A methodology for the assessment of local-scale changes in marine environmental benefits and its application

Local-scale planning decisions are required by the existing Environmental Impact Assessment process to take account of the implications of a development on a range of environmental and social factors, and could therefore be supported by an ecosystem services approach. However, empirical assessments at a local scale within the marine environment have focused on only a single or limited set of services. This paper tests the applicability of the ecosystem services approach to environmental impact appraisal by considering how the identification and quantification of a comprehensive suite of benefits provided at a local scale might proceed in practice. A methodology for conducting an Environmental Benefits Assessment (EBA) is proposed, the underlying framework for which follows the recent literature by placing the emphasis on ecosystem benefits, as opposed to services. The EBA methodology also proposes metrics that can be quantified at local scale, and is tested using a case study of a hypothetical tidal barrage development in the Taw Torridge estuary in North Devon, UK. By suggesting some practical steps for assessing environmental benefits, this study aims to stimulate discussion and so advance the development of methods for implementing ecosystem service approaches at a local scale.

Development of Illusory contour perception in infants

We investigated whether infants from 8 ^ 22 weeks of age were sensitive to the illusory contour created by aligned line terminators. Previous reports of illusory-contour detection in infants under 4 months old could be due to infants' preference for the presence of terminators rather than their configuration. We generated preferential-looking stimuli containing sinusoidal lines whose oscillating, abutting terminators give a strong illusory contour in adult perception. Our experiments demonstrated a preference in infants 8 weeks old and above for an oscillating illusory contour compared with a stimulus containing equal terminator density and movement. Control experiments excluded local line density, or attention to alignment in general, as the basis for this result. In the youngest age group (8 ^ 10 weeks) stimulus velocity appears to be critical in determining the visibility of illusory contours, which is consistent with other data on motion processing at this age. We conclude that, by 2 months of age, the infant's visual system contains the nonlinear mechanisms necessary to extract an illusory contour from aligned terminators.

Northern Ireland:Democratizing for Development

This introductory article does three things. First, it indicates the general purpose of this special edition an d outlines the structure an d intention of the four main articles that follow. Secondly, it elaborates the arguments and theoretical discourse underpinning the articles, and thirdly, it locates these concerns and development initiatives not only in the specifiŽc regional context of Northern Ireland, but also in the wider framework of a new global econom y.

Integrating Land-use Planning and Transportation in Belfast: A New Policy Agenda for Sustainable Development

Much of the interest in promoting sustainable development in planning for the city-region focuses on the apparently inexorable rise in the demand for car travel and the contribution that certain urban forms and land-use relationships can make to reducing energy consumption. Within this context, policy prescription has increasingly favoured a compact city approach with increasing urban residential densities to address the physical separation of daily activities and the resultant dependency on the private car. This paper aims to outline and evaluate recent efforts to integrate land use and transport policy in the Belfast Metropolitan Area in Northern Ireland. Although considerable progress has been made, this paper underlines the extent of existing car dependency in the metropolitan area and prevailing negative attitudes to public transport, and argues that although there is a rhetorical support for the principles of sustainability and the practice of land-use/transportation integration, this is combined with a selective reluctance to embrace local changes in residential environment or in lifestyle preferences which might facilitate such principles.

Northern Ireland:The Development Context

This article provides a contextual framework for the new agenda for development, represented in the economic strategy known as Strategy 2010, and the regional spatial plan known as Shaping Our Future. These are considered in the following two articles. This article begins by setting a perspective on the political economy of Northern Ireland and follows with an outline of the spatial planning process. In conclusion, it raises the key challenges facing attempts to renew the region.

Ecoturismo en comunidades rurales: análisis de los impactos negativos para la población local. Un estudio de caso

En los últimos años han aparecido nuevas formas de turismo más sostenibles, donde existen elementos relacionados con el descanso, el disfrute y la protección del medio ambiente o el conocimiento de la cultura local, a través de políticas que favorecen la sostenibilidad del destino. En este sentido, el ecoturismo se configura como una tipología turística que se desarrolla en contacto con la naturaleza. Este turismo ayuda a mejorar el desarrollo socioeconómico de las comunidades locales, a la vez, que fomenta la conservación de los recursos naturales y el respeto hacia el medio ambiente. Aunque, esta tipología de turismo también genera importantes impactos negativos. El objetivo principal de esta investigación es analizar los impactos socioeconómicos, culturales y medioambientales percibidos por el ecoturismo por parte de los residentes de comunidades rurales de República Dominicana. La técnica de recolección de datos utilizada ha consistido en un cuestionario. Entre las principales conclusiones, cabe destacar que actualmente no se perciben impactos negativos, pero si hay una serie de elementos que hay que ir considerando, con la finalidad de que no se conviertan en un impacto a corto plazo para la comunidad rural.

Cooperativism, entrepreneurship and economic development: a linking theoretical model

Cooperatives, as a kind of firms, are considered by many scholars as an remarkable alternative for overcoming the economic crisis started in 2008. Besides, there are other scholars which pointed out the important role that these firms play in the regional economic development. Nevertheless, when one examines the economic literature on cooperatives, it is detected that this kind of firms is mainly studied starting from the point of view of their own characteristics and particularities of participation and solidarity. In this sense, following a different analysis framework, this article proposes a theoretical model in order to explain the behavior of cooperatives based on the entrepreneurship theory with the aim of increasing the knowledge about this kind of firms and, more specifically, their contribution to regional economic development.

Sonic Geography, Place and Race in the Formation of Local Identity: Liverpool and Scousers

The concept of identity has attracted significant academic attention. This article unpacks what constitutes the Scouse identity, how it is constructed and its different dimensions, with particular reference to place, phonology and race. Its novelty lies in developing the underused concept of “sonic geography” to examine the extent to which sound, for example a distinctive accent and/or dialect, affects the construction of local identity. Empirically this is conducted through a detailed analysis of the Scouse, or Liverpudlian, identity. The article also deploys the concept of “sonic exclusion” to examine the role a distinguishing vernacular plays in shaping local identity and the extent to which it determines “who is in” and “who is out” as a Scouser. The conclusion is that an effective understanding of a Scouser is not only spatial – someone born in Liverpool – because the sonoric landscape of spoken Scouse, and thereby Scouse identity, extends beyond the contemporary political and geographic boundaries of the City of Liverpool.

Funding, ideology and the aesthetics of the development film in postcolonial Zimbabwe

This article considers the relationships between aesthetics and ideology in donor-funded ‘development’ film-making from Zimbabwe, examining in particular how the films’ producers have attempted to popularize a genre of film-making that has its roots in colonial cinema. Making close reference to two productions from the Harare-based Media for Development Trust (MFD) – Neria (Godwin Mawaru, 1992), and Everyone’s Child (Tsitsi Dangarembga, 1996) (both of which may be regarded as archetypal examples of their genre) – the article demonstrates how the films deploy a range of aesthetic strategies to imbue a set of narratives drawn from colonial development films with greater impact and cultural resonance for contemporary local audiences. The article also suggests that close analysis of these strategies may provide insights into the relationships between the films’ aesthetic dimensions and wider ideological issues in the region.

Understanding Everyday Homes of Urban Communities: The Case of Local Streets (Hawari) of Old Cairo

This paper aims at investigating architectural and urban heritage from the socio-cultural point of view, which stands on the human asset of traditional sites such as the hawari of old Cairo. It analyzes the social practice of everyday life in one of the oldest Cairene hawari, Haret al-Darb al-Asfar. The focus is on architectural and spatial organization of outdoor and indoor spaces that coordinate the spatial practices of local community. A daily monitoring of people’s activities and interviews was conducted in an investigation of how local people perceive their built environment between the house’s interior and the outdoor shared space. It emerges that people construct their own field of private spheres according to complex patterns of daily activities that are not in line with the classical segregation between private and public in Islamic cities. This paper reports that the harah is basically a construct of social spheres that are organized spatially by the flexible development of individual buildings over time and in response to changes in individuals’ needs and capabilities. In order to achieve sustainability in old urban quarters, the paper concludes, the focus should be directed towards the local organization of activities and a comprehensive upgrading of deteriorating buildings to match the changing needs of current population.