Rise, fragmentation, infringement and fear: emerging urban issues in Chinese clustering in Italy

China is today facing rapid economic development and the long-term implications of China’s rise for European economy, society and culture, are constantly debated but still almost unknown. Moreover, only recently a new volume edited by Kunzmann has clearly pointed out a particular field of research like the EU spatial impact of China’s convergence in the global market. The aim of the present paper is to deal with the spatial issues related to the growing Chinese communities, especially in Italy, that are part of a more general and considerable transformation process of the traditional Chinese enclaves in EU cities: from recognizable “Chinatowns” to new hybrid urban formations where housing, retail, wholesale and even commodity production often tend to match. Key-Concepts like rise, fragmentation, infringement and fear are useful in analysing some of the more controversial socio-economic dynamics of Chinese clusters especially in a traditionally manufactured-based country like Italy, where it’s recognizable a unique paradox of a “double competition” from outside and from inside. This statement poses a serious threat to local economic systems in terms of sustainability and social cohesion, making it necessary to rethink the role and the nature of public action in facing new forms of marginality at urban and regional level.

Home bias persistence in foreign direct investments

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the issues related to home bias and foreign direct investments (FDIs). We study the role of physical, cultural, and institutional distances from home on FDI decisions taken by corporations to assess whether the globalization of the past two decades has reduced their influence. Using the ‘home bias’ framework from the finance literature and the gravity model from the economics literature, we utilize a large sample of both developed and emerging markets, using FDI flows of 6263 unique bilateral country pairs over a 30-year period. We find strong empirical evidence of persistent home bias in FDI outflows, and we show that not only physical distance but also cultural and institutional similarities between host and source countries remain a decisive factor in foreign corporate investment decisions. We also show that such home bias is persistent over time and is observed around the world.

Territories of scarcity and creativity: a critical view of informal settlements and emerging tactics under conditions of scarcity in Nairobi, Kenya and Quito, Ecuador

This thesis explores the processes through which scarcity is constructed in informal settlements and how conditions emerging within its limits gives way to particular socio-spatial phenomena and influence the emergence of self-organisation and creative strategies from a non-expert perspective. At the same time, this thesis deconstructs these emerging tactics (reactive and transformative) in a diagrammatic way to generate a critical study of their potential for socio-spatial change that goes beyond the everyday survival. Most people associate scarcity with “not having enough” of something, most usually of a material nature. In contrast, this paper is based on the premise that scarcity is a constructed condition, therefore exploring it beyond its immediate manifestation and illustrating its discursive, distributive and socio-material components. In this line, the research uses Assemblage Theory as both an approach and a tool for analysis. This approach allows the research to depart from everyday narratives of the residents, and gradually evolve into a multi-scalar, non-linear reading of scarcity, by following leads into different realms and unpacking a series of routine events to uncover their connections to wider processes and particular elements affecting the settlement and the city as a whole. For this purpose, the research is based on a qualitative, flexible and multi-sited methodology, using different case studies as testing grounds. Collected data stems from a 11-months ethnographic fieldwork in informal settlements in Ecuador and Kenya, analysing the socio-spatial practices and strategies deployed by the different actors producing the built environment and arising from everyday and latent experiences of scarcity. The thesis examines the multi-scalar nature of these strategies, including self-building and management tactics, the mobilisation of grassroots organisations, the innovative ways of collaborating deployed by different coalitions and the reformulation of urban development policies. As outcomes of the research, the thesis will show illustrative diagrams that allow a better understanding of, firstly, the construction of scarcity in the built environment beyond its immediate manifestation and secondly, the way that emerging tactics a) improve existing conditions of scarcity, b) reinforce the status quo or c) contribute to the worsening of the original condition. Therefore, this thesis aims to offer lessons with both practical and theoretical considerations, by firstly, giving an insight into the complexity and transcalar nature of the construction of scarcity in informal settlements; secondly, by illustrating how acute conditions related to scarcity gives birth to a plethora of particular phenomena shaping the territory, social relationships and processes; and thirdly, by identifying specific characteristics within the informal that might allow for new readings of the city and possibilities for socio-spatial change under conditions of scarcity.

"One of our hosts in another country": Challenges of data geolocation in cloud storage

Physical location of data in cloud storage is an increasingly urgent problem. In a short time, it has evolved from the concern of a few regulated businesses to an important consideration for many cloud storage users. One of the characteristics of cloud storage is fluid transfer of data both within and among the data centres of a cloud provider. However, this has weakened the guarantees with respect to control over data replicas, protection of data in transit and physical location of data. This paper addresses the lack of reliable solutions for data placement control in cloud storage systems. We analyse the currently available solutions and identify their shortcomings. Furthermore, we describe a high-level architecture for a trusted, geolocation-based mechanism for data placement control in distributed cloud storage systems, which are the basis of an on-going work to define the detailed protocol and a prototype of such a solution. This mechanism aims to provide granular control over the capabilities of tenants to access data placed on geographically dispersed storage units comprising the cloud storage.

The motives and performance of cross-border acquirers from emerging economies: Comparison between Chinese and Indian firms

During the recent decade, the world has witnessed the rapid growth of MNEs from emerging economies. Their increasing participation in cross-border mergers and acquisitions has raised great attention in the extant literature. This study evaluates the value creation from these cross-border transactions from two representative emerging countries, namely China and India, and determines factors that result in the different performance of these international acquisition activities. Cross-border acquisitions conducted by these countries’ companies indeed lead to significant shareholder wealth creation. Furthermore, Indian shareholders are more likely to benefit from deals in small cultural distance countries, while Chinese investors gain from the cross-border expansion of manufacturing companies. Location also affects the performance of cross-border acquisitions, with acquisitions into developed countries generating higher returns to shareholders. Our sample consists of 203 Indian and 63 Chinese cross-border deals over the period 2000–2010 and our results hold after controlling for various deal-level and firm-level characteristics.

Twentieth Century Modern Architecture and the Countryside: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's design for a country gold clubhouse for the Krefeld Golf Club Association

This paper investigates relationships between modernity and monumentality in the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. In his Modern Architecture, the critic and historian Kenneth Frampton separated Mies’ work into two historical periods, 1921-1933 and 1933-1967; the first he entitled ‘Mies van der Rohe and the significance of fact,’ the second ‘Mies van der Rohe and the monumentalisation of technique.’ The two historical periods correspond to two different geopolitical phases of Mies’ career, the first in Weimar Germany the second in the United States. By looking at a number of designs and texts made by Mies in the 1930’s and 1940’s, this essay questions the validity of separating Mies’ architecture into such clear-cut categories, where each one can enjoy a seeming independence from the other. The fulcrum for the discussion is Mies’ design of 1930 for a country golf clubhouse for the industrial town of Krefeld in north-western Germany. Our attention to the golf clubhouse design was prompted by the recent installation (2013), in which a 1-1 model of the design, made primarily from plywood, was erected in a field close the the site of Mies' original proposal.