Topics, techniques and applications in urban and regional science in the nineties: a bibliometric analysis

The current state of regional and urban science has been much discussed and a number of studies have speculated on possible future trends in the development of the discipline. However, there has been little empirical analysis of current publication patterns in regional and urban journals. This paper studies the kinds of topics, techniques and data used in articles published in nine top international journals during the 1990s with the aim of identifying current trends in this research field

Factors influencing privatization of urban solid waste collection: some evidence from Spain

In this paper we analyse some of the organisational aspects of the urban solid waste collection and, in particular, the privatization modality of contracting out. We start by discussing some of the theoretical aspects of contracting out. We then specify and estimate an explanatory model on a sample of municipalities that we surveyed. Our purpose is twofold: on the one hand, we identify the economic factors at work when deciding to contract out the service and, on the other hand, we analyse the role of ideological factors in choosing between the public production of the service or contracting it out. The results show a significant effect of the demand for waste collection on contracting out. There also appears to be a neighbouring effect as the municipalities close to other cities that contract out are also more prone to do so. Finally, the decisions to contract seem to have been motivated by pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.

Una exploración completa de los costes de servicio de residuos sólidos

La literatura económica sobre los servicios municipales de residuos sólidos en España es muy escasa, aun cuando estos servicios han sido objeto d'intensas reformas organizativas y regulatorias. En esta investigación se estudia su estructura de costes con el objetivo de explicar la variabilidad entre los municipios de los costes soportados por el servicio. Se determina una función de costes y se estima de forma paramétrica. Los resultados del análisis empírico permiten estudiar la existencia de economías de escala con el output, y el efecto de algunos factores directamente asociados con el servicio como el grado de residuos selectivos, la frecuencia de recogida o la existencia de instalaciones de depósito en el municipio. Además, se analiza el impacto sobre los costes de otros factores como la densidad de población, los niveles salariales, la estacionalidad y la forma de producción, pública o privada.

Urban Regeneration. A challenge for Public Art [1999]. Edition 2005

Urban Regeneration. A challenge for Public Art, supposed the start of a trend of critical thought related to the topics of Public Art, Urban Regeneration and Urban Design. This trend agglutinated around the Public Art Observatory that, still today, develops its activities.The book gathers a series of critical proposals organized in the chapters " Art and Design in/for Public Space ", " Forms and Representations of Public Art/Public Space. The Producer/User Dilemma " and " Public Art / Cities in Competition: Strategies, Bridges and Gateways ", with the participation of, among others, Sergi Valera, Ray Smith, Martí Peran, Ian Rawlinson, Chaké Matosian, Enric Pol, J. Hyatt, J. Gingell or T. Bovaird.

Población inmigrante y espacio urbano. Indicadores de segregación y pautas de localización

Given the importance of immigrant population growth in Spain, it would be interesting to study its distribution throughout the urban area. The field of statistics suggests different indicators that have a long tradition and permit the quantification of segregation of minority population groups. Through the application of these tools in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona, this paper demonstrates the utility of analyzing segregation patterns within a city and detecting local patterns of this phenomenon. A new perspective of segregation can be obtained with the use of indicators designed for spatial statistics. The combination of these measures represents a useful procedure for the analysis of the distribution of the immigrant population in urban areas and its extension to different areas such as sociology, economics, urban studies, and housing policy.

Cities, skills, and regional change

One approach to urban areas emphasizes the existence of certain immutable relationships, such as Zipf's or Gibrat's Law. An alternative view is that urban changereflects individual responses to changing tastes or technologies. This paper examinesalmost 200 years of regional change in the U.S. and finds that few, if any, growth relationships remain constant, including Gibrat's Law. Education does a reasonable jobof explaining urban resilience in recent decades, but does not seem to predict countygrowth a century ago. After reviewing this evidence, we present and estimate a simple model of regional change, where education increases the level of entrepreneurship.Human capital spillovers occur at the city level because skilled workers produce moreproduct varieties and thereby increase labor demand. We find that skills are associatedwith growth in productivity or entrepreneurship, not with growth in quality of life, atleast outside of the West. We also find that skills seem to have depressed housing supplygrowth in the West, but not in other regions, which supports the view that educatedresidents in that region have fought for tougher land-use controls. We also present evidence that skills have had a disproportionately large impact on unemployment duringthe current recession.

The economics of infertility

Infertility is a growing issue that affects thousands of Spanish couples; increasingly there are more and more people who cannot raise a family by themselves. Instead they have to resort to ART, adoption -local or international- or surrogacy abroad, a practice that many couples consider but that isn’t legalized in Spain. In this paper we have broken down each option in detail by analysing the market, differentiating its variants and specific steps, calculating its “price” and suggesting possible improvements that could be made from an economic perspective. We end our paper with the “SWOT” analysis of a hypothetical surrogacy market in Spain by calculating an estimated price, using the US as a reference, and the degree of acceptance it would have, based on the results of random surveys.

Promotion of learning skills in the study of economics. pilot project in the subject area of

This communication is part of a larger teaching innovation project financed by the University ofBarcelona, whose objective is to develop and evaluate transversal competences of the UB, learningability and responsibility. The competence is divided into several sub-competencies being the ability toanalyze and synthesis the most intensely worked in the first year. The work presented here part fromthe results obtained in phase 1 and 2 previously implemented in other subjects (Mathematics andHistory) in the first year of the degree of Business Administration Degree. In these subjects’ previousexperiences there were deficiencies in the acquisition of learning skills by the students. The work inthe subject of Mathematics facilitated that students become aware of the deficit. The work on thesubject of History insisted on developing readings schemes and with the practical exercises wassought to go deeply in the development of this competence.The third phase presented here is developed in the framework of the second year degree, in the WorldEconomy subject. The objective of this phase is the development and evaluation of the same crosscompetence of the previous phases, from a practice that includes both, quantitative analysis andcritical reflection. Specifically the practice focuses on the study of the dynamic relationship betweeneconomic growth and the dynamics in the distribution of wealth. The activity design as well as theselection of materials to make it, has been directed to address gaps in the ability to analyze andsynthesize detected in the subjects of the first year in the previous phases of the project.The realization of the practical case is considered adequate methodology to improve the acquisition ofcompetence of the students, then it is also proposed how to evaluate the acquisition of suchcompetence. The practice is evaluated based on a rubric developed in the framework of the projectobjectives. Thus at the end of phase 3 we can analyze the process that have followed the students,detect where they have had major difficulties and identify those aspects of teaching that can help toimprove the acquisition of skills by the students. The interest of this phase resides in the possibility tovalue whether tracing of learning through competences, organized in a collaborative way, is a goodtool to develop the acquisition of these skills and facilitate their evaluation.

The Application of 3D Reconstruction Techniques in the Analysis of Ancient Tarraco’s Urban Topography

The widespread implementation of GIS-based 3D topographical models has been a great aid in the development and testing of archaeological hypotheses. In this paper, a topographical reconstruction of the ancient city of Tarraco, the Roman capital of the Tarraconensis province, is presented. This model is based on topographical data obtained through archaeological excavations, old photographic documentation, georeferenced archive maps depicting the pre-modern city topography, modern detailed topographical maps and differential GPS measurements. The addition of the Roman urban architectural features to the model offers the possibility to test hypotheses concerning the ideological background manifested in the city shape. This is accomplished mainly through the use of 3D views from the main city accesses. These techniques ultimately demonstrate the ‘theatre-shaped’ layout of the city (to quote Vitrubius) as well as its southwest oriented architecture, whose monumental character was conceived to present a striking aspect to visitors, particularly those arriving from the sea.

Research networks and scientific production in Economics: the recent Spanish experience

This paper studies Spanish scientific production in Economics from 1994 to 2004. It focuses on aspects that have received little attention in other bibliometric studies, such as the impact of research and the role of scientific collaborations in the publications produced by Spanish universities. Our results show that national research networks have played a fundamental role in the increase in Spanish scientific production in this discipline.

Newly described human polyomaviruses Merkel Cell, KI and WU are present in urban sewage and may represent potential environmental contaminants

Recently, three new polyomaviruses (KI, WU and Merkel cell polyomavirus) have been reported to infect humans. It has also been suggested that lymphotropic polyomavirus, a virus of simian origin, infects humans. KI and WU polyomaviruses have been detected mainly in specimens from the respiratory tract while Merkel cell polyomavirus has been described in a very high percentage of Merkel cell carcinomas. The distribution, excretion level and transmission routes of these viruses remain unknown. Here we analyzed the presence and characteristics of newly described human polyomaviruses in urban sewage and river water in order to assess the excretion level and the potential role of water as a route of transmission of these viruses. Nested-PCR assays were designed for the sensitive detection of the viruses studied and the amplicons obtained were confirmed by sequencing analysis. The viruses were concentrated following a methodology previously developed for the detection of JC and BK human polyomaviruses in environmental samples. JC polyomavirus and human adenoviruses were used as markers of human contamination in the samples. Merkel cell polyomavirus was detected in 7/8 urban sewage samples collected and in 2/7 river water samples. Also one urine sample from a pregnant woman, out of 4 samples analyzed, was positive for this virus. KI and WU polyomaviruses were identified in 1/8 and 2/8 sewage samples respectively. The viral strains detected were highly homologous with other strains reported from several other geographical areas. Lymphotropic polyomavirus was not detected in any of the 13 sewage neither in 9 biosolid/sludge samples analyzed. This is the first description of a virus isolated from sewage and river water with a strong association with cancer. Our data indicate that the Merkel cell polyomavirus is prevalent in the population and that it may be disseminated through the fecal/urine contamination of water. The procedure developed may constitute a useful tool for studying the excreted strains, prevalence and transmission of these recently described polyomaviruses.

Inclusion and empowerment in public art and urban design

To involve citizens in developing the processes of city making is an objective that occupies part of the agenda of political parties in the context of the necessary renewal in representative democracy. This paper aims to provide some answers to the following questions: Is it possible to overcome the participatory processes based exclusively on the consultation? Is it possible to"train" residents to take an active role in decision-making? How can we manage, proactively, the relationship between public actors, technicians and politicians, in a participatory process? We analyse the process development for creating the Wall of Remembrance in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Baró de Viver, a work of public art, created and produced by its neighbours, in the context of a long participatory process focused on changing the image of the neighbourhood and the improvement of public space. This result and this process have been possible in a given context of cooperation among neighbours, local government and the research team (CR-Polis, Art, City, Society at the University of Barcelona). The development of a creative process of citizen participation between 2004 and 2011 made possible the direct management of decision making by the residents on the field of the design of public space in the neighbourhood. However, the material results of the process does not overshadow the great achievement of the project: the inclusion of a neighbourhood in taking informed decisions because of their empowerment in public space design and management of their remembrances.

Distribución espacial de la población inmigrante en los municipios catalanes: igualdad, exposición, concentración y centralidad

Dado el importante crecimiento de la población inmigrante en España, es interesante estudiar su distribución sobre el territorio urbano. Desde la estadística se dispone de diferentes indicadores con una larga tradición, que permiten cuantificar la segregación de grupos de población minoritarios. Mediante la aplicación de estas herramientas a la realidad de los municipios catalanes, se muestra su utilidad a la hora de analizar la segregación residencial dentro de una ciudad, y detectar las pautas que rigen este fenómeno. Los resultados muestran que no hay relación clara entre el porcentaje de población extranjera y el nivel de segregación, y que la segregación difiere según el grupo observado. Una nueva perspectiva de la segregación se obtiene con la utilización de indicadores diseñados mediante elementos de estadística espacial. La combinación de todas estas medidas representa un procedimiento útil para el análisis de la distribución de la población inmigrante en las zonas urbanas, su utilidad se extiende a diferentes áreas como la sociología, la economía, el urbanismo o las políticas de vivienda.