The Triveneto transhumance: law, land, movement

North Italy's nomadic shepherds are a phenomenon unique in the world. Their nomadic nature is taken to the extreme since they move constantly rather than solely in the winter or the summer, as in the usual nomadism. Their home is on wheels and their territory is the tightly regulated yet sprawling Triveneto area. The Triveneto transhumance moves beyond private/public property divides, and indeed beyond lawful/unlawful distinctions, giving rise to what I have called an animal normativity. Relying on Valentina De Marchi's text 'Fame d'Erba' on the Triveneto transhumance, I show how territory becomes a question of animal hunger, and movement becomes an atmospheric, silent and imperceptible affect that crosses private property boundaries, state law limitations, reservation areas and road networks. This way of being, beyond the usual distinctions, offers an example of an alternative political and legal organisation that brings forth the continuum between the human, the natural and the legal/political.

Self-help, Saving and Suburbanisation - the Birkbeck Freehold Land and Building Societies, their Bank and the London Mechanics’ Institute 1851 – 1911.

The Birkbeck Freehold Land and Building Societies were launched in 1851 in the London Mechanics’ Institute, secured its survival, and eventually replaced its premises with the architectural ‘phantasmagoria’ of the Birkbeck Bank. Prior to its collapse in 1911 ‘the Birkbeck’ was a major element in the English property based financial system and contributed significantly to the suburban growth of London. The Institute, Societies and Bank shared a Utilitarian vision of social progress through self-help that was at times hotly contested by the radical champions of the social classes that they were initially formed to assist. Their parallel histories are attested today by ‘Birkbeck’ toponyms (including roads, pubs and a railway station) in the London landscape.

The Olympics, transnational law and legal transplants: the International Olympic Committee, ambush marketing and ticket touting

This paper concerns the origination, development and emergence of what might be termed ‘Olympic law’. This has an impact across borders and with transnational effect. It examines the unique process of creation of these laws, laws created by a national legislature to satisfy the commercial demands of a private body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It begins by critically locating the IOC and Olympic law and examining Olympic law as a transnational force. Using two case studies, those of ambush marketing and ticket touting, it demonstrates how private entities can be the drivers of specific, self-interested legislation when operating as a transnational organisation from within the global administrative space and notes the potential dangers of such legal transplants.

Marginal Activity Access Cost (MAAC): a new indicator for sustainable Land Use/Transport (LUT) planning

The paper presents the ‘Marginal Activity Access Cost’, an accessibility indicator providing estimation in monetary terms of the impacts on mobility and on the environment of locating a single new activity in a specific zone of the urban area. In the first part of this paper, the new indicator is presented and compared to other accessibility indicators proposed in literature. In the second part, the MAAC is validated through an application to the urban area of Rome. The paper concludes with brief remarks on using the proposed accessibility indicator as index of performance for sustainable spatial planning.

Gentrifying the Peri-urban: Land use Conflicts and institutional dynamics at the Frontier of an Indonesian Metropolis

This paper aims to specify the meaning of gentrification in rapidly peri-urbanising metropolitan regions in the context of Indonesia’s rapid transition to decentralisation and democracy. It discusses a case study of conflict over an environmental revitalisation project in a peri-urban area of Bandung City. The analysis focuses on the political processes, tactics and strategies supporting and opposing peri-urban gentrification and their consequences. The analysis illustrates how these political dynamics mediate the interaction between the movement of capital and the spatial reorganisation of social classes. It is argued that in the context of a peri-urbanising metropolis, gentrification needs to be narrated less in terms of class-based neighbourhood succession and more in terms of competing cross-class coalitions emerging at local and regional levels.

The Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons

This chapter evaluates the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the House of Commons in light of recent changes to public audit and broader changes across United Kingdom governance. Structural and organisational features are analysed, as are working practices and relationships. The analyses confirm that the PAC remains a key oversight tool to Parliament and that its profile has increased under the leadership of its first directly-elected Chair. Heightened visibility contains risks for a non-partisan committee and the National Audit Office acts as a shield to deflect criticism. Traditional variables used to measure the impact of the PAC are likely to understate the committee’s actual influence.

Accessibility Planning tools for sustainable and integrated Land Use/Transport (LUT) development: an application to Rome

The paper fits into the themes of sustainable accessibility planning in urban areas, that can be defined as the integration of transport and land use planning to achieve sustainable development. In particular the study proposes a tool to support the choices of activities location, which is based on a new aggregate (zone-specific) indicator: the ‘Marginal Activity Access Cost’, providing estimation in monetary terms of the impacts on mobility and on the environment of locating one new activity in a specific zone of the urban area. The proposed indicator is validated through an application to the urban area of Rome.