This paper considers recent developments in participatory approaches to radioactive waste management in Belgium, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The ‘participatory turn’ reflects widespread acknowledgement of the importance of social aspects of radioactive waste management. Despite these developments, the technical aspects are still most often brought into the public arena only after technical experts have decided upon a ‘solution’ to the ‘problem’. Maintaining a divide between technical and social aspects, which we also find in most social studies of participatory engagement, raises pressing questions about the kind of choice affected communities are given if they are not able to debate fully the technical options. The article contributes to an understanding of the socio-technical interplay, beyond a strong socio-technical divide, by presenting the interplay as sociotechnical combinations. Four different ways in which these combinations are constructed, taking examples from the four countries, are analysed and their implications for future practice are discussed.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33070941
Local urban development is not determined by a collection of non-political and essentially technical measures prepared by professionals and civil servants in municipalities, but in fact strongly depends on the political nature of policy decisions and organised local interests. The planning of local urban development is, therefore, significantly influenced by political decisions based on the promises set out by political parties in their programmes. Thus, the direction of local development and the dynamics of urban growth cannot be fully understood without a thorough understanding of the views presented in party programmes. This paper aims to map the differences in Slovenian parliamentary party preferences related to local urban development across the political spectrum as well as over time (from 1990 to 2014). By implementing computer-assisted content analysis of 96 party programmes and election manifestos conventionally recognised as thematic text analysis, we identified an alarming image of the political landscape of Slovenia concerning topics related to local urban development. The analysis revealed that the majority of parties utilise local urban development concepts on a declarative level, with most dimensions of sustainable urban development being virtually absent.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33386077
The article examines the impact of culture and class for the formation of residential preferences in Slovenian cities. The author's method is based on the assumption that the process of urbanisation has close ties with certain forms of socio-cultural development and specific class patterns. The author first explains the historical particularities of the development of Slovenian towns and then, on the basis of existing research studies (e.g. culture and class, values of space and place) analyses the differences between classes in relation to life in the city. The comparison of responses from the two largest Slovenian cities and other parts of Slovenia reveals a complex picture of class characteristics that indicates a very specific relationship towards large cities and a different process of acculturation relative to countries that have big (metropolitan) cities. In this context, it appears that, despite noticeable class distinctions among the respondents, there is a certain common value basis and a strong association with the local environment that promotes residential patterns which are characteristic of less densely populated areas.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33324637
Article is discussing white areas in the knowledge about historical development of nature - culture relations. The result is weak and anthropocentric ' curved ' understanding of basic historical stages of the social relationship to nature. These default performance impact on modern variants of environmental reflexivity, and as a consequence also no / efficiency in solving today's environmental dilemmas and problems. This is of course extremely extensive and complex topic, so essayist and selective approach is inevitable. The purpose of the article is not offering new and more comprehensive “truth”, but promoting discussion and dialogue about alternative interpretations that have been and are still largely marginalized. The ultimate objective is to draw attention to discussions on the revitalization of fundamental constitutive elements of the relationship to nature that would also allow the revitalization of environmental reflections, and thus perhaps also revitalization of contemporary environmental theories and trends.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33824605
The problems higher education graduates face when searching for jobs are changing public expectations about the development of competencies required in the labour market. Particularly important is the question of the relative role of higher education programmes in developing such competencies in comparison to other factors. Discussions in the paper are placed in the context of the dynamic relationship between the information process and situation learning. We study these two forms of learning with a model that on the one side comprises those competencies of higher education graduates that according to the leading international surveys are in greatest demand in the labour market and, on the other, the determinants of their development: forms of learning and teaching, characteristics of the study programme, job characteristics, and characteristics of both the organisation and organisational environment. Analysis is conducted on the basis of an international database that encompasses graduates from 17 European countries five years after graduation. The results indicate that the determinants do not impact specific competencies under observation in the same way. The findings form the basis for strategic recommendations for developing higher education systems.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33822813