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The role of spatial planning in achieving sustainable travel: The case of the Ipswich Strategic Planning Area
No full textFrom the early twentieth century to the present day, transport has been an integral part of the spatial planning process. Transport can help mitigate urban sprawl by allowing people to move to the urban fringes of a town or city, or a satellite town or village and still easily travel to a large urban area for work or leisure purposes. The availability and growth of the private motor vehicle from the middle of the twentieth century led to more congestion on road infrastructure that was not designed for the private motor vehicle, causing a negative environmental impact from its pollution. There were recommendations to use the spatial planning process to mitigate the impacts from the growth of private motor vehicle, resulting in the consideration of softer interventions, like marketing active and sustainable travel as a cost-effective alternative to road capacity improvements. The effectiveness and attitudes to these sustainable transport spatial planning policies was tested in the context of three recent residential developments in the Ipswich Strategic Planning Area using a resident questionnaire. The findings showed that these developments had a high level of car dependency, despite the application of measures identified in national and local sustainable transport policies to help mitigate this. However, resident awareness of the sustainable travel infrastructure and measures, promoted through a Travel Plan was evident, where many residents understood the need for sustainable transport and spatial planning interventions to encourage more sustainable living, such as 15-minute cities. This research recommends improving the link between transport and spatial planning and the transition towards a vision-led approach to transport in the spatial planning process, despite some limitations with the primary research findings
Offloading punishment to karma : Thinking about karma reduces the punishment of transgressors
No full textPunishment and the threat thereof can help enforce social norms, but enacting punishment is often costly. To avoid these costs, individuals may prefer to offload the responsibility of punishment to others or to cultural institutions. We propose that shared beliefs about supernatural punishment contribute to minimizing the costs of interpersonal punishment by allowing people to offload punishment to supernatural entities. In a Third Party Punishment Game, we specifically test in a pre-registered experiment (N = 1603 Americans and Singaporeans adults, recruited through Qualtrics’ online panels) whether thinking about karma (a supernatural force that punishes misdeeds) reduces punishment. Results confirm that being prompted to consider karma reduces inclinations to punish selfishness in a Third Party Punishment Game. A second pre-registered study using a subtler prime of karma replicated this effect. These findings suggest that karma beliefs may have played a role in the cultural evolution of human cooperation by reducing the costs of human norm enforcement while maintaining incentives for prosocial behaviour through the threat of supernatural punishment
Women entrepreneurs as cultural custodians in tourism : a social feminism theory perspective
Get PDFThis study, grounded in social feminism theory, examines how women entrepreneurs in Cyprus use tourism enterprises to preserve and transmit cultural knowledge. Drawing on 26 semi-structured interviews, the research examines how participants balance economic goals with cultural responsibilities. The analysis identifies five interrelated themes, cultural identity, integration, advocacy, collaboration, and resilience, that inform a conceptual framework explaining how entrepreneurial agency is shaped by gendered social roles and expectations. By positioning women entrepreneurs as agents of transformative change, this study extends social feminism theory to include the preservation and transmission of cultural knowledge as a critical dimension of entrepreneurial agency. By linking entrepreneurship to cultural stewardship, the study offers insights into how women deal with structural constraints while engaging in locally meaningful forms of sustainability. These findings offer implications for policymakers and development practitioners who seek to support gender-responsive, culturally rooted entrepreneurship in marginalised tourism contexts
Women’s alcohol use in mid-life : identifying associations between menopause symptoms, drinking behaviour, and mental health
Get PDFObjectives: The study aimed to identify associations between menopause, alcohol use, and mental health. Particularly examining how menopause symptoms may relate to alcohol behaviours in midlife women.
Design: An online mixed methods cross-sectional survey study was conducted to gather data on menopause-related symptoms, alcohol use, mental health, and wellbeing among women.
Methods: A sample of 936 women aged 40-65 was recruited for the study. Quantitative measures assessed menopause symptoms, alcohol use and associated harm, mental health, and overall wellbeing. Qualitative data were collected through text responses to explore motives for drinking.
Results: Perimenopausal participants, compared to pre- or postmenopausal women, reported the highest levels of menopause symptoms, negative reinforcement drinking motives (e.g., drinking to cope), negative mood, and the lowest wellbeing scores. Additionally, negative reinforcement motives partially mediated the relationship between menopausal symptoms and hazardous drinking. Qualitative findings showed that women often drank as a coping mechanism, while some avoided alcohol due to its potential to worsen menopausal symptoms.
Conclusions: This study provides new insights into the associations between menopausal symptoms, alcohol use, and mental health in midlife women. The findings highlight the complex factors driving alcohol use and avoidance, suggesting that tailored interventions are needed for women in midlife. This research underscores the importance of addressing alcohol-related risks in this under-researched group, given the potential for significant harm
The importance of social and emotional learning in facilitating positive transitions from kindergarten to primary school in Hong Kong
Get PDFA successful transition to school is critical for both short- and long-term academic and social success. Understanding children’s transition experiences, including their academic and social experiences, is essential for identifying the social-emotional competencies needed to support a successful transition. While much of the existing research on school transitions has been conducted in Western contexts, there is a significant knowledge gap due to differences in cultural values and schooling systems between the East and West. This study examines the transition experiences of children in the eastern context of Hong Kong, focusing on their academic and social experiences, with the aim of identifying how social-emotional learning (SEL) could facilitate a successful transition. Interviews were conducted with 38 primary one and two students from four primary schools in Hong Kong. For triangulation, focus groups were also conducted with parents (n = 17) and teachers (n = 15). Findings revealed that children’s transition experiences were multifaceted, encompassing both positive and challenging aspects. Positive experiences included forming friendships, engaging in a variety of learning experiences, achieving academic success and receiving support from both parents and teachers. However, these were accompanied by diverse academic and social challenges. The findings underscore the importance of early SEL, including enhancing children’s growth mindset, emotional understanding, self-awareness, social awareness, social skills for building friendships, conflict resolution and emotional regulation. The implications of these findings are discussed
Structural diversity and biodiversity of forest and hedgerow in areas managed for pheasant shooting across the UK
Get PDFManagement for pheasant shooting is a widespread land use in the UK, with potential implications for forest and hedgerow habitats. This study evaluates whether sites managed for pheasant shooting differ ecologically from similar sites not used for shooting. A systematic evidence evaluation of comparative studies was combined with a spatial analysis using remote sensing data (2010–2024). The literature review identified only 32 studies meeting strict criteria for comparability, revealing inconsistent and often weak evidence, with few studies reporting detailed forest management or statistically robust outcomes. While some studies noted increased or decreased biodiversity associated with pheasant shooting, the evidence base was generally of low quality. Remote sensing assessed forest structural and spectral diversity, intactness, and hedgerow density across 1131 pheasant-managed and 1131 matched control sites. Biodiversity data for birds, plants, and butterflies were sourced from GBIF records. Structural diversity and hedgerow density were significantly higher on pheasant-managed sites, while no significant differences were found in forest spectral diversity, intactness, or biodiversity indicators. Pheasant management may shape certain habitat features but has limited demonstrable effects on overall biodiversity. Further field-based, controlled studies are required to understand causal mechanisms and inform ecologically sustainable shooting practices
Private offence, public wrong : prosecuting disease transmission by medical professionals in nineteenth-century England
No full textLegal and historical accounts of Victorian cases in which the transmission of disease formed the basis for criminal prosecution have tended to focus on the communication of venereal disease – either by prostitutes, within marriage, or as a result of sexual assault. This chapter adopts a different focus: it considers cases in which medical practitioners – doctors and midwives – were charged with assault or manslaughter after infecting their patients with a disease which they knew they had contracted. The Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 opened up new options for prosecution, coinciding with a growing focus on public health reforms aimed at the control of infectious diseases. The chapter therefore seeks to illuminate the public, legal and medical discourses that surrounded such prosecutions, both prior to and after the calls for further legal reform made in the wake of the Clarence decision of 1888.
Bridging an imagined divide : Vernacular architecture in a digital world
Get PDFAt a time when digital culture touches on all aspects of life, it is surprising that its relationship to vernacular architecture has so far not been subject to much research. A common perception is that vernacular architecture is not made with or by computers but is rather ‘built by hand’, the result of the interplay between the human mind, traditional craft skills, and materials. In this essay I will argue that this perception is outdated and that the vernacular and digital realms in fact do come together in dynamic and often creative ways. Based on a review of the limited publications that are available, the essay outlines a number of ways in which both these realms converge all around the world. I conclude that this convergence should be high on the agenda of the field of vernacular architecture studies in an increasingly more interconnected, challenging, and unpredictable world