Policy integration: placing the spatial dimension in the health agenda. Evidence from Portugal

The significance of spatial policies for health and well-being is well recorded. While there has been an increasing body of literature illustrating the importance of including a territorial perspective in health decision-making processes, evidence shows that policy integration between spatial and health policies is still scarce. This paper aims to develop a deeper understanding of how this integration can be considered in conceptual terms and how it is actually embraced in practice by health decision-makers. Drawing upon the concept of territorial cohesion, the paper presents and discusses the results of a research held in Portugal aiming to understand this topic.     

Policing built environment crime risks: the role of police in CPTED in New South Wales,Australia*

Crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) is now routinely adopted in many parts of the world. The role assumed by police in CPTED practices has however received limited academic attention. Through an analysis of available documentation and interviews with local government planners from 10 Sydney councils, this article provides a (partial) understanding of the historical and contemporary roles police have played in the development and implementation of CPTED guidelines in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It is argued that the NSW Police Force was a pivotal driver of the introduction of planning guidelines to ensure crime risks are considered when new developments are being planned. However, the ongoing contribution of police appears to have waned, largely due to administrative, practical and operational realities. These findings have relevance for ongoing CPTED practice and the work of specialist policing roles more generally.     

Cognitive Dissonance in Social Work

Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension occurring when a person holds two psychologically inconsistent cognitions. For this study, 21 social workers who facilitate transracial adoption plans for Aboriginal children in British Columbia were interviewed: 1) Do social workers who facilitate transracial adoption plans for Aboriginal children experience cognitive dissonance? If so, in what ways? 2) How does cognitive dissonance impact them? 3) In what ways do social workers reconcile a sense of dissonance? Findings suggest that social workers do experience cognitive dissonance, that they are adversely impacted, and that they find ways to reconcile the cognitive dissonance.     

Importance of Interdisciplinary Spatial Planning of National Parks＂ Case Study of Croatia

With the attempt to ＂reconcile＂ protection and tourism activities, spatial planning has a great importance in sustainable planning and management of Nature Protected Areas （NPAs）. The spatial dimension of sustainability involves numerous processes and links among different purposes of lands, ecosystems, and biotopes at different levels through time, therefore, it is necessary to include all sciences and professions, whose common goal is the sustainability of the area, in the spatial planning process. This paper argues that there is a critical need for an interdisciplinary approach in spatial planning, which could improve the quality of planning of national parks and all other sensitive nature areas. Such approach should strive to the sustainability of protected nature destinations with the integration of knowledge. In Croatia, national park planning is still mostly done without comprehensive and integrated involvement of a wide range of science and profession, which ultimately significantly reduces the quality ＆the plans, as well as may have potentially negative effects on the future development.     

宁夏休闲农业发展的优势与对策

坚持科学规划,稳步推进,以农为本,惠及城乡,规范管理,提升水平,生态优先是探索发展宁夏休闲农业新路子的基本要求,也是发展现代农业提高农业收入的重要途径。     

我国城市规划环评公众参与的法律价值探讨——以环境正义为视角

环境正义注重社会成员之间环境利益和负担的公平分配。城市规划环境影响评价的公众参与制度从实体正义和程序正义两个方面实现了环境正义价值。由于当前我国环境保护价值观念的滞后。公众参与并没有得到应有的重视。法律实践还存在立法模糊、配套制度不完善、公众与行政机关之间地位不平等等缺陷。因此,公众参与制度应当建立以环境正义价值为主导的价值体系,并在此基础之上转变法律价值观念,提高立法层次,完善参与要素,搭建配套的法律制度。以推动环境民主时代的到来。     

Processes and Impacts of Strategic Management: Evidence From the Public Sector in the United Arab Emirates

This study presents the first substantial exploration of the processes and impacts of strategic management in the public sector of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is designed to survey the way in which public organizations formulate, implement, and evaluate their strategic plans, and to identify which particular strategic management elements are most closely related to their perceived impacts. Based on an analysis of 172 usable questionnaires from 67 organizations, the results show that the practice of strategic management has become regular and standard and can be considered the centerpiece of the public management reform in UAE public organizations over the last few years. Moreover, there is relatively high awareness of strategic planning tools and the balanced scorecard is used as the framework for strategic planning by both federal and local organizations. The study also shows that there is very little variation in the practice of strategic management between federal and local organizations and the impacts of this practice are largely beneficial. The implications of these results for practitioners and public management research are discussed.     

Exploring the Contribution of State and Local-level Conditions to the Adoption of Different Types of Smart Growth Policies and Impact Fees in the United States

This research identifies some of the state and local conditions promoting the adoption of three types of smart growth policies and two types of impact fees in the United States. Factor analysis is used to identify three types of smart growth policies:

1. policies to concentrate new growth,

2. policies to exchange development rights and

3. policies to redevelop the inner city.

The two types of impact fees are: development-based and community-based. Conditions at both the state and local level predict the adoption of smart growth policies. Only conditions at the state level predict the adoption of the community-based impact fees. The findings suggest that future research on the impact of population growth on growth regulation contain measures of both local and state level growth. They also suggest smart growth be viewed as multi-dimensional, as cities adopt different types of policies, rather than the complete set of policies, for economic as well as environmental reasons. Last, more research is needed on the role of local environmentalist organizations, whose role in local policy adoption was significant.     

Single Outcome Agreements and Partnership Working in Scottish Local Government – Year One

Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) are a mechanism that it is argued will deliver key national and local priorities based on a new relationship between central and local government in Scotland. SOAs are to be developed and implemented through partnership working exercised by Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs). A survey of the first (2008) SOA participants from local authorities and their Community Planning partners was conducted in 2008, with a particular focus on the interrelationships between the 2008 SOA development process and partnership working at the local level. Findings of this study suggest that there was a positive link between the strength of existing CPPs and partner engagement in the 2008 SOA development. However, partner engagement in the 2008 SOA development process did not affect survey respondents' confidence that the ongoing SOA development and implementation will strengthen partnership working in the long -term. This study also suggests that in addition to the practical difficulties such as limited time and staff resources, mistrust between local partners, and local players' scepticism about the central government's intention to free up local government may be barriers to the success of the SOA. Overall, respondents in this study showed realistic but hopeful attitudes to what the SOA was about and what could be achieved through it over time. The information gathered through this study should be merited as baseline data which captured the SOA participants' early experience and expectations.     

Female Peacekeepers and Gender Balancing: Token Gestures or Informed Policymaking?

Since the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (2000), which is referenced in most of the mandates for peacekeeping authorizations and renewals as of its adoption, UN peacekeeping forces have begun a process of gender balancing. While we have seen an increase in the numbers of female peacekeepers during the decade 2000–2010 and variation in the distribution patterns of female military personnel, we do not know if female military peacekeepers are deploying to areas that are safest or to areas with the greatest need for gender-balanced international involvement. Because the decision-making authority in the allocation of peacekeeping forces rests with the troop-contributing countries, which might not have bought into the gender balancing and mainstreaming initiatives mandated by the UN Security Council, we propose and find evidence that female military personnel tend to deploy to areas where there is least risk. They tend not to deploy where they may be most needed—where sexual violence and gender equity has been a major problem—and we find only a modest effect of having specific language in the mandates related to gender issues.