This article analyses four of the most prominent city discourses and introduces the lens of urban vitalism as an overarching interdisciplinary concept of cities as places of transformation and change. We demonstrate the value of using urban vitalism as a lens to conceptualize and critically discuss different notions on smart, inclusive, resilient and sustainable just cities. Urban vitalism offers a process-based lens which enables us to understand cities as places of transformation and change, with people and other living beings at its core. The aim of the article is to explore how the lens of vitalism can help us understand and connect ongoing interdisciplinary academic debates about urban development and vice versa, and how these ongoing debates inform our understanding of urban vitalism.
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The current COVID-19 pandemic confines people to their homes, disrupting the fragile social fabric of deprived neighbourhoods and citizen’s participation options. In deprived neighbourhoods, community engagement is central in building community resilience, an important resource for health and a prerequisite for effective health promotion programmes. It provides access to vulnerable groups and helps understand experiences, assets, needs and problems of citizens. Most importantly, community activities, including social support, primary care or improving urban space, enhance health through empowerment, strengthened social networks, mutual respect and providing a sense of purpose and meaning. In the context of inequalities associated with COVID-19, these aspects are crucial for citizens of deprived neighbourhoods who often feel their needs and priorities are ignored. In this perspectives paper, illustrated by a varied overview of community actions in the UK and The Netherlands, we demonstrate how citizens, communities and organizations may build resilience and community power. Based on in-depth discussion among the authors we distilled six features of community actions: increase in mutual aid and neighbourhood ties, the central role of community-based organizations (CBOs), changing patterns of volunteering, use of digital media and health promotion opportunities. We argue that in order to enable and sustain resilient and confident, ‘disaster-proof’, communities, areas which merit investment include supporting active citizens, new (digital) ways of community engagement, transforming formal organizations, alignment with the (local) context and applying knowledge in the field of health promotion in new ways, focussing on learning and co-creation with citizen initiatives.
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The Caribbean Netherlands are dealing with a situation where imported vegetables and fruits are mostly imported and hardly affordable. This leads to consuming unhealthy food and high obesities rates as a consequence. A lack of good agricultural practices with regard to water-smart and nature inclusive agriculture, as well as limited coping capacities to deal with hazards and climate change, results in very limited local production and interest. Initiatives that focused only on agrotechnological solutions for food resilient futures turned out to be ineffective due to a lack of local ownership, which jeopardizes sustainability. Moreover, the 'green' and 'blue' domains are not seen as attractive career perspectives among youth, hampering a bright future for those domains.
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Older people today are more likely to age in their own private living environment. However, many face declining health and/or other issues that affect their ability to live independently and necessitate additional support. Such support can be provided by formal networks, but a considerable part can also be offered by informal networks of older people themselves. Going beyond these networks, older people can additionally and perhaps even more substantially benefit from vital communities. Nevertheless, even though this term is increasingly common in the literature, its meaning remains indistinct. A more thorough understanding of this concept might provide valuable knowledge that health care professionals, researchers and community workers can use to offer meaningful and effective support. The purpose of this paper is to draw on existing empirical research on vital communities to build knowledge of the different descriptions and dimensions of the concept. Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review methodology was adopted. Our search, conducted on 23 March 2020 and updated on 06 January 2021, yielded 4433 articles, of which six articles were included in the scoping review. We deduced that the conceptualisation of a vital community is based on three dimensions: the aim of a vital community, the processes behind a vital community and the typical characteristics of a vital community. None of the selected studies have mapped all three dimensions. Nevertheless, we assume that understanding all three matters when vital communities aim to contribute to the quality of life of people ageing in place.
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The role of people-to-people experiences, between host and guests/tourists, can be a helpful tool in building community resilience. This paper aims at creating a process for designing the required experiencescapes which allows individuals in communities to engage with each other in valuable people-to-people experiences.
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Species responding differently to climate change form ‘transient communities’, communities with constantly changing species composition due to colonization and extinction events. Our goal is to disentangle the mechanisms of response to climate change for terrestrial species in these transient communities and explore the consequences for biodiversity conservation. We review spatial escape and local adaptation of species dealing with climate change from evolutionary and ecological perspectives. From these we derive species vulnerability and management options to mitigate effects of climate change. From the perspective of transient communities, conservation management should scale up static single species approaches and focus on community dynamics and species interdependency, while considering species vulnerability and their importance for the community. Spatially explicit and frequent monitoring is vital for assessing the change in communities and distribution of species. We review management options such as: increasing connectivity and landscape resilience, assisted colonization, and species protection priority in the context of transient communities.
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The goal of a local energy community (LEC) is to create a more sustainable, resilient, and efficient energy system by reducing dependence on centralized power sources and enabling greater participation and control by local communities and individuals. LEC requires transformations in local energy systems, and strongly depends on the preferences and actions of the local actors involved. The necessity for extensive stakeholder involvement adds complexity to the energy transition, posing a significant challenge for all involved parties. The municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg has committed to the national decision for energy transition. It has taken a strategic approach by proceeding De Heuvel/Amstelwijk as the pioneer in this initiative, leading the way for other neighborhoods to follow. It is crucial to devise strategies that effectively facilitate stakeholder engagement. To this end, a thorough stakeholder analysis is needed. Such an analysis can focus on the identification of key stakeholders, their interests, their influence, and their behavioral characteristics in relation to the energy transition. Additionally, it's crucial to uncover the challenges encountered by these stakeholders and finally develop appropriate strategies to address them hence enhance their engagement. This thesis begins with an introduction to the research background, including a presentation of the case study and a statement of the problem identified in the field, followed by the research questions underpinning the study. A thorough literature review ensues, providing a robust synthesis of existing research relating to stakeholder engagement in LECs, with a view to expediting energy transitions. The literature review not only forms the foundation for the research methods adopted in this study but also promotes in the construction of the conceptual model. Subsequent to the literature review, the research method is detailed. The filed research is conducted in five steps: Step 1 - identification of stakeholders, Step 2 - prioritization of stakeholders, Step 3 - interviewing, Step 4 - data analysis, including stakeholder profiling with mapping and addressing challenges, and finally, Step 5 - proposal of strategies for stakeholder engagement enhancement based on the expected and current levels of stakeholders engagement. This research collects necessary information to understand the profiles of stakeholders in De Heuvel/Amstelwijk, tackle challenges faced by different stakeholders, propose strategies to increase stakeholders engagement. It not only aims to enrich the depth of theoretical knowledge on the subject matter but also strives to aid in the development of a localized energy strategy that is optimally suited for the De Heuvel/Amstelwijk neighborhood as good example for other neighborhoods.
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NL samenvatting: In dit verkennend onderzoek werden social engineering-aanvallen bestudeerd, vooral de aanvallen die mislukten, om organisaties te helpen weerbaarder te worden. Fysieke, telefonische en digitale aanvallen werden uitgevoerd met behulp van een script volgens de 'social engineering-cyclus'. We gebruikten het COM-B model van gedragsverandering, verfijnd door het Theoretical Domains Framework, om door middel van een enquête te onderzoeken hoe Capability, Motivational en vooral Opportunity factoren helpen om de weerbaarheid van organisaties tegen social engineering-aanvallen te vergroten. Binnen Opportunity leek sociale invloed van extra belang. Werknemers die in kleine ondernemingen werken (<50 werknemers) waren succesvoller in het weerstaan van digitale social engineering-aanvallen dan werknemers die in grotere organisaties werken. Een verklaring hiervoor zou een grotere mate van sociale controle kunnen zijn; deze medewerkers werken dicht bij elkaar, waardoor ze in staat zijn om onregelmatigheden te controleren of elkaar te waarschuwen. Ook het installeren van een gespreksprotocol over hoe om te gaan met buitenstaanders was een maatregel die door alle organisaties werd genomen waar telefonische aanvallen faalden. Daarom is het moeilijker voor een buitenstaander om toegang te krijgen tot de organisatie door middel van social engineering. Dit artikel eindigt met een discussie en enkele aanbevelingen voor organisaties, bijvoorbeeld met betrekking tot het ontwerp van de werkomgeving, om hun weerbaarheid tegen social engineering-aanvallen te vergroten. ENG abstract: In this explorative research social engineering attacks were studied, especially the ones that failed, in order to help organisations to become more resilient. Physical, phone and digital attacks were carried out using a script following the ‘social engineering cycle’. We used the COM-B model of behaviour change, refined by the Theoretical Domains Framework, to examine by means of a survey how Capability, Motivational and foremost Opportunity factors help to increase resilience of organisations against social engineering attacks. Within Opportunity, social influence seemed of extra importance. Employees who work in small sized enterprises (<50 employees) were more successful in withstanding digital social engineering attacks than employees who work in larger organisations. An explanation for this could be a greater amount of social control; these employees work in close proximity to one another, so they are able to check irregularities or warn each other. Also, having a conversation protocol installed on how to interact with outsiders, was a measure taken by all organisations where attacks by telephone failed. Therefore, it is more difficult for an outsider to get access to the organisation by means of social engineering. This paper ends with a discussion and some recommendations for organisations, e.g. the design of the work environment, to help increase their resilience against social engineering attacks. https://openaccess.cms-conferences.org/publications/book/978-1-958651-29-2/article/978-1-958651-29-2_8 DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002203
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In this chapter I would like to introduce the knowledge management concept known as communities of practice (CoPs) and show a direct link between CoPs and human resource development (HRD). CoPs are a proven way to effectively manage knowledge as well as promote organizational learning, so it is a logical step to aim HRD initiatives towards developing and supporting them. It is my experience that both the vision and operational goals of an organization’s HR department is exceptionally crucial in designing and supporting a learning organization and that CoPs are one strategy to achieving these goals. The set up of the chapter is as follows; in this section I present some of the advantages that communities can have for the organization and the individual. Then I give an introduction to what CoPs actually are and how they function, followed by a discussion of the link between HRD, CoPs and organizational learning. In section four I look at what kind of support CoPs need in order to thrive and in section five, I expand these concepts to include global communities. The following section looks at how technology enables CoPs – both local and global – and describes general guidelines for deciding which technology is appropriate for facilitating communities. My closing remarks consider the increasing role of Cops in HRM as well as some of their possible down-sides.
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