complete communities. Yet, public elementary schools are being permanently closed across Canada, particularly within urban and rural settings in Ontario; a trend that has important implications for socio-spatial equity and environmental justice in planned communities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perceived impacts of elementary public-school closures for residents and communities using a mixed-methods approach including household surveys and in-depth interviews. The results indicated that, overwhelmingly, residents did not feel that they had the chance to meaningfully participate in the school closure process and that their voice was not heard throughout the engagement process. Further, the findings illuminated the lasting impacts of the school closure decision on the communities with physical, social, political, and economic outcomes in local neighbourhoods. The study illuminates the critical issue of responsible planning practice in understanding both the value of local community schools and local community input in ongoing pupil accommodation review processes.

Remote sensing and GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping using LNRF method in part of Western Ghats of India

Every year, the Western Ghats region experiences devastating landslides, resulting in significant loss of life and damage to both private and public assets. To mitigate these losses, it is essential to identify the areas most susceptible to landslides. This research aims to create an accurate landslide susceptibility map for a section of the Western Ghats region by employing a comprehensive approach that combines remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS). The Landslide Numerical Risk Factor (LNRF) method is utilized to determine landslide susceptibility zones. The LNRF model incorporates a landslide inventory based on geographic object-based image analysis and influencing factors. The resulting LNRF model generates a landslide susceptibility map, classifying over 35% of the study region's land area as having a high probability of landslides. The model's accuracy is assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) method, which yields an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.77. This indicates that the LNRF model exhibits good predictive performance, resulting in a reliable landslide susceptibility map.

Research of a Fiber Sensor Based on Fiber Bragg Grating for Road Surface Monitoring

Road infrastructure is a key public asset because it benefits the social and economic development of any country. It plays an important role in the development of the industrial complex and the production sector, and the surfaces of transport roads should be of high quality and have a long service life. Road infrastructure, like all infrastructure, requires preservation, maintenance and repair. There are special requirements for roadways that must be observed during construction or repair. The uncertainty of the composition, temperature sensitivity and viscoelastic characteristics of road materials make the structural analysis of pavement very difficult compared to other civil structures, such as bridges, tunnels and buildings. For this reason, the question of how to improve fiber sensors based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) arose. The novelty of this study is to modernize fiber sensors based on FBG so that they display deformation, stress and displacement, temperature and other parameters with much greater accuracy, which would provide a reliable scientific basis for modifying the theory, as well as the use of a fiber sensor based on FBG for simultaneous measurement of deformation and temperature when monitoring the road surface. This article is devoted to a detailed study of the use of fiber-optic sensors (FOS) based on fiber Bragg grating for road surface monitoring. Such a fiber sensor, consisting of a fiber Bragg grating and a pair of grids, can offer the possibility of simultaneous measurement of deformation and temperature for monitoring the pavement. Temperature and deformation measurements were carried out by installing a sensor on the surface of a made asphalt sample. The built-in fiber sensor based on FBG provides important information about how the pavement structure can withstand the load and subsidence of soil and implement road safety and stability measures in a timely manner to evaluate and predict the service life of the pavement. The results of the study showed that the synchronicity, repeatability and linearity of the characteristics of the fiber sensor are excellent. The difference between the experimental and theoretical results was about 7%. Thus, based on the results of the obtained data, the fiber sensor on the FBG can be used for monitoring and designing road surfaces and in general transport infrastructure.

In danger of co-option: Examining how austerity and central control shape community woodlands in Scotland

Community ownership and management of land has gained prominence in environmental policy discussions, especially within land restoration debates. Within Scotland, community land ownership is promoted as a means to give communities greater say over land use decisions, receive a greater share of the benefits from land, and help deliver a just transition to the government of Scotland’s net-zero targets. These goals are supported by legal mechanisms that enable appropriately constituted community bodies to buy or lease erstwhile private and public assets to deliver a wide range of social, environmental, and economic objectives. Drawing on interviews and secondary data, we inductively explore the transfer of public forests to communities in Scotland, examining the context of these transfers, the challenges in acquiring and managing forests, and broader implications of asset transfers for community empowerment. We find that community woodland groups operate in a political context shaped by public sector austerity, increasingly stepping in to provide services that local governments have withdrawn from. Our distinct contribution is to demonstrate the ways in which formalization and standardization can have a centralizing effect on place-based initiatives. Both these trends, we argue, can lead to uneven outcomes for community groups. As communities increasingly become part of global environmental agendas, we argue for a critical political geography of’community empowerment’, one that pays attention to the relationship between political processes and uneven outcomes.