Typical Municipality Research Articles

Peasant Displacement and Food Sustainability: The Colombian Case

Social migration affects the development of rural territories in multiple ways, as it poses a threat to food security and hinders the achievement of sustainable development objectives. The purpose of this research is to represent peasant migration and measure its impact on food security, since it creates conditions that alter people’s access to healthy food. Our research question is: What variables can be used to measure the impact of peasant migration on food security? A three-stage model is implemented, which includes (i) the acquisition of knowledge, (ii) the representation of knowledge, and (iii) decision-making. These stages are the basis of the methodology developed by the ARCOSES research group (Méndez A. System Dynamics and Social Problems. Bogotá: Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, 2012). The model developed to represent peasant migration and its impact on food security has five components. The model representation was applied in 58 typical rural municipalities, observing a potential loss of 30,580,000 tons of food, which amounts to 5% of the national production. Likewise, it was observed that 70% of migrating farmers are part of the economically active population. Colombian governorships should strive towards a greater and more comprehensive development of rural municipalities in order to avoid massive displacement to urban regions, which affects the availability of rural labor, causes poor agricultural production levels and compromises food sustainability. To ensure peasants’ full access to food and their well-being, an assertive intervention should be carried out by the Colombian State.

Enhancing Urban Landscapes through Underground Space Utilization: Public Perceptions

Landscape occupation and green space reduction have decreased livability and hindered the sustainable development of cities. The urban landscape affects the quality of life and physical and mental state of the public, and urban underground space utilization is important for improving the urban landscape. Therefore, underground space utilization must be explored from a public perspective. Referring to typical underground municipal, transportation, and public space projects, an online questionnaire survey of 377 Nanjing residents was performed to construct a structural equation model investigating their perceptions and preferences regarding underground space usage to improve the landscape, focusing on the links between their preferences and opinions. Underground works that provide diverse open spaces were considered to have the most positive impact on the landscape (82.8%). The aesthetic value of the surface landscape (83.5%) and the vitality of historical sites (82.1%) were the most significantly affected, whereas stock underground space had no significant effect on landscape protection. In terms of age, profession, and place of work, the respondents demonstrated heterogeneous preferences. These findings indicate that targeted publicity and public participation are important to strengthen the cooperative utilization of space and realize the potential of the underground space, helping address actual requirements and develop sustainable cities.

EFFECTIVE SERVICE DELIVERY STRATEGY ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION: A PANACEA FOR SOCIAL INCLUSION IN INKOSI LANGALIBALELE MUNICIPALITY

Over the past twenty years, service delivery has increasingly received much attention to promoting positive social effects that address social inclusion and exclusion issues. A growing body of research suggests that central to the need to improve service delivery, at both national and local government level, is the need to guarantee that all groups within the community are integrated in the sustainable development effort development trajectory. This paper investigates the role of service delivery in fostering social inclusion in a typical local municipality in post-apartheid South Africa. The study used a qualitative case study approach to examine the role of service delivery in promoting and ensuring inclusive communities in Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality. In-depth interviews(n=26) including community members (n=16) and councillors (n=10) were conducted to understand the impact of service delivery towards social inclusion. The research had two main interests: (i) to unpack the service delivery strategies is implemented in the Inkosi Langalibalele Municipality; and (ii) To find out if these service delivery strategies are enhancing the prospects of social inclusion. Three broad strategies were identified from the data: increasing citizen participation, flexible response to service user complaints, and partnering with other players and outsourcing services. The results of this study reveal that, while the strategies may have enhanced the prospects of an inclusive municipality, the Ilangalibalele municipality needs to do more to ensure that their strategies are equitable and thus inclusive and foster social inclusion.

Organizational model of municipal housing stock management in the contracting system–A case study of Poland

Social housing management across Europe is evolving towards a more market-oriented approach in response to the progressing decentralization of public services and privatization of public housing. In Poland, these trends are particularly related to changes in the organization of municipal housing stock management. One recommended option for such changes has become the evolution from an indirect system based on municipal units into a contracting system based on private entities.This paper presents the organizational model of municipal housing stock management in Poland in the contracting system. The model was designed as an organizational management standard for a typical urban municipality. The model was developed by integrating theoretical solutions and the results of empirical research conducted in Polish cities in view of the key organizational principles. The methodology for developing the model was based on the diagnostic-functional approach to designing organizational systems with the use of the Hijmans competence tables technique. This model strives to enhance the quality and efficiency of municipal housing management services by improving their organization in line with the New Public Management concept. The proposed model could be of interest to other countries where the management of social housing is subjected to restructuring and privatization pressure.

Supporting tenant relocation in social housing management: development of the dedicated geoinformation system in Poland

The existing mismatches between dwellings and their tenants lower the use and management efficiency of social housing stock. To address this problem, rational and well-coordinated tenant relocation within this stock needs to be stimulated, which can be significantly improved by introduction of new geoinformation technologies to support decisions in this area. This paper presents a proposal of a dedicated geoinformation system supporting tenant relocation in municipal (social) housing stock management in Poland. The concept is combined with the organizational structure of a typical urban municipality and associated with the integrated spatial database. The proposals are described in terms of business modeling and the categories of Unified Modeling Language. Implementation and empirical verification of the system was conducted employing ArcGIS platform environment. The functionalities of the dedicated system allow assessing the actual mismatches, creating reports and scenarios for tenant relocation as well as their analysis and visualization. On this basis it is possible to identify the objects with highest need for tenant relocation and make appropriate recommendations for housing policy. The proposed solutions may be of interest to other countries where the problem of mismatches in social housing has arisen and managers are obliged to solve it.

THE COMPETITIVENESS EVALUATION OF THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN CHINA

Based on the selection of 29 typical provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China, the paper constructs the competitiveness evaluation index system of textile industry, using the method of the principal component analysis (pca). The results show that there are obvious regional differences between the 29 typical provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China for the textile industry’s competitiveness. Furthermore, the overall competitiveness of the textile industry in China shows that the competitiveness of east China is stronger, while the competitiveness of west China is weaker.

Potential analysis of roof-mounted solar photovoltaics in Sweden

Solar photovoltaic energy, driven mostly by the residential and commercial market segments, has been growing a lot in recent years in Sweden. In response to the commitment towards sustainability goals, this paper explores the potential of roof-mounted solar photovoltaic projects. This paper focuses on: roof area estimation, potential installed capacity, and potential electricity generation, at the single municipal scale and at the national scale. The following categories of different building types have been investigated: residential buildings, industrial buildings, buildings of social function, buildings of business function, buildings of economic/agricultural function, buildings of complementary function, and buildings of other unknown functions. The analysis starts from Västerås, a typical Swedish municipality and ranking seventh among the largest cities in Sweden. An estimate of 5.74 km2 available roof area potential is calculated, by considering factors such as building purposes, roof orientations, shadows and obstacles. The total potential installed capacity is calculated, assuming the installation of commercial photovoltaic modules, and design parameters for flat roofs such as inter-row distances and tilt angles. With the inputs of meteorological parameters and geographical information, the potential yearly electricity generation is calculated. The results reveal 727, 848, and 956 MWp potential installed capacity and 626, 720, and 801 GWh annual electricity production for Västerås on pitched roofs and flat roofs with three scenarios, respectively. The extrapolation of the methodology to the entire of Sweden yields a total of 504 km2 usable roof area and 65, 75, and 84 GWp installed capacity. Finally, we reveal a new understanding of usable roof area distribution and of potential installed capacity of roof-mounted solar photovoltaic systems, which can largely help evaluate subsidy scale and solar energy policy formulation in Sweden.

Informal rural transport in a typical minor municipality in northeastern Brazil: Evaluation and regulation proposals

In many parts of the developing world, informal rural transport, although precarious, is the only type of transport available for urban–rural connectivity. In this context, this article aims to evaluate the level of user satisfaction, as well as to understand their main difficulties and how to improve this kind of transportation. To do that, a research was conducted among transport users, seeking to perform quantitative and qualitative analyses. Adult women represent the majority of users, but, despite the female predominance, satisfaction assessment does not depend on gender. On the other hand, the place of residence affects the perception of service quality, as rural users – perhaps more resilient – are less unsatisfied than urban residents. 78% of respondents use Toyota vans modified for passenger transportation, which they evaluate poorly. 15% use motorcycle taxi and are more satisfied, due to its adequacy in meeting individual demands. Delays and slow travel represent the main problems reported. It was also evidenced that pricing, although not regulated, was the better evaluated criterion. As a conclusion, it is proposed the development of regulation guidelines for operational purposes.

Electric vehicle recharging infrastructure planning and management in urban communities

Recharging infrastructure (RI) deployment plays a vital role in improving the public recharging availability for transport electrification. Decarbonizing transportation using low-emission electricity requires massive RI network. Even though the consumers are reluctant to purchase electric vehicles (EVs) until RIs are sufficiently placed, the investors are not willing to invest in RIs due to recharging demand uncertainties. Therefore, a scientific planning framework is needed to ensure the sustainable deployment of EV-RIs in complex networks. In this study, a lifecycle thinking-based multi-period infrastructure-planning framework is proposed to develop sustainable public EV-RIs in an urban context. This framework consists of a temporal model to find the dynamic EV-RI demands, a stochastic model to obtain travel distances, and a multi-objective optimization model to select the best desirable capacities and locations for potential EV-RIs. A case study of a typical medium-scale municipality in Canada was assessed using the proposed framework and validated using conventional infrastructure planning scenarios. The geo-processing data, regional travel behaviors, and recharging characteristics were used as model inputs. The results of the case study showed that the proposed framework can be used to estimate multi-period public recharging demands, minimize lifecycle costs, maximize service coverage and infrastructure utilization, and ensure reasonable paybacks compared to conventional planning approaches. Moreover, this framework can be used to compare different investment assistances, which are required in the early stages of the RI deployment process to encourage investors. Furthermore, government and private institutions can use this framework to identify recharging demands, permitting, and developing RIs in the long-run.

Scissors Difference of Socioeconomics, Travel and Space Consumption Behavior of Rural and Urban Households and Its Impact on Modeling Accuracy and Data Requirements

It is believed that the “scissors difference” of socioeconomics between rural and urban households in typical municipalities of China is significant. This may result in differences in their behavior and has important implications for urban land use and transportation planning policies, as well as related modeling accuracy and data requirements. However, detailed analyses regarding such “scissors differences” between rural and urban groups in China have not been done before. In this study, travel survey data collected from the City of Wuhan in 2008 is used to study if rural and urban households are statistically different in terms of household income, household size, space consumption, highest household mobility and travel distance. A set of statistical tests, such as the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test, are applied to the study data. The study results show that the “scissors difference” is found to be statistically significant in terms of household size (HS), household income (HI), building area (BA) consumed and household mobility (except for travel distance) between rural and urban households. Conversely, analyses applied to travel distance of urban and rural household subgroups (categorized by HS and HI) reveal that the urban and rural counterparts show almost exactly opposite behavior. The study results also suggest that such differences should be explicitly considered in relevant modeling exercises by separately setting up urban and rural household groups, but the number of household groups used should be determined based on a balance between modeling accuracy and data required/modeling workload.

Place satisfaction revisited: residents’ perceptions of “a good place to live”

PurposeUsing service-based logic as its theoretical lens, this study aims to approach residents’ place satisfaction in a novel way. The purpose is to explore residents’ perception of the place in which they live and to shed new light on their place satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on explorative qualitative focus group research. Data were collected in two typical municipalities in southern Sweden. The sampling procedure was purposive, resulting in six focus groups, consisting of a total of 33 residents. The empirical material was transcribed and analyzed using a structured content analysis inspired by grounded theory.FindingsA model for understanding residents’ perceptions of what constitutes a good place to live is introduced. The model shows that many value propositions are produced in the provider sphere, independent of the user, for example by the municipality or the business sector. Other value propositions are co-created in a joint sphere, meaning that the user is actively involved in the production of these value propositions. The resident then uses different value propositions to create value-in-use in the resident sphere, independent of the provider, and to co-create value-in-use in the joint sphere.Originality/valueThe study creates a bridge between the stream of research on place satisfaction and studies that take stakeholders and co-creation into consideration; it shifts from the prevalent provider perspective on place branding and static place attributes to a focus on the relationship between users and providers.

Removal Efficiency and Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in a Typical Municipal Wastewater Treatment Facility in Guangzhou, China.

The loading and removal efficiency of 16 US EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were examined in an inverted A2/O wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in an urban area in China. The total PAH concentrations were 554.3 to 723.2 ng/L in the influent and 189.6 to 262.7 ng/L in the effluent. The removal efficiencies of ∑PAHs in the dissolved phase ranged from 63 to 69%, with the highest observed in naphthalene (80% removal). Concentration and distribution of PAHs revealed that the higher molecular weight PAHs became more concentrated with treatment in both the dissolved phase and the dewatered sludge. The sharpest reduction was observed during the pretreatment and the biological phase. Noncarcinogenic risk, carcinogenic risk, and total health risk of PAHs found in the effluent and sewage sludge were also assessed. The effluent BaP toxic equivalent quantities (TEQBaP) were above, or far above, standards in countries. The potential toxicities of PAHs in sewage effluent were approximately 10 to 15 times higher than the acceptable risk level in China. The health risk associated with the sewage sludge also exceeded international recommended levels and was mainly contributed from seven carcinogenic PAHs. Given that WWTP effluent is a major PAH contributor to surface water bodies in China and better reduction efficiencies are achievable, the present study highlights the possibility of utilizing WWTPs for restoring water quality in riverine and coastal regions heavily impacted by PAHs contamination.

GIS-based Valuation of Ecosystem Services in Mountain Regions: A Case Study of the Karlovo Municipality in Bulgaria

This study aims to apply approaches, methods, and indicators from the conceptual framework of ecosystem services valuation to a real world, local level case study. It tests a GIS-based mapping and valuation of ecosystem services model in a typical mountain municipality in Bulgaria. Investigation results address opportunities, challenges and limitations in the practical application of the ecosystem services concept. They include an integrated assessment of the ecosystem services in a specific administrative territorial unit and suggest its Total Economic Value. The introduction of the term “ecosystem services dysergy” should contribute to valuation theory and practice. The study upgrades the currently available knowledge base that supports geospatial planning and sustainable development of the Karlovo Municipality and offers recommendations for improvement of the municipal ecosystem services utilization, which include identification, analysis, and visualization of hotspots and dysergy areas.

GIS-BASED VALUATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN MOUNTAIN REGIONS: A CASE STUDY OF THE CHEPELARE MUNICIPALITY IN BULGARIA

This study imports the Ecosystem Services concept in the economic valuation of the resources of a typical mountain municipality in Bulgaria. It applies a GIS-based approach and employs a system of methods, which include benefit transfer, market price, and contingent valuation, as well as local survey and statistical data for the following key ecosystem services: timber production, forest/agricultural products, and tourism and recreation. The investigation interprets the CORINE Land Cover (2012) classes as spatial units of identification, analysis, and valuation of selected Ecosystem Services, on which the welfare of local mountain population depends. Its results, among which is a map of the total economic value of a set of ecosystem services in the Municipality of Chepelare, is intended to support sustainable local governance in mountain regions. Key words: ecosystem services valuation, sustainable governance, GIS, mountain regions, Bulgaria.

What can a municipality offer to its residents? Value propositions and interactions in a place context

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the municipality in the place marketing context and to describe how municipalities work on making their place good to live in. The study rests on abductive reasoning whereby service-based logic forms the study and offers a theoretical framework for how to approach the phenomena.Design/methodology/approach– A qualitative study in the form of 20 semi-structured interviews with leading elected officials and civil servants is used to let us understand how two typical municipalities in southern Sweden work on making their municipality a good place for their residents to live in. Content analysis is used to analyze the data.Findings– The study reveals how municipalities work on creating opportunities for interactions between themselves and their residents, as well as offers insight into what value propositions the municipalities believe they offer their residents. The current study shows that the geographical location and the natural environment, basic and essential services, accommodations, urban quality, recreation and leisure and ambience constitute important dimensions in the place offering.Originality/value– Service-based logic is used as a backdrop to facilitate the analysis in this study, which emphasizes value propositions offered by the municipality and interactions between the municipality and its residents, which increase our understanding of how municipalities work on making their place good to live in. The service-based logic help shed new light on the place marketing context and allows us to understand the context in a new way.

An Alternative to Typical Municipal Thermal Dryer Technologies: Pilot Results and Design Considerations for Turbo-Tray Direct Drying

An Alternative to Typical Municipal Thermal Dryer Technologies: Pilot Results and Design Considerations for Turbo-Tray Direct Drying

Spatial spillover effects of a community action programme targeting on-licensed premises on violent assaults: evidence from a natural experiment

BackgroundSpatial dependencies may influence the success of community action strategies to prevent and reduce harmful alcohol use. This study examined the effectiveness of a multicomponent Responsible Beverage Service (RBS) programme...

개발도상국 지역분석용 베이스맵 구축방안: 알제리의 밥 에주아흐 지역을 중심으로

Abstract Recently, our construction industry is actively participating in numerous city planning projects in the third world countries. Considering the current depression of domestic real estate market, the emerging foreign demands could certainly provide substantial opportunities for the domestic industry to overcome the trough. For the field planners dealing with such foreign projects, though, the immediate problem is the lack of public statistics and geographic information to perform spatial analyses and/or prepare master plans. This study, in this context, tries to simulate a process to construct a digitized basemap of the case area, ‘Bab Ezzouar,’ in Algeria of Northern Africa. The area is a typical municipality that lacks the IT databases. To overcome the data shortage, the study uses the satellite map tiles so as to digitize the roads and building structures. It then estimates the block-wise populations based on the building image interpolation as well as the supplementary field survey data. The topographic TINs are also built by the SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) digital elevation maps so that the three-dimensional configuration of the structures and terrains are rendered to check the urban scenery and skylines.Keywords: Spatial Information, Developing Countries, Base Map, Digitizing, Master Plan

Gender gap in the National College Entrance Exam performance in China: a case study of a typical Chinese municipality

This is one of the first studies to investigate gender achievement gap in the National College Entrance Exam in a typical municipality in China, which is the crucial examination for the transition from high school to higher education in that country. Using ordinary least square model and quantile regression model, the study consistently finds that the gender difference on average is not significant in mathematics, but is significantly negative (females worse) at the top of the distribution and is significantly positive (females better) in Chinese and English. Negative gender gaps are found among some disadvantaged subgroup such as urban female students with sibling. For students at the bottom of the distribution, boys perform significantly worse than girls.

Quantitative and physico-chemical characterization of domestic solid waste in a typical Nigerian municipality

In the present study solid waste were collected from households, banks, restaurants, higher institution, open dump and a final disposal site of Nigerian municipality with a view to determining waste generation rate, relative waste compositions and its physicochemical properties. During the course of study average rate of solid waste generation was found to be 0.39Kg/capita/day. A highly negative correlation (R2 = 0.99) was observed between per capita waste generation and household size (n) for n ? 4. The waste collected from households consisted of putriscibles (47%) 11% water proof, 6% plastics, 4% glass, 3% clothes/textiles, 2% diapers and 19% of other unclassified materials. Due to the activities of scavengers, the relative proportion of recyclables such as plastic, glass and metals decreased as waste materials transited from households to the final dumpsite via open dumps, while the other fractions increased. It was found that 79% of the solid waste generated can either be recycled (32%) or composted (47%) however; only 12% is recovered for recycling/reuse while composting is hardly practiced. The three most important factors responsible for relative differences in the composition of solid waste obtained from different sources are scavenging, biodegradation and leaching. The putriscible fractions from households, curb sides and the final disposal site were assessed for their suitability for composting using the clean index (CI) criteria. It was found that the final disposal site with a CI of 3.3 on a scale of 5 was a better source of compost material than freshly generated household waste (CI = 2.9) and curb side waste (CI = 2.4).