| 1. |
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Anatomy of a 21st-century sustainability project: The untold stories
- 2020
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Samlingsverk (redaktörskap) (refereegranskat)abstract
- What does a sustainability project look like in the 21st century? Not the glossy version, but the naked truth? Tired of manicured, over-theorised accounts of the ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’ of sustainability transitions, we got to the bottom of things; actually, to the very bottom of the project hierarchy: the individual. Our point of departure is that projects are nothing but temporarily interconnected people. This means that if we don’t know what people do and what they think about their work, we will never be able to create a deeper understanding of the project, its rationale and future impact. Making use of the autoethnographic method, this book provides critical insights into what it’s like being part of a 21st-century project. Building on unfiltered first-hand contributions from 73 authors representing the five organs of a project’s anatomy – the brain (theoreticians), the skeleton (leaders), the limbs (strategists), the heart (local stakeholders) and the lungs (researchers) – the book covers all the important aspects of contemporary project-making: (1) projectification as a societal phenomenon; (2) sustainability as the main project buzzword; (3) transdisciplinarity as a hot working method; (4) economy as the invisible project propeller; (5) space as the contextual project qualifier; (6) gender and integration as the obstinate orphans of project-making; (7) trends as the villains of thoughtless project mimicry; (8) politics as the “necessary evil” of projects; and (9) knowledge production as the cornerstone of all project work. The book ends with an extensive critical analysis of what makes a project tick and how to avoid project failure. We infer that talking about project outcomes and impacts is just that… talking. What makes a difference is what can be done to the project in itself. Three important virtues – the ABC of project-making – emanate from this book’s 40 chapters: building good relationships (Affinity), having the guts to make a change (Bravery), and showing willingness to learn (Curiosity). These are the basis for the successful execution of future sustainability projects, where complexity, unpredictability and desperation will become a staple force to recon with. The original contribution of this book is to shed light on the silent triumphs and hidden pathologies of everyday project-making in an effort to elevate individual knowledge to a level of authority for solving the wicked – yet project-infused – problems of our time.
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| 2. |
- Arsovski, Slobodan, et al.
(författare)
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Can urban environmental problems be overcome? The case of Skopje—world’s most polluted city
- 2018
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Ingår i: Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series. - : Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika/Nicolaus Copernicus University. - 1732-4254 .- 2083-8298. ; 40:40, s. 17-39
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The condition of the environment is one of the most fundamental concerns of cities worldwide, especially when high levels of pollution and environmental destruction exert immense impact on people’s quality of life. This paper focuses on Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, which often tops the charts as the world’s most polluted city. Despite associated problems such as congestion, ill health, and premature death, Macedonia’s scarce resources are instead spent on controversial projects, such as ‘Skopje 2014’, involving creating a national identity through massive and extremely costly constructions of neo-classical government buildings, museums and monuments. The aim of this paper is to compare the situation of Skopje to environmentally oriented activities conducted in several Polish cities and to discuss the possibility of their implementation in Skopje. Considering the scale and scope of Skopje’s environmental problems, the paper offers some priorities for action, including solutions that emphasize institution building, technical input and self-governance. It also highlights a number of economic, ecological, and socio-cultural contradictions involved in the process of achieving sustainable development.
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| 3. |
- Biegańska, Jadwiga, et al.
(författare)
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From policy to misery? The State Agricultural Farms vs. 'the rural'
- 2019
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Ingår i: Quaestiones Geographicae. - : Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan. - 2082-2103 .- 2081-6383 .- 0137-477X. ; 38:4, s. 77-90
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 1989 was a turning point within the socio-economic development in the former Eastern bloc, initiating a system transformation that affected the society at large. It also contributed to the crystallisation of certain cultural landscapes, hitherto largely illegible due to the inhibition of spatial processes encountered during Communism. In Poland, after a quarter-century of free market economy, the focus on social problems began to expand to the spatial realm as well. It became apparent that the progressive social polarisation that followed was most prominent in environments striated by a particular landscape type – the former State Agricultural Farm (PGR). Considering PGRs “the epitome of rurality” subject to ideas informing the direction of contemporary “rural development” prompts a different way of looking at the problem. In this paper, we investigate the concept of rurality in the discursive tenor of implemented policy and contrast it with contextualised empirical examples. Our findings suggest that efficient policy should be confronted with the expectations of residents at the local level, while introducing top-down actions usually ends in failure as in the case of post-PGR estates.
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| 4. |
- Brauer, Rene, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of tourism research
- 2019
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Ingår i: Annals of Tourism Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-7383 .- 1873-7722. ; 77, s. 64-78
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The exceedingly competitive climate of academia has increased the emphasis on performance-based research funding. In this paper we evaluate the UK's government assessment of research impact and critically comment upon the implications for future research conduct. The key findings are as follows; firstly we provide a summary of UK tourism research impact. Secondly, we demonstrate the effect of the resulting significance gap, and comment upon the consequences of the Research Excellence Frameworks' (REF) research impact assessment in terms of a research culture change. Lastly, we proposition that the current assessment structure can have negative long-term consequences in that key issues facing tourism fall outside 'good' research impact.
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| 5. |
- Dragan, Weronika, et al.
(författare)
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Between history, politics and economy: The problematic heritage of former border railway stations in Poland
- 2020
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Ingår i: Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. - 0029-9138. ; 161, s. 229-250
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper deals with the issue of former border railway stations (FBRSs) in Poland in the context of their problematic heritage. Since the creation of those borders coincided with the development of the railway network in the 19th century, the FBRSs, now deprived of their past function, remain scattered throughout the landscape as confusing components of a troubled history in an even more confusing contemporaneity. This article assiduously analyses the FBRSs in their capacity as offensive hallmarks vested in inoffensive elements of technical culture, often with high aesthetic value. This is done by departing from a number of analytical lenses: unwanted history, competitive heritage, utility vs. economy, politics and money, and the 'here and now' policy. These competing perspectives reveal the intricacy of heritagisation, especially in times of greater ease of obtaining monetary funds aimed at revitalisation: what to revitalise, why and how?
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| 6. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek
(författare)
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Introducing “captaining”: How to best combine group work with individual achievement within higher education examination
- 2020
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Ingår i: Journal of Pedagogical Research. - 2602-3717. ; 4:1, s. 57-70
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper deals with the problem of making group work and individual achievement meet in the context of combined examination at universities The underlying idea of this research derives from the policy that is increasingly gaining power at many university departments, namely that it is inappropriate to examine students on the basis of group work alone, while at the same time limited departmental resources cannot allow for increasing the number of individual examinations. This paper attempts to square this paradox by elaborating on new ways to individualize compulsory group work so that it fulfils both formal and educational objectives, but also so it feels meaningful, motivative and fair to the students. This multifaceted challenge is captured in a novel methodological approach named “captaining”. By drawing on existing theoretical frameworks, own experiences and subsequent evaluation, “captaining” is presented as a promising alternative to the individualism vs. collectivism dilemma, as well as to extra-educational factors impacting the implementation of best examination practices.
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| 7. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Performing rurality. But who?
- 2017
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Ingår i: Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series. - : Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika/Nicolaus Copernicus University. - 1732-4254 .- 2083-8298. ; 38, s. 27-45
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Reflective inquiries to better understand ‘the rural’ have tried to embed rural research within the notion of performativity. Performativity assumes that the capacity of language is not simply to communicate but also to consummate action, whereupon citational uses of concepts produce a series of material effects. Of late, this philosophical shift has also implicated geographers as active agents in producing, reproducing and performing rurality. This paper provides a critical evaluation of what this new insistence really means for the production of geographical knowledge. Using framework analysis as a method, the paper scrutinizes several reportedly influential papers on the topic of rural performativity. Our findings reveal that, while indeed reflexive on issues of academic integrity, methodology and ethics, performances of rurality are continuedly placed ‘out there’ amongst ‘rural people’, i.e. in a priori defined and often stereotypically understood contexts, either by way of ‘spatial delimitation’ or ‘activity delimitation’. Effectively, such testimonies provide a truncated state of fidelity, where performance-oriented reflexivity is seconded by contradictory empirics of uneven value and with few commonalities. We conclude that by turning towards performativity as an allegedly more helpful way of obtaining rural coherence, we at the same time overlook our own role in keeping ‘rural theory’ alive.
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| 8. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek
(författare)
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Rural/urban: Laying bare the controversy
- 2018
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Ingår i: Geographia Polonica. - 0016-7282. ; 91:4, s. 375-397
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Concepts are the basic building blocks of all knowledge, while the strength of any societal project is dependent on the quality of those concepts. As two of the oldest geographical concepts still in widespread use, ‘rural/urban’ stand in stark contrast to the immense changes encountered by the society over the last century, let alone decades. To better understand this controversy, this paper moves away from conventional rural and urban theory, and instead focuses on the philosophical constitution of this conceptual pair. By critically evaluating six of the most common conceptions of ‘rural/urban’, including their pros and cons, this paper makes a case for reconfiguring our relationship with familiar understandings of societal organization. The paper concludes that by paying greater attention to how concepts operate at a cognitive level, how they are construed and collectively maintained, can help facilitate decisions whether ‘rural/urban’ are truly analytically contributory to a specific line of thought or action, or whether they merely linger as a cultural ostinato that is too elusive to be conquered or held.
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| 9. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainability—differently
- 2018
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Ingår i: Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series. - : Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika/Nicolaus Copernicus University. - 1732-4254 .- 2083-8298. ; 40:40, s. 7-16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is increasingly appreciated how all societies contain many ‘wicked problems’ or socio-cultural challenges that are multidimensional, hard to pin-down and consequently extremely challenging to solve. Obtaining functional and inclusive societal organization is not a simple matter of ‘doing it’ by subscribing to winning formulae as there are, for example, many choices to be made in the process. Moreover, given that conceptual frameworks always guide thoughts, judgments and actions, how we relate to ‘sustainability’ specifically becomes relevant if we aim to achieve a more liveable society. This journal issue expressly engages with the consequent need to recognise this complexity. It assembles a set of ‘brave’ takes on far-advanced problems bedevilling conventionally conceptualised paths towards sustainability. Arguing against oversimplification that comes from domination of polarizing concepts and unquestioned practices and rhetorics, the aim is to foster explorations into new territories from which we may learn. Ultimately, the desire to deconstruct pernicious divisions and create new hybrid syntheses can progress sustainability.
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| 10. |
- Dymitrow, Mirek, 1975
(författare)
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The concept of 'rural' as a psychosocial process: From concept attainment to concept unlearning
- 2019
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Ingår i: Quaestiones Geographicae. - : Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan. - 2081-6383 .- 0137-477X .- 2082-2103. ; 38:4, s. 15-28
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Realising that human geography has been defined less by its canonical works but rather by its canonical concepts, the current status of the concept 'rural' puts a question mark over progress in human geography in terms of how well we have been able to adapt knowledge to reciprocate with societal change at large. As one of the oldest geographical concepts still in widespread use, 'rural' stands in stark contrast to the immense changes encountered by the society during the last century, let alone decades. And while this problem has been approached both empirically and philosophically, not enough stress has been put on the cognitive and sociological processes that have governed the attainment and retention of 'rural' in science, and beyond. In this vein, the aim of this paper is to provide a structured argument for facilitating a view of 'rural' less as a geographical space and more as a concept purportedly thought to define such space by way of inculcation.
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