Search Results (544)

Although the goal of “sustainable” urbanism has generated an impressive array of international frameworks and declarations, systemic progress remains elusive. A prior paper by the author identified “lock-in” as a central cause: the economic incentives, professional standards, codes, and institutional feedback structures that reinforce unsustainable patterns of urban development despite stated commitments to reform. This paper advances that diagnosis by asking what sustains the lock-in itself, and what structural intervention can address it at the root. We argue that the answer lies in recognizing a fundamental deficit in the feedback architecture governing urban development—a systematic failure to account for two categories of capital on which human welfare depends: natural and resource capital, whose depletion standard metrics render invisible, and human and value-added capital, including the built public realm and the economies of place that markets systematically undersupply. Standard welfare-economic instruments, including Pigouvian taxes, address this at the level of price signals but are unable to fully resolve it there, because multiple forms of goods—referred to as “polycapital”—are structurally interrelated and resist single scalar remedies. The paper proceeds to advance two complementary conclusions: first, that a generative modeling methodology, capable of encoding the interrelated, multi-scale character of polycapital structures, is a necessary precondition for adequate institutional response, and that pattern language methodology provides this capacity; and second, that new transactional mechanisms going substantially beyond Pigouvian instruments—which we outline—represent a necessary direction and a promising research frontier. Full article

This study investigates place-based barriers to initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment in rural-coastal regions of England, focusing on Cornwall as a case study. Utilizing semi-structured interviews with nine ITT provider leaders and nine trainee teachers, the research applies the concept of educational isolation to ITT providers in areas that are geographically remote, socioeconomic disadvantaged, and culturally isolated. The analysis is framed by the critical pedagogy of place and social capital theory, moving beyond deficit-based interpretations of rurality to critically examine how place-based inequities are produced through urban-normative policy and resource allocation. Primary data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four substantive themes emerged: transport dependency and accessibility constraints that structurally exclude lower-income and disabled trainees; housing displacement driven by the tourist economy, which compounds financial insecurity; an “employment precarity problem” where localized primary school oversaturation coexists with secondary teacher shortages; and cultural and professional isolation that disproportionately impacts ethnically diverse trainees in demographically homogeneous communities. The research further identifies that community resilience, while enabling individuals to navigate structural barriers, can obscure infrastructural inadequacy and diminish impetus for systemic policy reform. This paper contributes to international scholarship on spatial justice and rural teacher education by presenting an integrated conceptual framework with transferable relevance to similar rural-coastal and peripheral contexts globally and by offering policy recommendations for place-weighted ITT funding, infrastructure investment in educationally isolated areas, and the development of collaborative provider models. Full article

Regulatory risk measurement under Basel III’s Fundamental Review of the Trading Book places Expected Shortfall (ES) at the center of market risk capital, yet the fourth-order Edgeworth expansion, still widely used for Value-at-Risk (VaR) and ES calculations, can produce negative densities in the tail regions where these measures concentrate, while saddlepoint approximations preserve positivity but face their own limits in heavy-tailed and sub-Gaussian settings. Whether either method delivers reliable tail estimates in the rare-disaster regimes documented in the empirical consumption-disaster literature therefore remains an open question. We address it by comparing the two approximations across 648 rare-disaster parameter combinations and five additional distributional families (Student-t, Hansen skewed-t, generalised error distribution (GED), two-sided jump mixture, and generalised hyperbolic), and by deriving a closed-form characterisation of the Edgeworth validity envelope. We establish three core findings. First, the validity envelope is bounded above by a sharp kurtosis ceiling at ${\gamma }_2=4$ and laterally by a non-monotone skewness boundary peaking at $|{\gamma }_1^{\ast ,\max }| \approx 0.685$ at ${\gamma }_2\approx 2.533$; $87.5\%$ of the rare-disaster grid falls outside it. Second, accuracy is threshold-dependent: Edgeworth dominates at moderate quantiles, saddlepoint at extreme quantiles, with negative-density regions inflating Edgeworth ES error from $6.20\%$ inside the envelope to $47.04\%$ outside it. Third, these results reconcile only when point probability, density validity, and integrated-tail accuracy are treated as distinct accuracy criteria. The findings have direct implications for ES-based regulatory capital in heavy-tailed regimes and motivate a regime-conditional rather than universal approximation choice. Full article

We focus on the use of the Modern Lesbian dialect in the linguistic landscape (LL), highlighting its diverse forms and functions. Since LL research primarily investigates written language in public space, emphasizing the dynamic relationship between language, place, and historicity, the growing visibility of the dialect in both physical and digital contexts (cf. the online–offline nexus) is particularly noteworthy. The presence of non-standard varieties in public discourse has been widely studied, revealing that aspects of language choice and use are related to the sustainability of minority languages, the shaping of linguistic attitudes and stereotypes, and the commodification of language as a cultural and economic resource. Within this framework, the data analyzed here illustrate positive attitudes toward Modern Lesbian, expressions of pride and comfort among its speakers, efforts to destigmatize dialectal speech, and indications of broader acceptance of Modern Lesbian. Meanwhile, the increasing commodification of the dialect is evident in its use for the promotion of products and services, capitalizing on its distinctiveness, despite its historical stigmatization vis-à-vis the standard. This development does not dissolve entrenched beliefs on the incompatibility of dialects with written discourse; rather, it capitalizes on the surprise (and humor) generated by their written presence in promotional contexts without resorting to humorous stereotyping. Full article

Sustainable industrial transition requires productivity evidence that separates real efficiency improvement from scale expansion, capital deepening, and reporting change. This study develops a reproducible frontier-productivity diagnostic for provincial leading industry policy, using official 2013–2023 sector panels for 23 two-digit manufacturing sectors in Shandong Province and a matched 2019–2023 benchmark against Jiangsu. The framework combines input-oriented Banker–Charnes–Cooper (BCC) data envelopment analysis (DEA), Simar–Wilson bootstrap bias correction, Malmquist total factor productivity change (TFPCH) decomposition, producer price index (PPI) deflation diagnostics, scale-productivity classification, and targeted sensitivity tests. Bootstrap correction lowers mean BCC efficiency from 0.77 to 0.69 in Shandong and from 0.79 to 0.70 in Jiangsu. Uniform provincial PPI deflation leaves constant-returns-to-scale (CRS) Malmquist estimates almost unchanged, whereas asymmetric deflation creates measurable sensitivity. Direct sector-cluster resampling places Shandong’s aggregate TFPCH at 1.016 with a 95% interval of 0.995–1.045, supporting a near-stationary interpretation rather than a broad upgrading surge; Jiangsu’s corresponding estimate is 0.976 with a 95% interval of 0.955–0.997. The study does not measure environmental performance directly. It shows how frontier-productivity evidence should be stress-tested and paired with environmental indicators before it is used in sustainability-oriented industrial policy. Full article

As digital technology has become increasingly integrated into rural governance and daily life in China, Internet use among rural residents exerts a multifaceted influence on their mental health. A key mechanism lies in its restructuring of the neighborhood social environment. Uncovering this mechanism is essential for understanding the theoretical and practical connections between rural social transformation and individual well-being in the digital age. This study applied a binary probit model to data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to examine the impact of Internet use on the mental health of rural residents. Mediation analysis was used to examine the role of the neighborhood social environment, and the conditional mixed process method was applied to address potential endogeneity issues. Empirical results demonstrate that access to the Internet, along with the breadth and depth of its use all significantly improve the mental health of rural residents. Internet use promotes mental health by strengthening neighborhood relationship and trust, whereas it also negatively affects mental health by suppressing neighborhood identity. Heterogeneity analyses reveal three key dimensions of variation. (1) By usage type: Activities such as gaming, short-video consumption, and WeChat communication show positive associations with mental health, whereas online shopping and learning exhibit non-significant effects. (2) By user group: The mental health benefits are more pronounced among women, less-educated individuals, and middle-aged to older adults. (3) By region: Positive associations are observed in central and western China, with the most substantial effect in the central region. This study elucidates the mechanism through which Internet use affects mental health: the restructuring of traditional, place-based social capital in rural neighborhoods. These findings offer robust empirical support for policies that integrate digital initiatives with the nurturing of local community bonds to improve rural mental health and foster livable and harmonious villages. Full article

This study examines the spatial and temporal transformation of educational attainment and gender-based disparities in Türkiye between 2008 and 2024. Using province-level data obtained from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), educational attainment is classified into four categories (no schooling, low, medium, and high) and analyzed through spatial analysis techniques and an initial level–change relationship approach. Gender differences are evaluated by considering both their direction and magnitude across educational categories. The findings reveal a substantial educational transformation characterized by significant declines in no-schooling and low educational attainment levels, alongside marked increases in medium and high educational attainment. However, these improvements are not spatially balanced, as persistent regional disparities and spatial clustering patterns continue, particularly in eastern and southeastern regions of the country. The results further indicate that gender-based disparities vary across educational levels. Women remain more concentrated in lower educational categories, whereas men continue to dominate medium and high educational attainment levels in many regions. Although convergence tendencies are observed in lower educational levels, divergence dynamics at higher educational levels suggest that spatial advantages continue to shape educational outcomes unevenly across regions. These findings indicate that educational expansion does not necessarily produce equal outcomes but rather reshapes spatial and social differences over time. From a sustainability perspective, the findings highlight that educational transformation should be evaluated not only through improvements in educational indicators, but also in relation to human capital accumulation, regional development capacity, and inclusive development processes. In this respect, the study emphasizes the importance of place-based and gender-responsive educational policies aimed at reducing regional disparities, strengthening equal opportunities, and supporting more inclusive regional development. Full article

This paper explores the importance of local food in tourism development in the Republic of Srpska by analyzing the perceptions of hospitality employees in relation to the characteristics of the food service establishments in which they work. The aim of this study is to determine how local food influences tourism development and whether such effects are conditioned by specific factors. Although previous studies have extensively examined local food through the lens of consumer behavior, there remains a significant research gap regarding the internal perspective of hospitality employees as co-creators of the gastronomic experience. This study addresses that gap by applying Social Exchange Theory (SET) to explain how employees’ perceptions of economic, social, and environmental benefits shape their willingness to support the integration of local food. By placing employees at the center of the analysis, the paper provides insight into the mechanisms through which authentic ingredients are transformed into symbolic capital and strengthen destination identity. In this context, the analytical Local Food model was adapted and applied to a sample of 480 respondents, evenly distributed across the mesoregions of the Republic of Srpska. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), three key dimensions of influence were identified—economic, environmental, and social. In addition, independent-samples t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that employees’ perceptions vary significantly depending on the production capacity of the establishments, whereas the type and location of the establishments were not identified as significant determinants of these differences. The findings further indicate that the intensity of these factors varies according to location, production capacity, and ownership type, while other characteristics of the hospitality establishments in which the respondents were employed were not found to be significant. A strong interrelationship among the identified factors was confirmed, with the social factor emerging as the most dominant. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of local food in strengthening the tourism attractiveness and sustainability of the hospitality sector in the Republic of Srpska. Full article

Background/Objectives: South Korea became a super-aged society in 2024, and this demographic shift is unfolding alongside the depopulation of rural municipalities across the country. How spatial inequality and community social capital jointly relate to elderly health—and whether those relationships look different for younger versus older elderly—remains an open question. We investigated associations between two dimensions of community social capital (sense of belonging and neighbor communication), subjective perception of capital–provincial inequality, and self-rated health among Korean elderly, with separate analyses for the Young-Old (aged 60–69) and Old-Old (aged 70+). Methods: We used the 2024 Social Integration Survey from the Korea Institute of Public Administration (full sample N = 2588; elderly subsample N = 1020). Random intercept hierarchical linear models accounted for the nesting of individuals within 17 metropolitan cities and provinces. Stepwise models examined social capital antecedents, a healthcare satisfaction indirect association pathway, and the direct association of spatial inequality perception with health. The elderly subsample was stratified into Young-Old (N = 289) and Old-Old (N = 731). A mixed-effects ordered logistic regression with Liang–Zeger cluster-robust standard errors was estimated as a robustness check. Results: Sense of belonging was positively associated with subjective health among the elderly (B = 0.065, p < 0.05) as a net of rurality and socioeconomic controls. Perceived spatial inequality showed a negative association (B = −0.070, p < 0.05). The indirect association pathway through healthcare satisfaction was not supported (Sobel Z = −1.458, p = 0.144). Age-stratified models revealed a striking split: belonging was the dominant predictor for the Young-Old (B = 0.149, p < 0.01), while neighbor communication (B = 0.078, p < 0.05) and spatial inequality perception (B = −0.092, p < 0.01) were significant only among the Old-Old. The ordered logistic robustness check confirmed the negative association of perceived spatial inequality across all specifications. Conclusions: What predicts health in the younger elderly is not what predicts health in the older elderly. Korea’s Integrated Community Care Act, set for nationwide rollout in 2026, should account for this divergence—prioritizing psychological community attachment for the Young-Old and face-to-face social contact combined with regional equity for the Old-Old. Full article

Endoscopic spine surgery (ESS)—including full-endoscopic transforaminal and interlaminar techniques, and unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE)—offers patients smaller incisions, preserved paraspinal muscle, and faster recovery. Because the working corridor is narrow, intraoperative fluoroscopy plays a larger role than in open or microscopic approaches, making radiation exposure worthy of attention for both patients and surgeons. This narrative review aims to be a practical resource for the endoscopic spine surgeon. We synthesize the available literature on typical radiation doses across the main ESS techniques, compare them with minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) and open alternatives, review the factors that drive exposure, and walk through the full menu of dose-optimization options—from simple measures such as collimation, pulsed fluoroscopy, and leaded eyewear, through navigation platforms, to robotic guidance. A consistent practical observation is that the simplest, least expensive interventions often deliver the largest dose reductions. Capital-intensive technologies add real value, particularly for endoscopic interbody fusion, and work best alongside rather than in place of these basics. With routine dosimetry and straightforward as-low-as-reasonably-achievable (ALARA) practices, surgeons can continue to build on the already favourable profile of ESS while keeping radiation exposure low. Conclusions are tempered by the largely retrospective and heterogeneous nature of the underlying evidence. Full article

This study investigates the short-term and long-term impacts of gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, foreign capital flows, trade balance and interest rate on stock market performance in Saudi Arabia for the period 1990–2023. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach and error correction model (ECM) are employed to empirically examine the short-run and long-run relationships. The ARDL-ECM technique is effective for analyzing cointegration and assessing adjustment processes. Additionally, impulse response function (IRF) analysis based on the vector autoregression (VAR) model, estimated using these macroeconomic indicators, is applied in this paper. This study provides novel insights and addresses emerging gaps in the literature concerning Saudi Arabia as a developing economy. The long-term relationship in the bounds test results confirms its existence. In the long run, inflation and interest rate exert a statistically significant negative effect on stock market performance, while the trade balance has a significant positive impact. GDP and foreign capital inflows do not exhibit statistically significant long-run effects. Short-run dynamics indicate persistence in stock market performance along with significant effects from inflation and interest rate changes, while GDP and foreign capital inflows remain statistically insignificant in the long-run scenario. Forecast error variance decomposition (FEVD) results show that approximately 68.5% of the variation in market performance is explained by its own shocks, followed by foreign capital flows (16.3%) and inflation (8.4%). While foreign capital flow does not exhibit statistical significance in the ARDL long-run estimates, its contribution in variance decomposition highlights its role as an important source of external shocks. These findings are relevant to various stakeholders, including investors and policymakers. Additionally, policy emphasis should be placed on controlling inflation and maintaining stable interest rates while improving trade balance conditions. Although foreign capital flow does not show a direct long-run effect, its role in influencing market variability suggests the need for a stable and well-regulated investment environment. Full article

As global urban centers transition into “Super-Aged Societies,” the paradigm of urban sustainability has shifted from mere housing provision to the development of Sustainable Care Retirement Communities (SCRCs). This study addresses a critical gap in the urban aging literature: the lack of culturally sensitive frameworks for social resilience in non-Western contexts. By integrating Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, this research investigates how national culture influences the prioritization of community attributes within the “15 min city” framework. Methodologically, a hierarchical evaluation framework comprising 4 dimensions and 26 indicators was established. It employed the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) to achieve expert consensus among stakeholders in Taiwan’s Long-term Care 3.0 ecosystem. Analysis using Double Triangular Fuzzy Numbers identified the “Charging Model,” “Staff-to-Resident Ratio,” and “Zoning with Care Continuity” as the highest-priority factors ($G^i$ ≥ 7.8). These results indicate that in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, institutional financial stability and human-centric staffing are perceived as the structural bedrock of social resilience. Furthermore, the study highlights the emergence of AI-driven “Active Sensing” environments as a pivotal component of technical resilience, mitigating the loneliness epidemic while maintaining institutional efficiency. The findings suggest that social resilience in SCRCs is not merely a product of physical accessibility but is theoretically inferred by experts to be deeply rooted in the synergy of Bonding and Bridging Social Capital, rather than being a directly measured outcome. This research provides urban planners and policy-makers with a robust, evidence-based toolkit to design inclusive, resilient, and culturally aligned aging-in-place environments in the face of unprecedented demographic challenges. Full article

Population aging weakens the research base for growth in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies. This paper develops a balanced-growth benchmark with semi-endogenous knowledge production, human-capital deepening, and artificial intelligence (AI) research capital to derive in closed form the minimum AI-investment share consistent with non-negative per capita growth. Calibrated to an illustrative 15-country OECD sample spanning contrasting demographic regimes and gross expenditure on research and development (GERD)-intensity profiles, using United Nations World Population Prospects 2024 and OECD Main Science and Technology Indicators data, the formula yields midpoint thresholds of 0.236–0.275% of gross domestic product (GDP) when 10% of GERD is assumed to be AI-designated. The midpoint normalization is anchored to the best currently available OECD/European Commission (EC) measurement evidence, which places the AI-designated share of aggregate research and development (R&D) at 8.8% for the EU27, 9.9% for the United States, and 7.9% for Japan—all within the 5–15% window used here. Although this range is narrow in GDP-point terms, it implies research requirements from about 5–7% of GERD in South Korea and the United States to about 18–20% in Italy, Poland, and Spain. The common normalization shifts levels but not the cross-country ranking. These results favor demographically adjusted, country-specific AI-investment benchmarks over an OECD-wide target and imply that migration and research-base expansion can partly substitute for higher AI spending in high-pressure economies. Full article

Coordinated development between new-type urbanization and rural revitalization is important for sustainable urban–rural transformation and balanced regional development in China. Using panel data for 30 provincial-level units from 2014 to 2023, this study examines the spatiotemporal evolution, dynamic transitions, and external drivers of the coupling coordination degree between the two systems. Spatial Markov chains and an interpretable machine-learning framework are used to identify neighborhood effects, nonlinear relationships, and interaction patterns. The results show four main findings. First, the coupling coordination degree increased over the study period, but clear spatial differences and clustering remained. This suggests that coordinated urban–rural development did not advance evenly across regions. Second, the evolution of coordination shows strong state dependence, and neighborhood context is closely related to transition probabilities. Provinces located in high-coordination neighborhoods were more likely to move to higher levels, while provinces in low-coordination neighborhoods were more likely to remain trapped at lower levels. Third, digital inclusive finance and fiscal self-sufficiency were the most important external factors. Both showed clear nonlinear patterns. Per capita electricity consumption and aging rate also showed heterogeneous relationships at different value ranges. Fourth, the interaction results suggest that higher coordination is more likely to emerge when digital finance, fiscal capacity, openness, human capital, and infrastructure improve together, rather than when only one factor expands on its own. The findings indicate that sustainable urban–rural transformation is shaped by spatial dependence, nonlinear changes, and context-specific factor combinations. Beyond their relevance for more targeted urban–rural coordination and place-based sustainability governance in China, these findings also provide a useful reference for other developing countries seeking to address similar urban–rural development challenges. Full article

Regional electricity interconnections are increasingly recognised as enablers of cost-effective power system expansion, resilience and energy security in emerging economies. In East Africa, Kenya and neighbouring countries, namely Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda, operate relatively low-carbon electricity systems; however, rapidly growing electricity demand and expanding thermal generation are placing upward pressure on grid emissions intensity. This study examines whether planned cross-border interconnections can mitigate this trajectory using OSeMOSYS Global v1.0.0, an open-source least-cost capacity expansion model, comparing stand-alone national power systems against an interconnected regional grid over 2022–2045. Results show that interconnection enables access to low-cost renewable electricity and facilitates surplus generation exports, maintaining system-wide carbon intensity within climate finance eligibility thresholds of 100 gCO₂/kWh. Outcomes are heterogeneous: Ethiopia and Kenya incur cost increases (+USD 481 million and +USD 568 million, respectively) attributable to transmission capital expenditure, whereas Tanzania and Uganda achieve net cost savings (−USD 590 million and −USD 891 million) alongside substantial emissions intensity reductions of 141.9 and 280.5 gCO₂/kWh, respectively. Regional emissions equity is preserved, with modest intensity increases in Ethiopia and Kenya offset by large reductions elsewhere. These findings strengthen the case for climate-financed regional transmission as a scalable and equitable mitigation strategy in East Africa. Full article