Zoekresultaten

Designing and realizing circular urban road renovation

CC-BY 4.0 In this report the research focusses on designing a method to circularly redesign a road in neigbourhood participation. Municipalities are becoming more aware of their environmental footprint. The construction andrenovation of public spaces come with the transport and processing of large volumes of concrete, clay bricks and asphalt. We are in the transition towards a circular economy. In the CityLoops project we propose the following composite definition for the circular economy, drawing on the work of different academics in the field. What are the circular possibilities for materials and products available in the Griffiersveld pilot and how can this information be presented? Interviews with stakeholders have led to a list of requirements for the material passports and what information they should include. Existing and experimental material passports have been collected and analysed to see whether they meet the requirements. The construction materials on site are identified and circular possibilities of these materials are listed. Finally an advice is given for the municipality of Apeldoorn for a circular renovation approach.

(Eye)tracking users’ patterns

Citizens’ initiatives in an onlife world

Citizen participation is booming, especially the number of urban bottom-up initiatives where information and communication technologies (ICT) are deployed is increasing rapidly. This growth is good news for society as recent historical research shows that the more citizens actively and persistently interfere with public issues, the more likely a society will be resilient. And yet, at the same time, a growing number of scholars argue that due to the unprecedented impact of ICT, the public sphere is at stake. How to understand both trends? How do the anti-‘public sphere’ developments relate to the growing number of citizens’ initiatives using ICT? And if these citizen initiatives can indeed be understood as manifestations of public spheres, how can ICT foster or hinder the development of these public spheres? These questions will be explored by analyzing a Dutch citizen initiative called ‘Buuv’ (an online ‘market’ place for and by local residents) from a ‘public sphere’ perspective. The author will turn to The human condition (1958) of Hannah Arendt in order to elaborate a ‘public sphere’ perspective. An Arendtian perspective (as any perspective) highlights, however, some aspects and underexposes other aspects. Furthermore, chances are that Arendt’s thoughts are somewhat outdated, in the sense that we now live in a world where the online and the offline life intertwine — an experience that is referred to with the term ‘onlife’. Bearing these remarks in mind, the author will elaborate on the value of Arendt’s ideas to 1) the endeavor of understanding current trends in society—more urban bottom-up initiatives and anti-‘public sphere’ developments due to the broad uptake of ICT—and 2) the endeavor of revitalizing the public sphere in an onlife world. IEEE copyright

Language education in the EU and the US

Across the globe, linguistically heterogeneous populations increasingly define school systems at the same time that developing the ability to communicate cross-culturally is becoming essential for internationalized economies. While these trends seem complimentary, they often appear in paradoxical opposition as represented in the content and execution of nationwide education policies. Given the differing geopolitical contexts within which school systems function, wide variation exists with regard to how policymakers address the challenges of providing language education, including how they frame goals and design programs to align with those goals. Here we present a cross-continental examination of this variation, which reveals parallel tensions among aims for integrating immigrant populations, closing historic achievement gaps, fostering intercultural understanding, and developing multilingual competencies. To consider implications of such paradoxes and parallels in policy foundations, we compare language education in the US and in the EU, focusing on the Netherlands as an illustrative case study.

Transformations in Deaf Studies. Implications for sign language policy, revitalization and rights.

This presentation explores various transformations that inform Deaf Studies research, ranging from transformations in deaf networks to larger sign language networks and transformations in applied linguistics, society, and language ideologies, and the related potential impact on sign language policy and revitalisation. After discussing some new research lenses in Deaf Studies, such as visual methods, the presentation suggests some ways forward for Deaf Studies in terms of research priorities and rights discourses.

Introduction: Ideologies in sign language vitality and revitalization

This paper introduces our special issue about ideologies in sign language vitality and revitalization and discusses ideologies related to the vitality of sign languages. Rather than taking for granted the notions of vitality and endangerment or developing criteria for measuring sign language vitality, the papers in this issue will provide a discursive construction of sign language endangerment. This construction in turn provides critical and historical reflection on how vitality has emerged as a concern for sign languages in specific local, national, and international contexts, the actors and institutions bringing forward this framing, and in whose interest it is to promote such discourses. The issue will survey how and by whom these ideologies are described, mobilized and legitimized, and what conceptualizations of language are emphasized and by whom.