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Policy of de-growth to face Global Change : Virtuous Municipalities Association promoting sustainability and wellbeing in Italy
No full textIn conformity with the global concerns about climate change, environmental impacts, economic developments, human rights and consumerist life style, Degrowth Theory (Latouche, 2004; 2007) proposes a series of principles aiming to foster equality, reduce the ecological footprint and make social relations flourish. Contrasting with a model of never-ending development, Degrowth highlights how a model of endless growth is not compatible with a closed system as our planet is (Georgescu-Roegen, 1977).
This paper focuses on the spread of degrowth proposal into Italian politics and highlights the results that such proliferation entails. The research emphasizes the individual activity and explains the increasing of degrowth practices not as the result of institutional driving forces but as a consequence of single actions fostering all together a cultural change.
We focused on Virtuous Municipalities' Association (VMA), a network of several Italian municipalities that has been the first national association to adopt degrowth in Public Administration. Since 2007 the VMA officially refers to degrowth principles applying locally a decrease of consumptions, wastes and ecological footprint of the administrative establishment and promoting social relations, conviviality and citizens participation.
This case study analysis is led on primary data. We interviewed the representatives of each municipality belonging to VMA to investigate the effects of their policies; moreover, we run a focus group with the town councillors of Mezzago (Milan) to explore in detail how the political practice is applied.
The results show the efficacy of enacted policies in promoting social cohesion, environmental protection and citizens’ well-being, achieved by individual fulfilment and empowerment (Eudaimonic Well-Being). We point out the relevance of the latter result as the key element that enables politicians and citizens to persevere in their activities. This activism is promoted by psychological well-being, which is the result of intrinsic motivation that allows individuals to experience a state of self-determination and a sense of competence. In these terms, individuals mainly reproduce situations connected with their own well-being promotion.
Other results outline that the activity of the local administration is bound to stimulating and listening to citizens; this dialectic process recognizes a central role to the involvement of citizenship, promoting its role as an active actor. An example of good practices is the participated project addressed to reintroduce pink asparagus growing, a typical well known product of Mezzago, through establishing a cooperative society. This project provides agricultural land recovery, economical resources for the local farmers and the preservation of a symbolic value for the community identity. Ecological, economical and social aims are achieved limiting the consumption of territory and promoting mastery in the citizenship. We believe that the latest aspect is necessary to preserve social cohesion and cultural identity: it wouldn’t be possible using the land for maize intensive farming or residential zoning.
In conclusion, the spread of degrowth proposal into Italian politics is due to an individual process, characterized by self-empowerment and self-determination, and to an activation endorsed by the public administration. Such process reproduced in each municipality make the degrowth practices expand not only with reference to the local context but also on larger dimensions. Administrations and citizens foster new cultural elements coming from degrowth proposal and carry out a cultural change able to provide concrete answers to the global change. The openness toward society explains the effectiveness in creating a wide network starting from local actions and the achievement of a new model of sustainability for Public Administration
From sustainable development to degrowth : Italian municipalities on the road to well-being
No full textGross Domestic Product (GDP) was created to measure a country’s economic performance, since it quantifies a flow of goods and money (Gadrey & Florence, 2005). In the course of time it has been implicitly inferred that GDP measures the progress of a nation and therefore citizens’ quality of life. To counter that assumption several alternative indexes have been proposed to integrate or to substitute GDP: the future goal is to create a set of indicators to monitor the progress of Society.
We suggest that objective measures have to be integrated with subjective indicators of wellbeing, considering also dimensions different from Subjective Well Being (SWB). SWB gained a main role as indicator of wellbeing tout court (Kahneman, Diener & Schwartz, 1999), even if it represents merely the hedonic aspect of wellbeing. In fact it takes into account only the satisfaction of desires that make life pleasant.
We propose to refer also to Eudaimonic wellbeing (Ryan & Deci, 2001; Ryff & Keyes, 1995), which promotes the full actualization of individual potentials (Inghilleri, 1999). The human flourishing (Fredrickson, 2001) and the attainment of wellbeing are not simply achieved by satisfying any individual desire; only being holistically engaged, intrinsically motivated (Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1988) and related with the others can produce a personal growth.
The Eudaimonic wellbeing is antagonized by the materialism promoted by the consumerist model (Inghilleri, 2003). Furthermore Kasser (2006) describes the price that western societies have to pay for this way of living in terms of personal, social and ecological costs. In conformity with the criticism to the main western life style, Degrowth Theory (Latouche, 2004; 2007) proposes a series of principles aiming to foster equality, reduction of ecological footprint and social relations. Contrasting also with a model of Sustainable Development, that doesn’t question the economic model reigning nowadays, Degrowth highlights how a model of endless growth is not compatible with a closed system as our planet is (Georgescu-Roegen, 1977). The promotion of an Eudaimonic wellbeing and the respect for the environment converge in such a theory.
We focused on this cultural movement for various reasons: firstly it is a vital movement that attracts many social actors at several levels (NGO, public institutions, individuals); secondly it does not criticize the economy itself, but the use made of it nowadays. In fact Degrowth claims that the economy should not be used as a general system of representation of reality (Fournier, 2008); we suggest that the economy should be a tool for pursuing a better quality of life. The proposal of such cultural shift unveils the reification that the economy has undergone and offers the opportunity for an individual reflection, that can produce an increased self-awareness and personal growth. The capability to foster Eudaimonic wellbeing is the surplus value we recognize in respect to the paradigm of Sustainable Development.
Degrowth firstly appeared in France as a cultural movement and then spread into other countries. In Italy Degrowth became in 2007 one of the goals of the Virtuous Municipalities' Association (VMA), counting 30 Municipalities across Italy (www.comunivirtuosi.org); the aim of the Association is to carry out in each municipality a series of good practices in accordance to its Statute.
In this paper we focus on the Municipality of Mezzago (Milan), a single case study of a wider research conducted on the VMA (Inghilleri et al., 2008; Riva & Boffi, 2009).
A semi-structured interview was carried out with municipal officers inquiring how they are promoting (directly or indirectly) a set of personal characteristics -defined as "Strengths" and "Virtues" by Peterson & Seligman (2004)- found to be directly related with Eudaimonic wellbeing. In addition we run a focus group with municipal officers to understand values and processes that give birth to local projects. A Virtuous Municipality Data Sheet Analysis was created to monitor municipal activity and good practices. Eventually, in order to analyze citizens’ satisfaction with local government, we administered a questionnaire composed by 25 items referring to service satisfaction, environmental satisfaction, urban furniture, social opportunities and urban safety.
The results show that the municipal administration mainly reinforces the Strengths of Curiosity, Social Intelligence and Fairness carrying out projects to increase citizens’ awareness of social relations, environmental protection (in particular to limit land cover), consumption decrease and meaningful use of the time. The municipality carries out practices that could be an example for other similar contexts activating local resources without any institutional push. We suggest that the increasing number of municipalities that have joined the Association (from 4 to 30 municipalities in four years) shows the effectiveness of such practices in making citizenship flourish while answering local needs. For that reasons such initiatives should be encouraged.
In conclusion this case study remarks that an administration able to attain at the local level meaningful processes with grassroots participation provides several opportunities to increase citizens’ personal growth and life fulfilment. Those are the basic conditions to produce Eudaimonic wellbeing, whose measuring we should not ignore
Less consumption more wellbeing : evidences from the policies of Italian Virtuous Municipalities’ Association
No full textDegrowth proposes a series of principles aiming to foster equality, social relations and the reduction of ecological footprint (Latouche, 2004, 2007; Flipo & Schneider, 2008). Contrasting also with a model of Sustainable Development, degrowth claims that the economy should not be used as a
general system of representation of reality (Fournier, 2008). The proposal of such cultural shift unveils the reification that the economy has undergone (Georgescu-Roegen, 1977) and offers the opportunity for an individual reflection that can produce an increased self-awareness and personal
growth. Indeed, Kasser (2006) describes from a psychological perspective the price that western societies have to pay for this way of living in terms of personal, social and ecological costs. In conformity with such criticism, Inghilleri (2003) claims that the materialism promoted by the consumerist model contrasts with the Eudaimonic wellbeing. The capability to foster Eudaimonic wellbeing is a further surplus value that we ascribe to degrowth and not to the paradigm of Sustainable Development.
In Italy two different networks promote degrowth: the Associazione per la Decrescita
(www.decrescita.it), more interested in discussing theoretical aspects and the association Movimento per la Decrescita Felice -MDF- (www.decrescitafelice.it), rooted in the society and proposing concrete actions of degrowth attracting social actors at several levels (NGO, public institutions, enterprises, individuals).
This paper focuses on the spread of degrowth proposal into Italian politics referring to Virtuous Municipalities' Association -VMA- (www.comunivirtuosi.org), a network of several Italian municipalities that since 2007 officially adopted policies of degrowth inspired by the MDF.
We analyzed territorial and political dimensions collecting data with sheets analysis and interviewing the representatives of each municipality belonging to VMA; moreover we run a focus
group with the town councillors of Mezzago (Milan).
The results of the interviews show the efficacy of enacted policies in promoting social cohesion, environmental protection and citizens’ wellbeing, achieved by individual fulfilment and empowerment (Eudaimonic Well-Being). These are the key elements that enable politicians and
citizens to persevere in their activities. This activism is also promoted by subjective wellbeing, which is the result of intrinsic motivation that allows individuals to experience a state of selfdetermination
and a sense of competence (Ryan & Deci, 2000).
Other results outline that the activity of the local administration is bound to stimulating and listening to citizens, promoting their active role.
In conclusion, the spread of degrowth proposal into Italian politics is due to an individual process, characterized by personal self-empowerment and self-determination, and to an activation endorsed
by the public administration. Municiaplities’ policies, while reducing products and energy consumption, foster social and individual wellbeing
Degrowth into political practice : wellbeing and sustainability as intrinsic effects
No full textThis paper focuses on the spread of degrowth proposal into Italian politics and highlights the results that such proliferation entails. The research emphasizes the individual activity and explains the increasing of degrowth practices not as the result of institutional driving forces but as a consequence of single actions fostering all together a cultural change.
We focused on Virtuous Municipalities' Association (VMA), a network of several Italian municipalities that has been the first national association to adopt degrowth in Public Administration. Since 2007 the VMA officially refers to degrowth principles applying locally a decrease of consumptions, wastes and ecological footprint of the administrative establishment and promoting social relations, conviviality and citizens participation.
This case study analysis is led on primary data. We interviewed the representatives of each municipality belonging to VMA to investigate the effects of their policies; moreover, we run a focus group with the town councillors of Mezzago (Milan) to explore in detail how the political practice is applied.
The results show the efficacy of enacted policies in promoting social cohesion, environmental protection and citizens’ well-being, achieved by individual fulfilment and empowerment (Eudaimonic Well-Being). We point out the relevance of the latter result as the key element that enables politicians and citizens to persevere in their activities. This activism is promoted by subjective well-being, which is the result of intrinsic motivation that allows individuals to experience a state of self-determination and a sense of competence. In these terms, individuals mainly reproduce situations connected with their own well-being promotion.
Other results outline that the activity of the local administration is bound to stimulating and listening to citizens; this dialectic process recognizes a central role to the involvement of citizenship, promoting its role as an active actor. An example of good practices is the participated project addressed to reintroduce pink asparagus growing, a typical well known product of Mezzago, through establishing a cooperative society. This project provides agricultural land recovery, economical resources for the local farmers and the preservation of a symbolic value for the community identity. Ecological, economical and social aims are achieved limiting the consumption of territory and promoting mastery in the citizenship. We believe that the latest aspect is necessary to preserve social cohesion and cultural identity: it wouldn’t be possible using the land for maize intensive farming or residential zoning.
In conclusion, the spread of degrowth proposal into Italian politics is due to an individual process, characterized by self-empowerment and self-determination, and to an activation endorsed by the public administration. Such process reproduced in each municipality make the degrowth practices expand not only with reference to the local context but also on larger dimensions. Administrations and citizens foster new cultural elements coming from degrowth proposal and carry out a cultural change. The openness toward society explains the effectiveness in creating a wide network starting from local actions and the achievement of a new model of sustainability for Public Administration
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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