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Holding sustainability promises in politics: Trends in ecosystem and resource management in electoral party manifestos
Get PDFAchieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains a critical global challenge. This study analyses the environmental priorities related to SDGs 12, 14, and 15—interlinked and focused on responsible production and consumption, life below water, and life on land respectively—reflected in political party manifestos from the 2019, 2022, and 2024 Portuguese general elections, assessing their alignment with the SDGs and broader European political ideologies. A content analysis reveals significant disparities in attention across these goals, with SDG 15 receiving greater prominence than SDGs 12 and 14. Findings highlight the influence of political ideology, showing left-wing parties emphasize all three SDGs more consistently than their right-wing counterparts. These results underscore the need for a more balanced and comprehensive political commitment to sustainability. By exploring the interplay between national and European political agendas, this research provides valuable insights for aligning environmental policies with the UN 2030 Agenda and fostering transformative change in sustainability governance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
“Quo vadis urban areas?”: (Re)thinking the future of urban areas using interpretive structural modeling
Get PDFThe world’s population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, with urban areas experiencing a more rapid rise in population density than rural regions. This demographic shift compels decision-makers to address pressing urban challenges and rethink future structures of cities. However, a vision for global sustainable urban growth remains elusive, as planners often lack comprehensive, credible and dynamic models to guide decision-making. The main purpose of this study is to propose a process-oriented methodology that integrates cognitive mapping, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and a matrice d’impacts croisés multiplication appliquée à un classement (MICMAC) analysis to evaluate and prioritize key determinants of urban development. Group work sessions involving decision-makers from diverse fields were conducted to identify critical variables influencing urban development. Unlike traditional models, the proposed approach emphasizes participatory decision-making. By combining cognitive mapping and ISM-MICMAC, this study enables the identification of causal relationships among variables and allows decision-makers to anticipate trends and prioritize challenges effectively. The findings were further validated by an external expert to ensure neutrality and reliability. Overall, this study provides a theoretical contribution to decision-making methodologies while offering a practical framework for urban planners to influence cities toward a sustainable future.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Grassroots innovations and projectification: Diffusion processes of the European ecovillage movement
Get PDFGrassroots innovations are increasingly recognized as crucial actors in sustainability transitions, offering localized, bottom-up solutions to local and global challenges. These initiatives contribute to sustainability by diffusing sustainable innovations and practices to broader societal sectors. However, the functioning of grassroots innovations is influenced by projectification, that is, the structuring of efforts around temporary, grant-funded projects. Projectification has a significant impact on both the development and diffusion of grassroots innovations. This process also plays a key role in shaping the internal governance and functioning of grassroots innovations networks, influencing how these initiatives operate and evolve. Focusing on the European branch of the Global Ecovillage Network, we explore the interaction between projectification processes and the diffusion of ecovillage practices. Employing the embedding framework, we analyze how projects facilitate or constrain the diffusion of sustainable practices across and beyond the network. Methodologically, the research is based on in-depth fieldwork trips to three European ecovillages, resulting in 16 semi-structured interviews with ecovillage members and members of the European ecovillage network. Our findings indicate that while projects enable certain embedding processes, they also introduce tensions that could limit the long-term sustainability of these initiatives. This study underscores the need for a balanced approach to projectification, ensuring that it supports rather than undermines grassroots innovation's objectives.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Os elementos visuais de um videoclipe como construtores de significados simbólicos e narrativos: O caso do videoclipe Poetas de Karaoke do rapper Sam the Kid
Get PDFEsta dissertação analisa o videoclipe Poetas de Karaoke, do rapper português Sam the Kid, através de uma abordagem semiótica visual e textual, considerando-o como um objeto multimodal de intervenção cultural. A investigação segue uma metodologia qualitativa, com base na análise documental de um estudo de caso, cruzando as teorias de Ferdinand de Saussure e Charles Sanders Peirce. A perspetiva saussuriana permite explorar o funcionamento interno da linguagem na letra da música, evidenciando a valorização da língua portuguesa, as modificações criativas dos signos linguísticos e a sua função como instrumento de afirmação e transmissão de mensagens. Já a abordagem peirceana aplica-se à análise das imagens do videoclipe, identificando ícones, índices e símbolos que representam a luta do cantor, a sua autenticidade e a crítica social presente na obra. Os contributos de Carol Vernallis (2004, 2013), Gillian Rose (2001) ou Fabian Holt (2011), no campo da análise multimodal, ajudam a compreender de que forma a articulação entre som e imagem reforçam a mensagem do artista e intensificam a receção emocional por parte do público. A análise demonstra que Poetas de Karaoke é mais do que um produto musical: sustenta-se como um espaço multimodal com intervenção simbólica, onde a imagem, o som e a palavra constroem uma estética de identidade, oralidade e contestação cultural.This dissertation analyzes the music video Poetas de Karaoke by Portuguese rapper Sam the Kid through a visual and textual semiotic approach, considering it as a multimodal object of cultural intervention. The research adopts a qualitative methodology based on documentary analysis within a case study framework, drawing on the theories of Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce. The Saussurean perspective enables an exploration of the internal functioning of language in the song lyrics, highlighting the valorization of the Portuguese language, the creative modification of linguistic signs, and their function as instruments of affirmation and message transmission. The Peircean approach is applied to the analysis of the video’s imagery, identifying icons, indices, and symbols that represent the artist’s struggle, authenticity, and the social critique present in the work. The contributions of Carol Vernallis (2004, 2013), Gillian Rose (2001), and Fabian Holt (2011) in the field of multimodal analysis help to understand how the interplay between sound and image reinforces the artist’s message and intensifies the audience’s emotional reception. The analysis demonstrates that Poetas de Karaoke is more than a musical product: it stands as a multimodal space of symbolic intervention, where image, sound, and word construct an aesthetic of identity, orality, and cultural resistance
Explorando a Open Science Framework: Uma ferramenta de Ciência Aberta para a gestão, transparência e reprodutibilidade na investigação
Get PDFEste capítulo visa:
(a) apresentar a OSF como uma ferramenta para a ciência aberta, destacando as suas
funcionalidades;
(b) demonstrar as vantagens da OSF em relação a outras ferramentas;
(c) orientar os/as investigadores/as na utilização da OSF, fornecendo um plano de
gestão de dados e um guia prático de implementação.aceit
Pilgrimage shrines in Portugal according to natural and cultural characteristics, with a view to their comprehensive protection
Get PDFThis article focuses on catholic pilgrimage shrines in Portugal, filling a gap regarding their defining natural and cultural characteristics. These are viewed jointly and interpretively: nature shaping culture and culture shaping nature. The urgent relevance arises from an analysis of the basis of the classifications of 25 shrines (those classified by Património Cultural, I. P., Ministério da Cultura), in which we raised the hypothesis that their landscape values were not recognized.
After researching the literature, we visited these places to observe and analyze the landscapes where they are located and the places they constitute, seeking to identify the factors that are fundamental to them. The subspaces that contribute to their spatial diversity were subsequently characterized. As icons of landscape heritage, each pilgrimage shrine is the combined reflection of its surrounding landscape, the particularities of its site, the Church's investment in the implementation of a religious and recreational program, its historical course and the influences it has received, the functions it performs, and its design.
We find an interpretative matrix of pilgrimage shrines in the building and churchyard/viewpoint combination, a consistent way of presenting certain subspaces with different articulations; 50% of these places have this typology and are located in a situation of visual predominance, with regional or local significance. With this article, in which we identify a set of basic criteria for study and analysis, we hope to contribute to the effective and comprehensive protection of these places.publicad
Book review of The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and Heritage in Contemporary Europe
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What does sustainability sound like? Crafting soundscapes that reflect environmental and social sustainability dimensions
Get PDFThis paper presents a series of studies examining how soundscapes can convey the abstract and multidimensional concept of sustainability. A pilot study identified sensory and affective descriptors linked to sustainability (e.g., natural, responsible), which were then used to determine psychoacoustic properties (e.g., pitch, consonance) capable of communicating these descriptors. Based on these properties, ten instrumental soundtracks were selected and evaluated for their capacity to evoke sustainability associations. The soundtracks were adapted to reflect environmental (overlaying jungle, forest, or beach sounds; Study 1) and social (overlaying talking, laughing, or cheering sounds; Study 2) dimensions. Results (combined N = 517) indicated that soundtracks aligned with sustainability descriptors reliably elicited strong perceptions of sustainability. Additionally, overlaying nature sounds enhanced associations with environmental sustainability, while incorporating human group sounds increased social sustainability associations. These findings demonstrate the potential of soundscapes to communicate abstract concepts, highlighting the importance of integrating musical elements with explicit sounds to evoke targeted sustainability perceptions. Harnessing such soundscapes may offer new avenues for organizations to communicate sustainability, with potential applications in brand and product experiential design.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The parents' duty of vigilance as a duty of education according to the jurisprudence of Portuguese higher courts (art. 491 of the Portuguese Civil Code). A critical assessment
Get PDFObjetivos: o presente artigo pretende analisar o modo como a jurisprudência dos tribunais superiores portugueses convola o dever de vigilância no dever de educação, no âmbito da responsabilidade dos pais por incumprimento do dever de vigilância dos filhos (art. 491º do Código Civil português).
Metodologia: são mapeadas e sumariadas as decisões judiciais relevantes, bem como é referenciada a doutrina da especialidade.
Resultados: o artigo termina com uma apreciação crítica da referida jurisprudência.
Contribuição: ao efetuar uma análise crítica da jurisprudência, no que se refere à convolação do dever de vigilância no dever de educação, o presente artigo contribui para o aperfeiçoamento, para o futuro, do direito português.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
How digital technologies enhance competitiveness in manufacturing SMEs
Get PDFThis study examines how digital technologies influence the competitiveness of manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a focus on labor productivity and export performance. Using a sample of 669 firms in the Portuguese ornamental stone sector, a framework was applied to evaluate five levels of digital maturity through a quantitative approach. This analysis covers five years after the investment and combines digital profiling with scenario-based forecasts. Results, presented in figures and tables, indicate a positive link between digital maturity and firm performance, with higher digitalisation levels correlating with increased productivity and export efficiency. For example, the most digitally mature firms experienced labor productivity increase significantly, and their digital investments yielded returns very handsomely for every euro invested. These findings, while illustrative, depend on specific contextual factors and assume ongoing digital adoption. This study offers a replicable model for evaluating digital revolution in traditional industries, supporting SME policy development and strategic planning.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio