Linking Academics and Social Learning

Abstract

This article examines how school staff conceptualize their work with youths in an alternative school for weapon policy offenders after having undergone at least one year of a whole-school violence prevention program conducted by the Syracuse University Violence Prevention Project. The article examines the intent of school staff, their ideas, perspectives, and language about youths, violence, and schooling, and provides insights into the challenges and benefits of a whole-school approach to violence prevention. Their insights highlight what is needed for a violence prevention program to be successful. A major issue raised in the article is the importance of linking social learning and academics in violence prevention strategies, and of sustaining collaborative efforts that connect conflict resolution to acts of justice and support for youths' intellectual and emotional lives.     

Fezzes in the river: identity politics and European diplomacy in the Middle East on the eve of World War II

This article analyzes how the Poles and Jews who disappeared from the western Ukrainian city of L'viv as a result of the Second World War are remembered in the city today. It examines a range of commemorative practices, from monuments and museums to themed cafes and literature, and analyzes how these practices interact to produce competing mnemonic narratives. In this respect, the article argues for an understanding of the city as a complex text consisting of a diverse range of mutually interdependent mnemonic media produced by a range of actors. The article focuses in particular on the ways in which Ukrainian nationalist narratives interact with the memory of the city's “lost others.” The article also seeks to understand L'viv's memory culture through comparison with a range of Polish cities that have faced similar problems with commemorating vanished communities, but have witnessed a deeper recognition of these communities than has been the case in L'viv. The article proposes reasons for the divergences between the memory cultures of L'viv and that found in Polish cities, and attempts to outline the gradual processes by which L'viv's Polish and Jewish pasts might become more widely integrated into the city's memory culture.     

Measuring Governance in Urban Innovation

Abstract

The international political science literature is ambiguous on the point if the involvement of a plurality of external actors (citizens, economic and social groups, NGOs and CSOs, Universities and experts, different public authorities at the same or at different territorial level, etc.) in governance processes is an end in itself (because it increases democracy) or it is useful in order to achieve better results in the production of public goods.

This article espouses the latter hypothesis and tries to understand if a governance perspective brings about a higher level of innovation in metropolitan areas. In order to test this hypothesis, two metrics are designed: ? In measuring innovation, the ideas are that there are four dimensions in urban innovation (agenda innovation, process innovation, product innovation and innovative communication) and that a metropolitan city has to score high in most of them in order to be considered really innovative.

? As far as governance is concerned, the analytical proposal is that the ideal governance network is at the same time complex (bringing together actors from different territorial levels and from different societal and institutional domains), dense (favouring direct interaction between the actors) and ‘focused’ (showing one or few actors able to act as focal points of the network).

Drawing from a research done in four Italian cities (Turin, Milan, Florence and Naples) through the reconstruction of 120 urban innovation processes, the article illustrates the analytical steps taken and the conclusions that can be reached.     

Something Must be Done-Military Intervention

In the late twentieth century, the United States' federal government responded to the threat of terrorism by passing a wide range of counterterrorist laws. The vigor that accompanied these initiatives echoed at a state level where, virtually unnoticed, states passed similar legislation. This article examines state measures in three areas: the funding of foreign terrorist organizations, the use or threatened use of weapons of mass destruction, and definitions of terrorist activity. While these statutes, as a legal matter, may not violate any specific federal provisions or constitutional prohibitions, they raise important questions about federal supremacy in foreign affairs and the constitutional protections afforded citizens. More significantly, as a policy concern, these provisions threaten America's ability to speak in one voice, introducing divisions into the domestic realm and diminishing the ability of the federal government to negotiate with foreign states and organizations. They also mask an appropriate role for the states in fighting terrorism. Both the policy implications and legal considerations suggest that such measures may ultimately undermine America's ability to counter the terrorist threat.     

基于过程管理的城市灾害应急管理综合能力评价体系研究

城市灾害应急管理综合能力是衡量该地区城市灾害管理水平的重要指标,建立科学合理的城市灾害应急管理能力综合评价体系是城市灾害管理的重要课题。本文借鉴了国内外城市灾害应急管理能力的研究成果,建立了基于过程管理的城市灾害应急管理综合能力评价体系,该系统包括灾前预警能力评价、灾中应急能力评价和灾后恢复能力评价等三个分系统以及12个子系统,并用综合评价表对政府部门的应急反应能力进行了实证分析。     

Seeking Systemic Change: Risk and Protective Factors Affecting Low-Income Urban Youth

This themed issue presents five articles tackling the topic of risk and protective processes affecting children and adolescents living in urban poverty. Through their research, the authors seek understanding of the particular challenges that low-income urban youth face, with the ultimate goal of understanding how best to intervene at various levels of the ecological system. Within this broad theme, studies examine specific stressors, mediators, and moderators that impact the mental health of youth living in urban poverty. The final article presents a data-driven, community-based intervention for this population.     

Stressful Life Experiences and Peer Externalizing Behaviors Mediate the Relation Between Reduced Family Support and Externalizing Symptoms in Low-Income Urban Youth

Family support, urban stressors, and peer behavior were examined in relation to externalizing symptoms in 605 predominantly low-income urban sixth through eighth grade adolescents. Mother and father support were each associated with lower levels of externalizing symptoms in both males and females. For males, father absence was associated with increased peer externalizing behavior and heightened rates of youth externalizing symptoms. Stress (in the form of major life events, daily hassles, and exposure to violence) and peer externalizing behavior were examined as mediators of the relation between parent support and youth externalizing symptoms. Increased stress exposure mediated the relation between weak mother and father support and youth externalizing symptoms. Additionally, for females, peer externalizing behavior mediated the relation between weak mother support and youth externalizing symptoms.     

The Contingent Public Value of ‘Good Design’: Regulating the Aesthetics of the Australian Urban Built Environment

The proposition that the urban built environment can, and indeed should, be made more visually attractive is a long‐standing feature of the governance of Australian cities. In this vein, this paper examines how ‘good design’ in terms of visual aesthetics is currently pursued including through the development assessment process and the work of government architects. The paper begins by tracing the background of contemporary regulatory practice from long‐standing ideas around beauty and its value through to the urban design movement of today. Next, it considers in more detail various rationales for aesthetic governance and what might be better forms of regulatory practice. In short, it will be argued that while there can be scope for regulation to deliver superior outcomes, this practice must be sensitive to a high degree of contingency in what the public values and that deliberate empirical inquiry into the latter is desirable.     

城市少数民族流动人口犯罪实证研究--以S市M区的统计数据为基础的分析

对s市M区统计数据的实证分析表明,城市涉嫌犯罪的少数民族人员以无任何前科记录的初中文化水平以下的外来男性农民和无业人员为主;实施的犯罪行为比较轻,相对集中于盗窃罪,寻衅滋事罪,走私、贩卖、运输、制造毒品罪等几个罪名;共同犯罪的规模较小,共同犯罪人之间的联系比较松散,作案手段多元化、相对平和,重特大案件罕见;适用刑罚比较轻缓,以3年以下有期徒刑、拘役、罚金为主。城市少数民族人员犯罪并不是严重的社会现象,其数量和严重程度远远低于汉族人犯罪。因此,少数民族“流动人口”犯罪问题不应当特殊化,应当在人口流动和城镇化的背景下,理性客观地对待少数民族人员犯罪问题,贯彻宽严相济的刑事政策,采取措施使得少数民族“流动人口”尽快融入大城市。     

城管执法乱象的原因分析与对策研究

城管在现代化城市管理中维护了城市管理秩序。但是,近年来被频频曝光的城管粗暴执法现象却将城管推向了社会舆论的风口浪尖。法学理论界提出的统一的城管执法依据缺失、城管体制不顺、地位不明确等等宏观层面的＂原因＂并非城管执法乱象的真正原因。对比国外城市管理方法以及分析我国城管执法的现状可知,错误的执法理念、城管执法人员素质不符合执法要求、理性沟通的缺失、处罚失当乃是城管执法乱象的真正原因,而树立正确的执法理念、组建高素质的城管执法队伍、执法的程序化与分类化正是根除这一乱象的对策。