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This paper investigates ancient pastoral mobility in a high mountain area of the Pyrenees. Firstly, modern transhumant routes were analysed using GIS tools in order to understand possible determinant factors (such as terrain slope and altitude, water courses and possible nodes) in the layout of a route used for seasonal livestock movements. The observations obtained were then used to model optimal paths which may have been used by ancient shepherds. Subsequently, an analysis was made of the spatial relationship between the simulated paths and the dispersion pattern of archaeological sites in two time periods: Late Antiquity-Medieval (3rd-14th centuries AD) and Modern-Contemporary (18th-20th centuries AD). The results show significant differences in the spatial distribution of the sites throughout both periods in terms of accessibility and proximity to possible pathways. This variability provides information concerning historical changes in the social structure of pastoral alpine landscapes over long periods of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As a key indicator to measure the mental health status, psychological security level of Chinese college students and its changes over time are of great value to examine.Methods: A cross-temporal meta-analysis was performed using papers that measured the psychological security level of Chinese college students using the Security Questionnaire between 2006 and 2019. In addition, a time lag analysis was conducted to define whether the selected macro social indicators can explain the changes in the psychological security level.Results: A total of 58 papers involving 28,352 Chinese college students were included in the final sample. The results revealed that scores of psychological security and its two factors were significantly negatively correlated with the year. Scores of psychological security and its two factors were significantly associated with five social indicators of economic condition (residents' consumption level), social connectedness (divorce rate, urbanization level) and overall threat (college enrollment rate, crime rate), suggesting that social change may account for the decline in psychological security level of Chinese college students.Limitations: The underlying mechanism is only discussed at a theoretical level. Thus, future studies can collect the relating empirical evidence to test the proposed theoretical model.Conclusions: Our study revealed a decreasing trend of Chinese college students' psychological security level across time, which was associated with macro-social changes in diverse areas. In addition, combined with the corresponding macro-social indicators, a three-dimensional theoretical framework is proposed to explain the psychological security for college students as a group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ongoing semantic change of a discourse marker in Japanese social media. An analysis of 140 instances of the sentence-final tteyuu on Twitter, renamed X in July 2023, suggests that this discourse marker is shifting from a textual function of elaboration to a stance marker of lighthearted mockery. I argue this transition is attributed to its recurrent use in specific contexts, leading to invited inferences about the writer's intentions in expanding upon an idea, which extend beyond purely informational to interpersonal and social concerns. The functional ambiguity of these examples suggests an intermediate stage in tteyuu's evolution. The findings of this study underscore the centrality of pragmatic inferencing in semantic changes as well as the context-dependent nature of meaning creation. • Sentence-final tteyuu on Twitter (or X) is shifting from a textual to a stance marker. • Recurrent use in specific contexts drives pragmatic inference and semantic change. • Anonymous writers' self-mockery stance reflects their social meta-self-awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Health Organisation's 2022 'blueprint for dementia research' highlights the need for more research into population-level risk reduction. However, definitions of population-level prevention vary, and application to dementia is challenging because of its multi-factorial aetiology and a maturing prevention evidence base. This paper compares and contrasts key concepts of 'population-level prevention' from the literature, explores related theoretical models and policy frameworks, and applies this to dementia risk reduction. We reach a proposed definition of population-level risk reduction of dementia, which focusses on the need to change societal conditions such that the population is less likely to develop modifiable risk factors known to be associated with dementia, without the need for high-agency behaviour change by individuals. This definition, alongside identified policy frameworks, can inform synthesis of existing evidence and help to co-ordinate the generation of new evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ecological restoration is not just an environmental issue and it is a societal problem. This paper analyzes ecological restoration and its impact on society in coal resource-based areas, focusing on the Ruhr region in Germany and Liulin County in China. Through the analysis and comparison, the study not only reveals the unique ecology-social system and explain the reasons for dependence on coal, but the finding shows that industrial transformation is a key factor in determining ecological restoration of coal resource-based regions. • The industries abandoned by the Ruhr area were taken over by China. Shanxi Province is very similar to the Ruhr area in terms of ecological destruction and social development at that time. The Ruhr region has become one of the most polluted areas in the world due to its coal and steel industry. After nearly 40 years of arduous practice, ecological governance and economic transformation in the Ruhr area achieved initial success. • Shanxi Province in China is a hub for energy and heavy chemical industries, and it ranks first in coal production nationally.. The Liulin county is located in the west of Shanxi Province, it is a typical coal mining subsidence and is scattered with numerous villages affected by subsidence due to coal mining. Shanxi Province and the Liulin county is undergoing difficult industrial transformation. • The author of this work visited the Duisburg-Essen University for a year, located in the Ruhr area of Germany, and learned about the ER and transformation in the Ruhr. When the author returned to China, she conducted field research for a two-month survey in Liulin County. Therefore, the author collected a large amount of literature ,data sources and gained practical experiences in these two areas. The coal resource-based areas rely on coal resources and primary processing as their pillar industries, such as the old industrial areas in China and Germany. Long-term, large-scale coal mining has significantly damaged the ecological environment of mining areas. Environmental restoration refers to repairing, rehabilitating, or revitalizing ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed by human activities or natural disasters. In fact, ecological restoration is not just an environmental issue and it is a societal problem. Ecological restoration is closely linked to natural resources, the environment, the economy, society, and politics. These factors form a social ecological system and it is the basis for local stability and sustainable development in the coal resource-based areas. In this process, the relationship between government, enterprise, and local people is constantly being reshaped and defined, then it causes changes in the local social ecology and political ecology. The paper researches the Ruhr area in Germany and the Liulin County in China, the former is a world-famous old industrial and the latter is a typical coal mining subsidence district. By analyzing and comparing the ecological restoration and significant social changes in the Ruhr area and the Liulin County at different periods, the findings show the unique ecology— social system of the coal resource-based area, then enhances the effective measures for ecological restoration and sustainable development of the coal resource-based areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network infrastructure is one of the most significant technological developments in recent decades, as well as a powerful boost for economic growth in both urban and rural area. However, whether improving network infrastructure reduces urban-rural income inequality (URII) remains uncertain in the previous literature. Considering that URII is an important research issue in the field of social change, it is worthwhile to investigate the causal relationship between network infrastructure and URII. Based on the exogenous shock from a quasi-natural experiment of "Broadband China" demonstration cities, this paper utilizes a time-varying Difference-in-Differences (Time-varying DID) model to identify the causal impact of the improvement of network infrastructure on URII in China. The results show that: (1) After controlling the impact of other commonly acknowledged factors, network infrastructure remains a significant factor in URII reduction. (2) The mechanism analysis confirms that the mediating effect of digital financial inclusion plays a vital role in the impact of network infrastructure on URII. (3) Further regional heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of network infrastructure on reducing URII also relies on region's characteristics, such as geographical location, traditional infrastructure level, and administrative level. This paper has figured out the causal relationship between network infrastructure and URII, thus inspiring policy-makers who aim to reduce inequality between urban and rural areas to commit to improving network infrastructure with an emphasis on digital financial inclusion mechanism and comprehensive consideration of regional heterogeneity. • Network infrastructure construction can significantly reduce urban-rural income inequality. • Time-varying Difference in difference method (Time-varying DID) was adopted to investigate the "Broadband China" Policy. • The mediating mechanisms and heterogeneity of network infrastructure development on urban income inequality are discussed. • The value of the "Broadband China" Policy for urban-rural development is shown. • Our findings offer advice for developing countries and local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations require relevant social changes that sometimes involve the development of innovative projects that cause rejection and confrontation. Agent-Based Models (ABM) are powerful tools to represent the behavior of systems, and they have become valuable for the social sciences as they can simulate the behavior of a society under different conditions. Superblocks are innovative city projects that reorganize urban space and minimize private motorized transport. In this paper, we present an ABM that simulates the implantation of superblocks in two Spanish cities: Vitoria-Gasteiz and Barcelona. The interest of this model is to provide policymakers with relevant scientific information that can be used to support their planning and decision-making processes by running possible alternative policy scenarios. This paper presents the details of the designed model and the simulation of different policy scenarios to increase the acceptability rates of citizens about the project, demonstrating how the model takes into account local differences and its usefulness for those political leaders from other cities interested in implementing this type of project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Profound transformations in human beings are necessary if we are to exist in harmony with ourselves, other beings and nature. Only if such transformations take place, can the deep social changes that degrowth proponents call for come about. Yet what mechanisms could contribute to trigger and support (or hinder) inner growth? This question, which remains largely unexplored in degrowth scholarship, is addressed in the present contribution. Drawing on critical realist philosophy, humanism and deep ecology, it introduces and develops the concept of deepgrowth. The concept denotes processes through which a human – through inner growth enabled and supported by multiple external and internal mechanisms – becomes a harmonious being. The paper reflects on human nature and identifies several mechanisms that may enable or constrain transformations in the selves of humans. These mechanisms are situated on various planes of social being: material transactions with nature, social interactions, social structures and inner being. Noting that degrowth scholarship ought to reflect more systematically upon eco-social policies in relation to inner being, the paper discusses how combinations of such policies may contribute to facilitate deepgrowth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of agrobiodiversity has mostly neglected conditioning by violent conflict and related processes of social and agrarian change. Similarly, the violent conflicts literature has rarely considered interactions with agrobiodiversity, which involves social as well as biophysical processes. Considering their frequent spatial overlaps around the world, this paper introduces a themed issue investigating how agrobiodiversity and violent (post)conflicts transform each other and are often interdependent. To do so, we bring into dialogue previously disparate lines of research and present the empirical and theoretical contributions of the papers included in the themed issue. Based on this collective work, we call for further synthesis, whereby research working on agrobiodiversity meet and converge with research on violent conflict from various disciplines. The papers that compose this issue evidence how an integrative approach is not only analytically beneficial but also necessary for research supporting the sustainable resolution of conflict, the related conservation of agrobiodiversity and equitable human-environment relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an extension to the relational event model with change points (REM-CP) to study abrupt changes to social interaction behavior in temporal networks. A change point detection algorithm is proposed for exploring when and which network effects abruptly change, and a confirmatory approach to test the presence of a change point at a given moment. The effectiveness of the methodology was assessed with numerical simulations and NASA's Apollo 13 mission data. The latter revealed dynamic communication behavior and identified time zones where most change points occurred, including around the time of the famous quote "Houston, we've had a problem." • The strengths of some effects and therefore social dynamics, can change at certain points in time. • The REM with Change Points (REM-CP) builds on the relational event modeling framework and the Bayes factor and detects when the change points in social networks occur. • REM-CP can explore when and which network effects abruptly change in a specified period and test the presence of a change point at a given moment. • REM-CP can be a useful tool to analyze how teams work, communicate and how they handle critical situations. • Team resilience has been defined in many ways, but the most fitting with the analysis at hand (REM-CP) is that of "graceful extensibility". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Violence against older people is one of the least known forms of violence, despite being significantly represented worldwide. • Nowadays, the most common types of violence are neglect and psychological or emotional abuse. • The keywords "elderly abuse" led to a low number of results, showing low interest in this topic. • This type of abuse is little reported and not adequately addressed. Social and structural changes are of primary importance. • This paper is a call to the scientific community to study epidemiological and medico-legal aspects of older people abuse. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes gender violence as a real global health problem with a major impact not only on the victims' physical and mental health, but also on the economics of the National Health System. Gender-based violence has been also extended to all types of subjects defined as fragile: children, elderly, women, men and disabled people. Older people abuse, more frequent in women, is a far less socially debated issue, with many forms: physical, sexual, psychological, abandonment, neglect, economic-financial, pharmaceutical, discriminatory, institutional. An electronic literature research was carried out search using the keywords "elderly abuse" on various online sources. The research showed low number of results and little attention to this topic in the scientific literature. The paper highlights how the theme of older people abuse is little reported and not adequately addressed in scientific literature and in real life, being a form of violence certainly underestimated by the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to shed light on the complex relationship between social change and support for the development of Cittaslow (SDC). The current research did not focus on this relationship considering the asymmetric effect. This paper, therefore, examines both the net and asymmetric effects with PLS-SEM and fsQCA. Data was collected in Seferihisar which is the first Cittaslow of Turkiye. 399 usable questionnaire was included in the data analysis. Even though only family values had a significant effect on SDC, other social change constructs also had different roles in recipes. Considering the contrarian case analysis, complexity theory gave meaningful insights. Not only high scores of constructs but also low scores should be considered in future research. • Sustainability should be examined considering social effects of a Cittaslow. • Explains asymmetrical and symmetrical effects of social change in a Cittaslow • Causal asymmetry is supported in predicting support for the development of Cittaslow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the multi-actor making of the ruralscape in Hong Kong. I critically adopt the theoretical framework of Ingold's concepts of walking to understand how different "wayfarers", including but not limited to farmers, residents, land activists, agriculture learners, researchers, journalists, leisure practitioners and government officials, walk to make a multi-sensorial landscape. This paper encapsulates the observation outcomes of multiple times of walking by different individuals and groups recorded during my ethnographic fieldwork between 2008 and 2021. I shed light on the local practices and perspectives of hang cyun (walking in villages) and hang tin (walking in fields) to illustrate my observations. By analyzing the wayfarers' walking experiences and embodied movements, I consider the ruralscape as a vibrant space where people configure its meanings and materialize their lifestyle. The wayfarers' embodied experiences reflect the continuity and changes of a rural Hong Kong. Their making of ruralscape helps alleviate people's anxiety and enhance people's hope concerning the current Hong Kong society that faces food safety issues, environmental degradation, social class disparity and spoon-feeding education. I consider that being an agent who exercises his/her subjectivity during the walking in the ruralscape, a wayfarer makes the ruralscape meaningful in various aspects. My explanation contributes to the theoretical discussion of embodied movement and space making particular to the construction of a politicized nature telling us stories of (in)equality, (in)justice, and hope (lessness). • Walking is a political and socio-economic process that produces a multi-sensorial ruralscape. • Embodied movement and space making alleviates anxiety and enhances hope in rural Hong Kong. • Actor-actant interactions in Hong Kong's ruralscape entails stories of (in)equality, (in)justice, and hope (lessness). • People configure meanings and materialize lifestyle in walking in villages and fields. • Wayfarers's experiences reflect the continuity and changes of social movement, education, and agro-economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating social and environmental change raises pressing questions about how existing institutions can be reformed to mount a more effective response. In this context, goal-based governance has been widely adopted in order to mobilise existing bodies to agree shared goals and develop common purpose. Increasingly employed in sustainability governance at the international scale, goal-based governance concerns setting pan-organisational goals and mobilising to deliver them. There is growing recognition that this approach needs to be downscaled to the local level in ways that can increase democratic engagement in order to realise significant change. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges involved in doing this in Cornwall, UK. We draw on collaborative research with representatives from statutory organisations as well as civic and civil society to highlight: (1) the significance of institutional structures, culture and relationships; (2) the need to adopt innovative participatory methods to engage and enlist civic and civil society organisations in goal-setting; and (3) the importance of ensuring delivery. The paper explores the extent to which local institutions can engage in goal-based and collaborative governance to respond to the challenges of sustainability in ways that reflect specific geo-political and cultural contexts as well as responding to international demands for greater sustainability. The findings provide insights that have relevance for other contexts as local leaders experiment to better recognise, reflect and respond to the social, ecological and political challenges of our time. • Goal-based governance for sustainability is yet to be adequately implemented on local scales. • Actors often excluded from sustainability governance decisions can help enact meaningful and transformational change. • Institutions need to be more reflexive if goal-based governance is to be locally relevant and democratic. • Our study offers insight into the practical realities of localising and democratising goal-based governance in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates whether and how social preference change mitigates the crowding-out effect that formal insurance has on informal risk sharing. • We find in a lab experiment that the introduction and removal of a temporary and unexpected formal insurance policy surprisingly increases informal risk sharing. • The improvement in informal risk sharing practices occurs mainly in asymmetric cases in which one subject purchases formal insurance but the other does not. • In asymmetric cases, the risk sharing dynamics suggests that those who purchase insurance take the initiative to share more risk for their partners. • We propose a model based on guilt aversion to explain our findings. This paper investigates whether and how the crowding-out effect of formal insurance on informal risk sharing is mitigated by social preference change. We design a lab experiment in which formal insurance is introduced and removed unexpectedly in a repeated risk-sharing game. We find evidence of social preference change by showing that informal risk sharing is significantly improved after the removal of formal insurance, and the pattern mainly occurs when one subject obtains insurance but the other does not. Findings suggest that it is the insurance purchasers who take the initiative to share more risk for their partners. However, there is no significant improvement in informal risk sharing when insurance purchasing decisions are randomly computer generated. We propose a model based on guilt aversion to explain our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A murder of a Slovak investigative journalist in February 2018 led to a wave of massive rallies across the country and abroad which demanded a fair investigation of the murder as well as some political concessions. The grass-roots protests were held under the slogan Za slušné Slovensko (For a Decent Slovakia) in which the concept of slušnosť (decency) was chosen to echo the ethos of the November 1989 Velvet Revolution. In a wave of ensuing societal discourses about (im)politeness, slušnosť has proven to be a highly contested term. This contestedness is examined in two threads from Internet discussion fora which are attached to news articles reporting on March 9, 2019 mass gatherings. The analysis demonstrates how posters negotiate their understandings of slušnosť with regard to their group-based stances and identities. Also, the paper points out the indexical resources which posters use to construct their own and others' identities and demonstrates how (im)politeness, morality and identity construction are closely interrelated. The paper adopts the approach of ʽpoliteness as a social practiceʼ and uses ʽtactics of intersubjectivityʼ as the main analytical tool. The metapragmatic analysis of a societal change is contextualized within wider socio-political developments in post-1989 Slovakia. • A murder of a Slovak journalist in February 2018 sparked mass protests held under the slogan of ʽFor a Decent Slovakiaʼ. • In the slogan, the concept of slušnosť (decency) was chosen to echo the ethos of Czechoslovak 1989 Velvet Revolution. • In the ensuing societal discourses slušnosť has proven to be a highly contested term across social groups. • Internet discussion for a demonstrate how understandings of slušnosť are linked to posters´ stances and group identities. • After the ʽrevolution of decencyʼ of 2018, the argumentativity of slušnosť has contributed to societal group-based divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have imposed a set of non-pharmaceutical health policy interventions in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of this paper is to examine the effects of the interventions, drawing on evidence from the OECD countries. A special feature here is the mechanism that underlies the impact of the containment policies. To this end, a causal mediation analysis decomposing the total effect into a direct and an indirect effect is conducted. The key finding is a dual cause-effect channel. On the one hand, there is a direct effect of the non-pharmaceutical interventions on the various health variables. Beyond this, a quantitatively dominant indirect impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions operating via voluntary changes in social distancing is shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolution and change in agricultural practice is a major factor in the codification of social relations and represents one of the main resources employed by human societies to establish a durable relationship with their environment. Using a multi-proxy integrated approach, this paper seeks to decipher the long-term dynamics that have shaped agricultural landscapes in the Basque Country (N Spain). Social and economic indicators (archival records, toponymy and oral sources) are used along with geological core sampling (geochemistry, magnetic, palynological and carpological analyses) to reconstruct a diachronic sequence of human settlement and agricultural management in the village of Aizarna over the last ~1500 years. The oldest records obtained refer to non-agricultural human activities dating back to the Roman period. Later on, traces of agricultural landscape-transformation can be divided into four main phases: 1) the onset of terraced agriculture, defined by the clearance and terracing of previous forested areas during the Early Middle Ages; 2) a Late Medieval reorganisation, with new terraces being (re)constructed close to dispersed farmsteads, linked to the emergence of the modern rural landscape; 3) a new model of intensive polyculture developed during the Modern period as a consequence of the introduction of new crops of American origin; and 4) the mechanisation and commercialisation of the agricultural production over the 20th century. These results provide a valuable pathway for the investigation of currently inhabited rural contexts, and offer, for the first time in this region, an overview on long-term landscape construction in the Atlantic areas of the Basque Country. Unlabelled Image • Farming is a key element of human ecology and landscape modelling in the long term. • Physicochemical proxies show dynamic rural societies with flexible farming strategies. • Agricultural practice is defined by biogeographic, social and economic constraints. • Rural landscapes are currently facing degradation caused by deep Modern changes. • The paper studies long-term landscape dynamics in a case study from the Basque Country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen an expanding 'no and low alcohol' (NoLo) drinks market in the United Kingdom and other high-income countries. With the UK government pledging to increase the availability of NoLos and encourage their consumption, further research is required to underpin policy and explore the potential for NoLos to ease – or exacerbate – alcohol-related harm. This paper draws on original primary research on NoLo marketing and consumption in the UK; analysis of two NoLo marketing campaigns and semi-structured interviews with both drinkers and non-drinkers who consume NoLos. Addition marketing was identified in the promotion of NoLo products, encouraging consumers to incorporate NoLo consumption into new spatial and temporal contexts on top of their typical weekly drinking patterns. However, there was resistance towards these practices from consumers, who stressed they were more likely to drink NoLos in place of alcohol and incorporate them into their existing drinking routines. This paper expands a currently very limited evidence base and contributes directly to ongoing debates around 'addition' versus 'substitution' (i.e. whether NoLo products are being used on top of or in place of alcohol). Findings highlight both some of the challenges and opportunities of the expanding market, pointing towards the problematic presence of 'addition marketing' but also highlighting the ways consumers might challenge this and use NoLos flexibly to reduce consumption. As a result, NoLo promotion could function as one tool amongst many to help at least some consumers drink in moderation, alongside a broader package of measures such as education and wider social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, art therapists used new methods, materials, and techniques to help address the needs of community members. The practices that emerged from art therapy while adjusting to the pandemic, created new perspectives and ways to re-theorize and re-energize community art therapy engagement. As the acute stage of the pandemic passes, the art therapy profession can take this opportunity to pause and explore the new practice-based knowledge and techniques developed "on the ground" during the acute crisis and canonize them by connecting practice to the growing body of theory on social art therapy. This paper will help conceptualize, articulate, and thus demystify these developments, anchoring them to social theories of community. This paper will integrate setting, role of art, role of art therapists, ethical considerations, and evaluation, into social theories, describing specific features of a new theory of social art therapy in the context of community crises. • Social Art Therapy is a novel community focused paradigm. • A framework for crisis recovery can be driven by Social Art Therapy theory. • Social Art Therapy is developed from adaptive art therapy practices. • Social crisis commonly necessitates a Social Art Therapy approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological Forecasting and Social Change (TFSC) is one of the main outlets in the literature on technological change. To assist its editors and future contributors in understanding the evolution of the journal, we review studies published between 1970 and 2022 identifying 25 main themes ranging from scenario foresight and forecasting methods that dominated the journal agenda in the first decades through innovation diffusion and patent analysis that gained popularity in 2006–2019 to social interaction and financial markets which experienced momentum in the last couple of years. We find that studies concentrated on more recent topics like firm performance, financial markets and environmental regulation have been cited more frequently and were contributed more often by scientists from China compared to the US. Inspired by the fact that studies recombining two or more topics are more impactful in terms of citations, we construct a graph of topics, both for the overall sample of 6240 studies reviewed and three periods of TFSC existence corresponding to different editors-in-chief. Our results illustrate knowledge complementarities explored in the journal so far and may indicate directions for further research. • We review 6240 papers published in TFSC between 1970 and 2022. • Studies with titles around 20 words long tend to get more citations. • Studies recombining more than one topic also attract more citations. • Authors affiliated in China have biggest contribution in terms of papers weighted by citations. • We construct a graph of 25 main themes for periods corresponding to three different editors-in-chief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents two studies which address an underdeveloped area within acculturation research: majority members' perceptions of cultural change. Specifically, drawing on the theory of cultural inertia, we explored how majority members react to perceptions of recent majority culture and minority cultures change. A path model was hypothesised whereby British and English majority members' perceptions that their British (Study 1, N = 266) and English (Study 2, N = 292) cultures are changing due to the presence of minority cultures was positively associated with symbolic threat, and through this with greater prejudice towards minorities living in the UK/England. However, participants' perceptions that minority cultures are changing due to influence from the majority culture were negatively associated with symbolic threat, and through this with less prejudice towards minorities. These findings were supported across different operationalizations of prejudice (i.e., social distance and positive/negative affect) and even when controlling for another recently introduced concept of meta-perceptions – that is, majority members' perceptions of whether minority members prefer majority members to maintain their culture and/or adopt to the minority cultures. Findings call for a greater focus on studying the intergroup consequences of majority members' perceptions of cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) and Social Practices Approach (SPA) are combined. • MLP + SPA co-use is fruitful for social change interventions design. • Seven insights are drawn from a literature review of papers co-using MLP and SPA. • Joining a zoom-in and -out approach and vertical and horizontal analysis are proposed. • Focus on domestic and professional practices + on resilient and vulnerable practices is proposed. The increasing sense of urgency to transition to sustainable modes of consumption and production requires an understanding of social problem framings and processes of change. We examine how two conceptual frameworks, the Multi-level Perspective (MLP), a socio-technical transition theory, and Social Practice Approaches (SPA), contribute to understanding opportunities for social change. We share the results of a systematic literature review that seeks a better understanding of how these two approaches are co-employed. We first present quantifiable results from an analysis of 118 publications; we then focus on a qualitative analysis to investigate conceptual complementarities while recognizing their ontological differences. We find further entry points where the two approaches can be fruitfully combined, such as the study of vulnerable proto-practices, research on informal regimes, and the development of landscape- and supra-practice-level meanings. We conclude with recommendations on how to further operationalize the co-employment of MLP and SPA in sustainability transition studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global development agencies have funded entrepreneurial projects to alleviate poverty in developing countries. This study discusses an international-sponsored training project delivered by a tech hub to stimulate creative economy entrepreneurship in low-income communities in Brazil. Studies focusing on providing entrepreneurial resources to create value for poor communities have diverging results. There is no clear understanding of resource use and transformation processes to generate entrepreneurial value for poor people. We have used the resourcing perspective from the social practice theory to analyze how project actions transform potential resources into resources used by community participants. Analyzing project entrepreneurship steps through resource-schema-action cycles and resourcing mechanisms allows an understanding of how participants use and transform resources to create valuable outcomes. Also, the technology-oriented hub approach constrains resourcing cycles and community enterprise options over time. As a result, a project developed in hub spaces could risk favoring community groups with better technological backgrounds and more visibility in that environment, limiting the breadth of its social change. Understanding the resourcing elements would help managers get more value from entrepreneurial resources when developing low-income enterprises. An empirical framework and related propositions summarize the paper's contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The affordances of social media have enabled organisations and members to negotiate and co-create their identities. Despite the original conception of acculturation as a reciprocal process of cultural change, how an organisation adapts to the cultures of its members and how members react to these efforts remain under-researched. Drawing on theories of identity construction, this paper conceptualises two-way acculturation in social media and investigates the role of institutional efforts in building member relationships. We employed a mixed method consisting of a netnographic analysis of university Facebook pages and a quantitative survey with a sample of 410 students to examine how brand page identification and the institutional image (i.e., distinctiveness, prestige, and supportiveness) mediate the relationship between the social media marketing efforts and member-institution identification. The results show that, overall, content tactics (i.e., symbolic resource integration, hedonic quality, and utilitarian quality) and marketer traits (i.e., effort to foster member embeddedness and warmth) not only strengthen member engagement but also help shape an attractive identity of the institution that builds relationships. This paper advances our understanding of identity co-creation and acculturation in social media while also contributing a nuanced understanding of the effectiveness of various engagement tactics to theory and practice. • A mixed method approach examined brand page identification, institutional image and member-institution identification. • We examine identity construction and acculturation in social media. • Identity theories used to explain social relationship formation. • Our framework helps marketers understand the implications of two-way acculturation in social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how two Canadian academics make sense of their experiences as voluntarily childless women, and what their accounts can tell us about the social relations of not-mothering. Drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews, the paper argues that these accounts present a challenge to the neoliberalization of academia, pronatalism, and essentialist discourses equating women's voluntary childlessness with selfishness. More specifically, the paper suggests that both women embody "responsible ambivalence" – that is, intersecting ethics of responsibility to the self and others. In honouring their preference not to mother, and in interpreting that preference in critically reflexive terms, the women demonstrate a commitment to social justice belying the suggestion that they are thinking only of themselves. Their certainty about what they want personally is inextricable from an orientation to progressive social change, demonstrating that voluntary childlessness is not selfish, but is in fact responsible in a variety of complex and interrelated ways. • Academics' voluntary childlessness reflects their "responsible ambivalence." • The women are responsible to the self in honouring their preference not to mother. • With critical reflexivity and focus on social justice they are responsible to others. • Voluntary childlessness is not selfish, but in fact responsible in a variety of ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Paper combines 3 Elements Model, with Systems of Provision model. • Model shows how central government influenced local authority grant bidding practices. • Meanings travel from central government and influence the type of schemes delivered. • Funding identified as a means of exerting government power within this system. • Model enhances policy-maker understanding of the wider impacts of interventions. Changing mobility behaviour towards activities and actions that have a less detrimental impact on the environment, public health and society is an objective of transport policy jurisdictions globally. In line with a burgeoning body of research examining behaviour and social change, this paper explores the governmental systems that influence mobility behaviours through a social practice lens. This paper blends two social practice theoretical models, the '3-Elements Model' and 'Systems of Provision', as a means of understanding the delivery of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF), a central government grant scheme for English local authorities. We examine how the meanings, materials and competences within the practices of bid writing by local authorities and scheme selection by government influenced the distribution of funding to local authorities. The research starts from the principle that, where funding is provided by central government, in the case of this research that of the UK, an opportunity is created for mobility practices to change. The significance of funding is not easily theorised by the 3-Elements model but is more helpfully explained when that model is blended with the wider Systems of Provision model to create a model of practice ecology. Our theorisation allows for a rigorous exploration of the 'practice scaffolding' which shapes how people travel. Policymakers are recommended to consider a practice ecology approach when developing mobility management schemes to tackle air quality, climate change and obesity issues more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Three narratives of change: individual agency, cultural heritage, community vision. • Flexibility of perspectives support conscious engagement with social change. • Enacting alternatives in the here and now enables conscious transformation. • Community resilience must be supported by transformations at other scales. • The relationship between worldviews and transformation is ripe for further research. Abstract What makes some communities more resilient and transformative than others? This paper explores the hypothesis that the flexibility of perspectives is central to enable the kind of changes called for by current and future environmental and socio-economic challenges. The paper reports on findings from a Q-study conducted with the Indigenous community of Igiugig, Alaska, focusing on perceptions of social change. The study reveals three main narratives concerning drivers of social change, focusing on the role of individuals, the importance of cultural values, and community visioning. The findings from the Q study point to the importance of flexibility, understood as the capacity to take different perspectives, in enabling deliberate action in situations where the correct path to take is often contested. This kind of flexibility, grounded in an Indigenous worldview, is seen to contribute to community resilience through supporting cultural cohesion, collective leadership and enacting alternatives in the here and now. Strong community narratives that allow for individual interpretation is seen as important and highlights the interrelatedness between the individual and the collective and the role of collective agency. Drawing on the critiques of the concept of resilience in an Indigenous context, the paper further points to the need for transformational change occurring at multiple scales and extends a call for flexibility to be fostered among researchers and practitioners alike. The lessons from this community have implications for understandings of community resilience and agency in social-ecological systems and the potential for transformations towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract While vaccine-critical activism has been widely documented and discussed, comparatively little has been said about the concerted response of pro-vaccine activists defending the majority view. This paper explores two case studies of pro-vaccine activism in Australia and the United States (US). It shows how pro-vaccine views and behaviours can take varying forms due to different aims and methods of engagement – oppositional counteractivities in favour of vaccination in Australia, and issue-based advocacy as part of a political alliance in the US. The focus in Australia comes from a pro-science stance and includes 'skeptics' against pseudoscience directly opposing vaccine-critical groups. In the US, the focus takes the form of an issue-specific campaign that has arisen from existing pro-vaccine parent blogs and discussion groups pushing for policy change rather than public confrontation. These case studies exemplify how pro-vaccine activism can take varying forms of either reinforcing the mainstream view or countering digression from it. Drawing on qualitative research, this paper aims to examine the types of practices and strategies employed by activists to voice their support of vaccination, and discusses the means, messages, and motivations of pro-vaccine activism. It ends with an argument for why a study – of public support for in addition to studying public opposition to vaccination – can help to better understand vaccination views and behaviours. These findings have wider implications for the study of counter-activism and the polarisation of civil society groups. Highlights • Pro-vaccine views and behaviours are understudied. • Case studies on pro-vaccine activist groups in Australia and the United States. • Pro-vaccine activism reinforces the mainstream or counters digression from it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract There is renewed and increasing interest in understanding the part that infrastructures play in societal transformations, especially in response to the various challenges of climate change. Studies that focus on these issues tend to examine infrastructures in isolation from each other, and tend to work with evolutionary accounts of incremental change punctuated by short periods of radical innovation. This paper questions both these abstractions. Using four empirical cases, it directs attention to intersections between infrastructures at specific times and places, highlighting the dynamic qualities of infrastructures-in-use, and conceptualising societal transformations as outcomes of these intersections. Four forms of intersection are elaborated – co-constitution, adaptation and threading through, historical layering, and coexisting configurations. Instances of each are used to illustrate some of complex and often ambiguous processes through which infrastructures interact. The paper ends by outlining implications for future research and for interventions by policy-makers and others seeking to influence the ways in which infrastructures intersect. Highlights • Extends beyond single-system, linear, phased account of infrastructural development • Focus on relational account and intersections between infrastructures in four cases • Cycling, Electric Vehicle charging, land-use and electricity, and fridge-freezers • Co-constitution, threading through, historical layering, coexisting configurations • Such complex intersections require permanently reflexive infrastructural governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contemporary challenge is inequality. This paper illustrates why ideas matter, and how they can change over time. Inequalities are reinforced when they are taken for granted. But this can be disrupted when marginalised people gain self-esteem; challenge hitherto unquestioned inequalities; and gain confidence in the possibility of social change. Slowly and incrementally, social mobilisation can catalyse greater government commitment to socially inclusive economic growth. This is illustrated with ethnographic research from Latin America, where income inequality has recently declined. Clearly, however, no single paper can provide a comprehensive account of political change in an incredibly diverse region. By highlighting some ways in which ideas matter (and the limitations of alternative hypotheses about increased fiscal space and democratisation), this paper merely seeks to persuade political economists to go beyond ‘incentives’. Future efforts to tackle inequality might harness the power of ideas: tackling ‘norm perceptions’ (beliefs about what others think and do); publicising positive deviance; and strengthening social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large-scale ecological damage caused by growth societies calls for economic degrowth in terms of a radical decrease in matter/energy throughput. This article examines the role of modern technology in degrowth with a focus on the question of agency and its ethical implications. After conceptualising technology as practice, the paper finds that while technological practice encompasses an agency for social change, it is restricted to transforming the non-human world to human-made objects. This is because in technological practice the world and its objects unfold as a standing-reserve for human use. Due to this calculative and anthropocentric thinking, technological practice does not and cannot support the emergence of a kind of agency that either does or can let things be. Moreover, the more technological the practice, the more objects are utilised. The paper concludes that technological practice does not support the transition to degrowth, because it directs its agents towards the continuous transformation of non-human-made objects into human-made objects resulting in an increase in cumulative throughput. The paper thus suggests that an ethos of releasement is needed to attain, as well as to live in, a degrowth society. The rationale provided for refraining from the technological practice in order to contribute to ecologically sensible social change is the chief contribution of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two axioms that have shaped the degrowth discussion, namely one on the reduction of production and consumption and one on the necessity of value and attitude change in society to respect environmental limits. Surprisingly little research has focused on the role of technology in connection to value change, consumption behavior and degrowth. This gap is linked to a widely held assumption of technological innovation acting contrary to degrowth. In contrast, this paper suggests that technological innovation needs to be connected to degrowth. In particular, the fast evolution of information and communication technologies in recent years points to their importance for the global civil society. Given the scope of sustainability challenges connected to these technologies and smartphones in particular, this paper argues that a degrowth movement going hand in hand with technological development is only made possible, if sustainable alternatives for highly demanded products are offered. Specifically, this study draws on lifestyle movements as the nexus between consumption, degrowth and technology. Three core concepts are found to influence the attendance to degrowth-related consumer movements: a sustainable lifestyle, alternative forms of consumption and social commitment, all of which are assumed to have a positive effect. Empirically this paper draws on the case of the Fairphone, a company that applies sustainable characteristics to a smartphone. Data collected in a survey via online fora of the Fairphone from November 4–29, 2015 are analyzed using a structural equation modeling with partial least squares. Results indicate that a sustainable lifestyle represents the dominant factor explaining the involvement with the Fairphone. Surprisingly, the findings show that alternative consumption seems to negatively influence the involvement with the Fairphone and social commitment seems to play a minor role in the model. These aspects point to the Fairphone as a technical artifact, centered on a choice for a sustainable lifestyle. Future research needs to reach clarification on the relationship of alternative consumption and degrowth related movements and whether the negative effect is case specific or beyond. Furthermore, future studies need to delve deeper into lifestyle decisions as a leverage point towards degrowth, especially on lifestyles understood as a from of activism to change contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Discusses normative and political dimensions of sustainability research. • Based on a survey among researchers engaged in Future Earth. • Distinguishes four different perspectives on transformative research. • Identifies tensions within and between perspectives. • Argues for explicitly addressing value and power in sustainability research. Abstract Global change and sustainability research increasingly focusses on informing and shaping societal transformations towards more sustainable futures. Doing so, researchers encounter the deeply political and normative dimensions of sustainability problems and potential solutions. This raises questions about the value-dimensions of science itself, as well as the appropriate relationship between science and politics. In this paper, these normative and political dimensions of sustainability research are explored based on a literature review and survey. The survey was completed by 284 researchers participating in the international research platform Future Earth: Research for Global Sustainability. The analysis of survey data reveals that sustainability researchers generally acknowledge the value-laden and political nature of their work, yet perspectives on what this means and how to deal with such dimensions vary. Four groups of respondents are distinguished and classified by the following broad narratives: transformative research as speaking truth to power, transformative research as political act, responsibility for rigorous science, and humility on solutions potential. Several tensions within and between these perspectives are identified, pertaining to the role of sustainability researchers in supporting societal transformations, the possibility and desirability of scientific independence and impartiality, and the appropriate relationship between science and politics. The paper concludes by pointing to the need for more explicit engagement with the normative and political dimensions of sustainability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many countries, achieving social mixing through a mix of housing tenures became a central strategy in socially inclusive urban renaissance initiatives. While several studies have explored the relationship between tenure and social mix, they often treat social and affordable housing as a homogeneous segment, neglecting the diversity of housing providers and their individualized housing allocation strategies. There is limited understanding of the role of diverse housing providers in creating social mix. This paper aims to address this gap by examining how the presence of different types of social and affordable housing providers impacts the level of social mix and the changes in social mix resulting from tenure conversions in the housing stock owned by different providers. Using population census data in 1988 and 2002 from Warsaw, Poland, from two periods characterized by different housing policies and tenures, the paper argues that social mix was primarily associated with a combination of housing tenures and property ownership, but only in 2002. The findings suggest that limitations on tenure conversions are necessary to achieve long-term social mix. In addition, there is a need for affordable housing providers to diversify and specialize in addressing changing housing needs and dynamic housing aspirations. • A 'socialist' social mix was prevalent in areas dominated by a single ownership form. • 40% of both public rentals and privately-owned units maintained social mix. • The presence of state-owned housing with a single tenure ensured social mixing after the conversion of tenures. • Privatization in cooperative housing with two tenures resulted in social upgrading. • Affordable housing providers need to specialize in order to address changing housing needs and dynamic housing aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to deepen our understanding of the impact of an oscillating policy environment on non-traditional schools in China since 2010. It does this through analysing policy documents and an analytic case study of one newly founded school in Shenzhen, China. The wavering policy environment framing the paper reflects a long-running internal government tussle between educational centralization and decentralization. The article first maps the trajectory of policy change associated with the "walking on two legs" tradition. It then examines how national policies are locally interpreted and enacted by depicting one school's historical episode and re-examines the case from a macro social change perspective to understand why the policy environment changed. The paper explores the issue by asking what significant policies describe China's "running schools on two legs" policy approach, how the oscillating policy environment influenced practices in one school and why the government changed its stance to re-centralize control of education. The paper discusses a number of implications arising from the case and shows the power of central policy ideology on the shape and purpose of schools. • 'Walking on two legs', or decentralization -recentralization tension, is a recurring theme in modern China. • The implementation of PPPs in education is contextually mediated and institutionally rendered. • It is a single school case that can reflect the oscillation of decentralization and privatization policies in China. • At the heart of the policy oscillation and the subsequent crackdown on PPPs was an intention to strengthen ideological control and teach the market a lesson about who is ultimately in charge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging active citizenry in public policy decisions using participative and collaborative processes is increasingly recognized as a critical step in implementing the open government concept. In this paper, we examine challenges and success factors as well as specific instruments and good practices in implementing participatory and collaborative governance in different governance contexts. Drawing on a comparative analysis of the approach adopted for the development and implementation of long-term strategies in Lithuania and Finland, we specifically focus on institutionalization of participative and collaborative processes along the policy-making cycle. The findings suggest that the most serious challenges associated with transitioning from 'old' to 'new' governance modes can be expected in countries associated with classical bureaucracy and legalistic institutional culture. In particular, such systems create internal and external pressure to focus on outputs as proof of results, which often trump efforts to enhance learning and consensus-building. Lessons learned from "Finland 2030" and "Lithuania 2030" suggest that institutionalization through leadership, clear responsibilities, a wide consensus within the society and administrations, and permanent stakeholder involvement platforms, is crucial to enable cultural change. The paper proposes a participative and collaborative governance maturity model that could be applied for benchmarking countries or policies. • The paper presents a collaborative and participative governance maturity model. • Institutionalization matters for the longevity of open governance. • Organizational culture is key to collaborative and participative governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban informality characterises contemporary socio-spatial transformations and increasingly appears as a way of producing, organising, and managing the future city. The pervasiveness of the spontaneous dimension of urban life, with its various expressions, encourages the experimentation of new forms and alternative uses of spaces, spreads social practices, and suggests different city-making approaches, thus inspiring innovative urban development paths. Based on these assumptions, this paper focuses on social innovation as a process and strategy that valorises the social and cultural aspects of the community and promotes innovations in spatial planning. It investigates how the creative and often informal actions put in place by spontaneous groups and associations foster social cohesion. A comparative analysis of two case studies in Marseille and Rome offers a multidimensional approach to social innovation that includes collective action and local stakeholders empowerment, aiming at changing the world for the better. The results call for a critical reflection on the transformative power of innovation as a mechanism for social change. At the crossroads of spontaneous or rationally organised movements, one wonders to what extent innovation, by promoting creative and systemic solutions, can contribute to the design of the future city on a human scale. • This paper investigates how the creative and informal actions contribute to social innovation. • It analyses the development of socio-spatial innovation in collaborative and creative user-led experiences. • A comparative analysis of two case studies, in Marseille and in Rome, offers a multidimensional approach to social innovation. • It analyses if these practices succeed in creating enabling spaces as connections between institutions and bottom up practices. • It demonstrates how these bottom up practices create enabling spaces as a link with institutions for collaborative planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of business IT systems in corporate activities has increased, and the effects of their introduction have greatly contributed to corporate performance. However, it has been pointed out that Japanese companies are not sufficiently effective for the purpose of introduction. In this paper, we focused on the manufacturing industry, which accounts for the majority of Japanese companies, and considered and analyzed the utilization status of business IT systems. From there, we focused on the issues of organizational structure that are often seen in the manufacturing industry, low productivity, and added consideration to the relationship with business IT systems non-utilization. Based on recent changes in social conditions, we derive a hypothesis for a business IT systems activation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyse Hayek's views on endogenous preferences. Perhaps surprisingly in the light of his remarks that economists ought to take people's preferences as given, there are several places in Hayek's economics and political economy where preference endogeneity plays a significant role. We begin by documenting those cases, providing an historical overview of Hayek's views on preference endogeneity. We then go on to argue that in his work on theoretical psychology Hayek provides an account of the causal mechanisms through which people's preferences can change in response to their social context. Finally, we assess Hayek's views on preference endogeneity in the light of more recent work on the topic in behavioural economics, before going on to consider what Hayek's analysis can add to contemporary debates in political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine the relation between seasonal labor migration in rural western India and social change in the home communities of the migrants. The phenomenon of seasonal migration has been studied from the lens of remittance flows and net-loss-and-gain-of- labor between regions. However, there remains a paucity of studies that examine how marginalized people employ their personal experiences, ideas, and sensibilities in the process of circulating between their home and destinations to contest their historic, unequal power relations in their home villages. This research is an effort to fill that gap. Based on research conducted in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra in rural western India during summer 2014 and summer through fall 2015 and drawing on Gramscian concepts of counter-hegemony, I claim that in rural Maharashtra, seasonal labor migration has caused ripples in the social lives of the villages, impacting landowning farmers, landless laborers, and relations of production. These changes are visible in quotidian politics: in new farmer and laborer subjectivities, challenges posed to the common sense of social conduct, and migrant politics of resistance visible in the migrants' “war of position” against landowning farmers. While migration and development policy, both in India and globally, has focused on the integration of internal migrants in their destinations, the quotidian political conflicts in the home communities of internal, circular migrants continue to remain largely unexamined. By studying migration as a social process, this paper exhorts policy analysts to situate “home” as an appropriate avenue to understand how communities transform through migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at examining academic production on social entrepreneurship, in order to identify approaches and drivers, as well as offer an analytical overview on the topic. Social entrepreneurs are individuals with a social mission, capable of combining practices and knowledge as well as developing partnerships to promote sustainable social change. The weaving of a social mission into an enterprise can bring about social innovation through the development of solutions to long-standing problems and the improvement of the living conditions of a community. The present paper is the result of a systematic survey in the Web of Science database that aimed at analyzing academic production in the area. Its practical and theoretical contributions will allow the construction of a network of themes and the identification of new emerging areas. Moreover, it analyses the dimensions and drivers of social entrepreneurship research, obtaining thus an integrative perspective. It provides also a panoramic assessment of available researches, allowing the authors to identify gaps of knowledge and, consequently, new topics to be investigated. Finally, it can offer a unique perspective for institutions, companies and communities challenged by the need to perform holistic social innovations. The authors propose a research framework that may offer guidance to specialists and researchers willing to investigate the link between dimensions and elements of a social entrepreneurship from a social development point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current urban developments are often considered outdated and static, and the argument follows that they should become more adaptive. In this paper, we argue that existing urban development are already adaptive and incremental. Given this flexibility in urban development, understanding changes in the so-called ‘rules of the game’ which structure and change collective action, is increasingly relevant. Gaining such insights advances the ability of planners to deal with perceived spatial problems. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, to develop an analytical framework for scrutinizing changes in rules in incremental urban developments and second, to test the analytical framework in a real-life incremental urban development. Building on Ostrom’s IAD Framework we develop an analytical framework that makes a distinction between formal and informal rules, connects sets of rules, actors and interaction patterns and provides a comparative, longitudinal perspective. The case of the Navy Yard in Amsterdam, the Netherlands is used in order to test the framework’s application, proving the relevance of investigating how rules in urban development change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study outlines a methodology to refine Delphi results as part of the process to design a technology roadmap. The objectives of this paper are: (a) present a methodology to design a TRM using Delphi associated with other techniques (morphological analysis, decision matrix, interviews, and prioritization analysis), and (b) demonstrate and discuss the application of proposed TRM methodology to define alternative materials aiming to reduce the weight of structural shock absorbers. The field research consisted of a case study approach in the Brazilian subsidiary of an Italian auto parts MNC combined with action research methodology. The main contributions of this paper are: a) The proposition of a methodology to refine Delphi results as part of the process to design a technology roadmap (TRM), including a decision matrix, interviews with external experts, and a prioritization analysis and b) The action research provided good quality results as well as an opportunity to test the methodology in a company environment during eight months; this is not common to find in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Focus on community work for the betterment of floating children. • Use social network analysis within a Bourdieusian lens. • Analyse social groupings and the structures behind them. • Look at "small things" that are sociologically meaningful for social change. Drawing on Bourdieu's sociology, the concept of space in particular, this paper discussed the positions and dispositions of floating children in the urban space. It used social network analysis to test the homophily hypothesis that socially similar agents are physically proximate. Data were collected from 45 floating children and urban children in a community school in China. The results rejected the homophily hypothesis, calling for collective activism for small-scale but sociologically meaningful change to disrupt the correspondence between the physical and social distance established through the "site effects" of the hukou (household registration) system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diverse citizens need to be involved in net zero transitions to ensure policy interventions do not entrench inequalities for people from minoritised or disenfranchised groups and ensure public engagement with rapid social changes. This paper illustrates the importance of designing enjoyable engagement activities aimed at segmented citizen and community groups, to ensure a broad cross-section of society can participate in environmental debate and policymaking. We analysed an evaluation sample of 857 people, representing 10.3% of the 8302 people directly engaged with the ClairCity project from six European countries. Women were under-represented in our activities, and younger participants preferred non-traditional forms of engagement like online games. Across all activities, multiple regression analyses found statistically significant relationships between younger age groups and enjoyment, and a positive correlation between enjoyment and understanding of air quality. Behaviour change intention was also significantly positively correlated to understanding, with 74% of participants indicating they would make a behaviour change to improve air quality. While climate change and air pollution are serious issues, public engagement to raise awareness and improve participation in policymaking does not have to be. To fully realise citizen-led emissions reduction, policymakers need to co-create engagement activities which are enjoyable, inclusive, and attractive to diverse citizens representing regional demographics. Ultimately, the more enjoyable and relevant the engagement activities, the more understanding people gain about the issues, and are therefore more likely to make a change to individual or community behaviours to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions and improve public and environmental health. [Display omitted] • Diverse communities need representation in climate/air pollution policymaking. • One size does not fit all: different activities attracted different demographics. • Activity enjoyment was significantly positively correlated to understanding. • Understanding was significantly positively correlated to behaviour change intent. • Policymakers should plan enjoyable activities to enable social learning between groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Introduces religious repertoires: the myths, rituals, magic, and traditions shaping understandings of sustainability. • Details the marginalization of religion as a category, and how this has constrained social scientific research. • Shows how tools from the study of religion can help in understanding all lives, religious and nonreligious. • Shows how tools from the study of religion can help trigger transitions towards sustainability. Leading figures in sustainability transitions stress the need for approaches from other fields. A particular blind spot is the role of culture and meaning in transitions. This paper introduces the concept of "religious repertoires" as a means of better understanding what enables and inhibits social change. Existing research on the role of religion in transitions focuses on either particular religions or the benefits of a broadly "religious" or "spiritual" outlook. In contrast, I propose that all societies, institutions, and practices, no matter how secular or rational, can be better understood through the lens of the religious repertoires they perform. While we are not all religious, we do all engage in repertoires that shape our understanding of what is possible and desirable. Attending to these repertoires offers people a richer understanding of: themselves and the transitions that interest them; the factors that enable and inhibit transitions; and how to govern transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the temporal and spatial dynamics of adaptation in climate change science and explores how dynamic notions of ‘place’ elucidate novel ways of understanding community vulnerability and adaptation. Using data gathered from a narrative scenario-building process carried out among communities of the Big Hole Valley in Montana, the paper describes the role of ‘place-making’ and the ‘politics of place’ in shaping divergent future climate adaptation pathways. Drawing on a situated adaptation pathways framework and employing an iterative scenario building process, this article demonstrates how ‘place’ contextualizes future imagined trajectories of social and ecological change so that key impacts and decisions articulate as elements of place-making and place politics. By examining these key ‘moments’ of future change, participants illuminate the complex linkages between place and governance that are integral to understanding community adaptation and planning for an uncertain future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New inter-national and transnational complexities of economic and political relationships destabilize extant categories and units of analysis for studying trajectories of social change and explaining commonalities and differences of complex inequalities across countries. New insights on gender regime change emerge by shifting from a singular to a multi-scalar analytical frame. The paper argues that complex inequalities cannot be understood by studying a bounded geographic unit of analysis. Toward this end, the paper compares Germany and Japan in a world regional perspective, applying Walby's gender regime theory. Case comparisons of Germany and Japan not only reveal historical pathways of national developments, but also can show the benefits of a multi-scalar analytic in differentiating varieties and futures of gender regimes. An examination of the care economy shows why a multi-scalar analytic is critical for tracking the economic geographies of reproductive/care labor (both paid and unpaid). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the notion of degrowth has gained traction in recent times, scholarship on degrowth transformations has yet to provide a conceptualisation that captures key attributes of what such transformations entail: (1) the reduction of some items and the expansion of others and (2) profound changes in various dimensions of social being, including in how humans interact with nature, non-humans, and one another, changes in social structures and changes in how we are as human beings. The present paper develops a comprehensive and non-reductionist conceptualisation of degrowth, understanding it to involve deep transformations on four interrelated planes of social being: material transactions with nature, social interactions between persons, social structure, and people's inner being. On each plane, these transformations consist in reducing, and ultimately absenting, some currently existing items while expanding others. The paper considers the implications of the conceptualisation for degrowth practice and theorising, focusing on top-down eco-social policies, bottom-up initiatives and self-transformation. It is found that degrowth would benefit from considering more seriously the effects of policies and initiatives across all four planes and from acknowledging diversity on each plane. Moreover, it is concluded that more attention should be paid to the plane of peoples' inner being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]