Journal articles on the topic 'Border regional resilience'

Border and administrative divisions usually have considerable severe impacts on the economic growth and sustainable management of natural and human on both sides of the border. Schengen border regions mostly perform less well economically in comparison to non-border regions, and the citizens and businesses are facing all sorts of barriers on a day-to-day basis when crossing EU Schengen borders. Therefore, the research is focused on the resilience of the frontier areas of Slovakia and Ukraine, both experiencing rising out-migration, demographic ageing and, therefore, less resistance to threats. The proposed Regional Resilience Index (RRI) is based on three resilience capacity domains: (1) The entrepreneurial domain containing partial indicators of industrial diversity, entrepreneurial activity, unemployment and the possibilities to save money; (2) the socio-demographic domain, whose partial indicators are ageing and the health status of the population, and (3) the domain of interconnectedness of communities with its partial indicators of public infrastructure and settlement stability. By calculating RRI, the overall resilience capacity of the monitored districts of Slovakia and Ukraine is estimated. The index shows that the border factor is significant in explaining the differences in each of the index’s three domains. In addition, migration for work is shown to be a key factor increasing vulnerability and is therefore studied in more detail. The prediction and evaluation of risks associated with strategic and territorial planning is a necessary approach in relation to extraordinary events and minimization of consequences.

AbstractThe resilience of a region may affect how it reacts to economic crises and exogenous shocks. In a complex study, it is not sufficient merely to have knowledge of all the macro-indices of the regions, but it is also necessary to study internal micro-structures. This study introduces the regional homogeneity index, using a novel approach and as yet unused indicators by means of the example of two neighbouring NUTS 2 statistical regions. The results can be useful for understanding the regions’ economic development. The methodology and indicators created may also be suitable for European regional pilot research projects.1

Abstract TPPA faced turbulence and uncertainty among its members when the newly-elected President of the United States, Mr. Donald Trumps abandoned the trade deal. Now, the so-called TPP11 or TPP 12 minus one becomes talk of the town especially to the remaining countries with hopes that the trade deal can be salvage and turn into a reality. Malaysia has another option to rely on in case the trade deal faced the dead end. This paper discuss the possible steps and mitigations for Malaysia and also local SMEs in dealing with the future of TPP11 with the alternative economic deal such as Asean Economic Community (AEC) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Local SMEs can enhance their products and services by focusing on domestic market as well as looking for opportunity in the international market as another way to survive in the red ocean market. The introduction of the Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) creates another opportunity for Malaysian SMEs to optimise the emerging growth of the Internet economy and cross border e-commerce activities. In addition, the DFTZ would enhanced local SMEs in terms of export capabilities in the digital market particularly with China. Local SMEs should remain proactive, resilience and versatile in facing the world’s economic uncertainty particularly the TPP for the sustainability of their business livelihood. Thus, this paper will review the next step for Malaysian SMEs in dealing with the uncertain future of the TPPA minus 1.

ABSTRACTSThis study aimed to determined the implementation, constraints and assesed the impact of the cabotage principle and sea toll program on regional resilience in Anambas until the beginning of 2019. Archipelagic districts that had 238 islands in the border region needed ships to supported the development of other sectors and connectivity of disadvantaged, remote, outermost, and border areas (3TP).This study used qualitative descriptive methods in the form of maps, tables and graphs. Data was obtained through observation, in-depth interviews and documentation in Tarempa, Matak Base, sea toll vessels and the Directorate of Sea Traffic and Freight, including literature studies and internet data. The result of this studi showed that cabotage principle succeeded in increasing the number of national commercial fleets fivefold since 2005-2018. The upstream oil and gas company at Anambas complied with cabotage and was not subject to operational disruption.The existence of national ships in Indonesian waters contributed to the aspect of defense security as a source of information. The implementation of the sea toll route to Anambas until the fourth year had not succeeded in reducing the price of goods but maintaining the stock of logistics, especially during extreme weather, supporting food security. Cabotage was important for economies and defense security meanwhile sea tolls contributed to inter-regional connectivity to supported the development of remote, frontier, disadvantaged and borderareas (3TP). Both were encouraging national sea freight to dominated the domestic market share.ABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui implementasi, kendala dan mengkaji dampak implementasi asas cabotage dan program tol laut terhadap ketahanan wilayah di Anambas hingga awal tahun 2019. Kabupaten kepulauan yang memiliki 238 pulau di wilayah perbatasan membutuhkankapal untuk menunjang pembangunan sektor lain dan konektivitas daerah tertinggal, terpencil, terluar, dan perbatasan (3TP).Metode yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif dalam bentuk peta, tabel dan grafik. Data diperoleh melalui observasi, wawancara mendalam dan dokumentasi di Tarempa, Matak Base, kapal tol laut dan Direktorat Lalu Lintas Angkutan Laut dilengkapi studi pustaka dan data internet.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan implementasi asas cabotage berhasil meningkatkan jumlah armada niaga nasional 356 persen pada tahun 2005-2018. Perusahaan hulu migas di Anambas mematuhi cabotage dan tidak terganggu operasionalnya. Keberadaan kapal nasional di perairan Indonesia mendukung aspek pertahanan dan keamanan sebagai salah satu sumber informasi. Implementasi tol laut trayek Anambas hingga awal tahun 2019 belum berhasil menurunkan harga barang tetapi menjaga stok logistik terutama saat cuaca ekstrim, mendukung ketahanan pangan. Cabotage penting bagi perkonomian dan pertahanan keamanan di laut sedangkan tol laut berkontribusi pada konektivitas antarwilayah mendukung pembangunan daerah 3TP. Keduanya mendorong kapal nasional mendominasi angkutan laut dalam negeri.

AbstractIntroductionThis research aimed to learn from the experiences of leaders of well-developed, disaster preparedness-focused health care coalitions (HCCs), both the challenges and the successes, for the purposes of identifying common areas for improvement and sharing “promising practices.”Hypothesis/ProblemLittle data have been collected regarding the successes and challenges of disaster preparedness-focused HCCs in augmenting health care system preparedness for disasters.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of nine HCC leaders. Transcripts were analyzed qualitatively.ResultsThe commonly noted benefits of HCCs were: community-wide and regional partnership building, providing an impartial forum for capacity building, sharing of education and training opportunities, staff- and resource-sharing, incentivizing the participation of clinical partners in preparedness activities, better communication with the public, and the ability to surge. Frequently noted challenges included: stakeholder engagement, staffing, funding, rural needs, cross-border partnerships, education and training, and grant requirements. Promising practices addressed: stakeholder engagement, communicating value and purpose, simplifying processes, formalizing connections, and incentivizing participation.ConclusionsStrengthening HCCs and their underlying systems could lead to improved national resilience to disasters. However, despite many successes, coalition leaders are faced with obstacles that may preclude optimal system functioning. Additional research could: provide further insight regarding the benefit of HCCs to local communities, uncover obstacles that prohibit local disaster-response capacity building, and identify opportunities for an improved system capacity to respond to, and recover from, disasters.WalshL, CraddockH, GulleyK, Strauss-RiggsK, SchorKW. Building health care system capacity to respond to disasters: successes and challenges of disaster preparedness health care coalitions. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(2):1-10.

The 2004 South-East Asia earthquake and tsunami as well as the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquakes and tsunamis caused the greatest economic losses and challenged the continuity of business operations across the continents. Thereafter, regions most at risk when the 2016 Kaohsiung earthquake shook an electronics hub in Southern Taiwan, where lies at the heart of Apple’s supply chain. The large-scale disasters demonstrate the fragility of supply chains and the importance of enhancing disaster resilience through innovative technology and keen collaboration on information sharing/dissemination, resources allocations and risks communication/awareness across borders. With review of the global and regional lessons learn from the large-scale disasters, the increasing threats from devastating earthquakes and extreme weather call for the actions to enhance economic security. Base on the practical experience of DRR project implementations in decades, APEC identifies several key factors to promote disaster resilience in business sectors while the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) declared to promote the disaster risk governance and encourages innovation, science and technology DRR approaches on raising the risk awareness and level of preparedness. At regional level of disaster risk management, empowering the cross-cutting collaborations on science and technology as well as enabling the inter-disciplinary information intelligence platform for communications are keys to resilient society and human well-being. This paper aims to identify conceptual model for enhancing regional resilience and connectivity through public-private partnership. The country-level case studies and comprehensive regional reviews for promoting inclusive and disaster resilient development will be cover.

In response to the climate emergency declared in many German cities in 2019, political decision makers, planners and researchers began promoting climate resilience in policy areas such as housing. This article discusses the potential impact and implementation of housing-market monitoring and housing action plans on analytical and strategic capacities at local and regional levels by presenting findings from a transdisciplinary, multi-level real-world laboratory in the Ruhr city region in Germany. It proposes an integrated multi-level approach to raise awareness and provide an accessible database for housing policies in climate-resilient city regions across administrative levels and sectoral borders.

In line with the EU2020 strategy, sustainable development has been a high priority in the EU. Implementing a sustainable strategy in any organization is a complex, value-based multi-dimensional process where sustainability is translated and adapted in the regional context. Implementation of a sustainability strategy requires defining a vision, developing sustainable strategies, assessing the current state of arts, monitoring the process and providing the platform for all actors involved to implement the vision.The aim of the article is to offer a conceptual basis for building a sustainable strategy in the state border guard organization. This involves rethinking, repositioning the current strategy and formulating a future-oriented perspective in order to enhance awareness of the complexity, accept the dynamic nature of corporate sustainability and to adopt a proactive behavior towards sustainability issues. The paper presents a case study on challenges that the State Border Guard organization is facing for implementing a sustainability strategy. The research study presents a qualitative study for a deeper understanding of the process of conceptualizing and implementing a sustainability strategy in Latgale region. The methodology employed in the study is semi-structured interviews with the representatives of administration on the process and the challenges of implementing sustainability strategy.

Polycentric development, territorial cohesion, and territorial diversity are some of the main principles supported at the European level for reducing regional disparities and for making territories more resilient and diversified, which strengthens the competitiveness of Europe in the global economy. This research article, starting from the final results of the ESPON Linking Networks of Protected Areas to Territorial Development (LinkPAs) project, considers that the protected areas (PAs) are a territorial unit able to connect—in a polycentric approach—the different territorial aspects (economic, social, environmental) present in an area to implement cross-border public services (CPS) to share in a larger territorial context through a network of protected areas (NPA). Toward this aim, this paper suggests applying the NPA management model developed in the ESPON LinkPAs project to CPS to assess if a soft governance mechanism is able to efficiently and sustainably manage the CPS.

Although of negligible economic interest, the Black River Basin during the French colonial period enjoyed special administrative status as a military territory. The region's patchwork pattern of ethnolinguistic groups as well as problems of distance and strategy led the colonizer to renew the autonomy of the muäng, or Tai polities. Among principal Tai clans, the Đèo of Lai Châu exemplified political resilience: pursuing their own prerogatives (until 1954) by exploiting the French administrative framework. These hereditary leaders, employed as colonial scholar-officials and civil servants, were keen to combine contradictory vocations. For example, the Đèo were frontier wardens even though their ancestral muäng overlapped the border; they were tax collectors who were nevertheless involved in opium smuggling. This paper attempts to recreate an overall pattern of the constitutive elements traditionally governing the attribution and implementation of power on a local basis.

Many African states struggle to reconcile traditional social institutions with the precepts of nation-state democracy within colonially defined borders. Since the 1991 fall of the dictatorial Somali regime of Siyaad Barre, Somaliland has gradually pieced together what appear to be a durable peace and an increasingly sophisticated, constitutionally based nation-state democracy. It is still negotiating the relationship between identity, nation and territory in which there is a differential commitment to democracy between the political elite and the wider population. Accommodation between a clan-based social structure and a representative democracy has been enabled by local socio-cultural traditions. External intervention, while minimal, has on occasion proved fruitful in providing a way out of crises. The territory has escaped the violence and political breakdown experienced in Southern Somali areas. This contribution argues that the remarkable resilience of the present socio-political system in Somaliland is challenged by present and forthcoming problems in the fields of democratic representation (inter alia of women), delivery of public goods, a fragile sub-regional context and foreign investment.

The world is facing an unprecedented situation with Covid-19 posing many socioeconomic challenges to tackle. While projections of UNWTO suggest that international tourist arrivals could decline by 60-80 per cent for 2020, global tourism has once again come under the radar of crises. The aim of this study is to explore and discuss the ramifications of the pandemic on global tourism and its allied industries. For the same, a regional assessment has been carried out on global tourism and three associated industries including airlines, hospitality with special focus on the hotel segment and the MSMEs involved directly in tourism. Region-wise analysis reveals that Asia-Pacific region has been the most affected followed by Europe and America due to the restrictions imposed on travel and tourism sector across nations. The paper also discusses the policy responses taken by economies across the world and provides an overview of the future policy decisions which will be crucial for the sustenance of the global tourism sector. Tourism, a resilient and flexible sector, requires several structural adjustments in order to survive and recover. Even with countries opening up their borders and encouraging tourism, the sector is gripped by the challenge of rebuilding the consumer confidence in order to promote future tourism. Globalization has led to increased susceptibility of tourism to crises and sustainability powered with innovation maybe the way out for the sector.

The paper presents a survey on the situation in terms of solutions for grid integration throughout the Mediterranean area in the framework of climate change and energy transition. The objective of the study is focused on Mediterranean region connectivity initiatives in the context of the broader vision of an interconnected European–Mediterranean (Euro–Med) power system for a future low-carbon energy system as the fundamental objective of Med-TSO, the Association of the Mediterranean Transmission System Operators (TSOs) for electricity. The analysis examines how the power grid connectivity evolves from now on to 2030, describing the progress made to date in integrating the power grids of the Mediterranean region as well as the future possibilities for a more integrated power grid covering the whole region. The research, conducted within Mediterranean Project II of Med-TSO, includes an overview on the current situation of the interconnections and the proposal for the 2030 interconnections Master Plan, coherent with the national development plans (NDPs) and shared energy scenarios for the whole region at the same horizon of 2030. It conducts an assessment of the gap between the current and the 2030 expected situation, taking into account the energy transition toward 2030 objectives resulting from the achievements of climate change pledges, local governmental policies and EU strategy for neighboring countries and Africa. The solutions survey includes technical solutions, procedures and rules to improve systems’ integration and increase regional electricity exchanges in Med-TSO countries, and is aimed at achieving a higher quality of services and better efficiency of energy supply in Med-TSO member countries in the framework of the expected energy transition. The main scope is to present solutions that will be made available due to maturity and experience in the coming decade, specifically: high voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission technologies, energy storage, sectors coupling, smart grid technologies and services, inter-TSO and transmission–distribution cooperation platforms, etc. The article presents two case studies: the island paradigm and a new cross-border interconnection project of common interest. Finally, the post-pandemic core role of TSOs, which has become more relevant than ever, is transformed into a key-enabler of energy transition towards a sustainable, resilient and innovative climate-neutral recovery.

La construcción de un espacio de divulgación del conocimiento, como lo es una revista científica, es un trabajo arduo y complejo que requiere del aporte continuo y desinteresado de un conjunto de actores, cuya retribución radica en el deber cumplido de su contribución para la ciencia, la evolución de su campo disciplinar y el desarrollo de los territorios a los cuales, mediante los procesos de divulgación, ese conocimiento alcanza a llegar. Con relación a la construcción de una revista en el campo de la Arquitectura, es posible pensar que esa labor es doblemente difícil, debido a que es un ámbito de construcción del conocimiento en el cual se discute todavía la naturaleza y validez de sus formas de producción de conocimiento. En algunos contextos, ese esfuerzo, antes de ser estimulado, se ve truncado por procesos y modelos de medición que, en lugar de facilitar y fortalecer la gestión editorial, privilegian la exclusión y dificultan el acceso a reconocimiento de nuevos procesos editoriales que se realizan con pertinencia y calidad, ya sea por la falta de claridad en sus políticas o el desconocimiento de la realidad de las dinámicas editoriales en un espacio del conocimiento tan complejo como lo es el de la Arquitectura y disciplinas afines a la construcción colectiva de Ciudad, Campo y Territorio. Como contraparte de ese panorama sesgado y de exclusión, se encuentran procesos de crecimiento como los liderados por ARLA, Asociación de Revistas Latinoamericanas de Arquitectura, la cual ofrece un escenario de crecimiento y aprendizaje compartido para contribuir a mejorar la calidad editorial, la visibilidad y el impacto de las publicaciones en la Arquitectura y disciplinas afines. Esfuerzo que se destaca por su estrategia cooperativa y participativa, en la configuración de una plataforma para la divulgación y visibilidad del nuevo conocimiento generado por las revistas latinoamericanas de Arquitectura. A pesar de las dificultades y obstáculos que puedan encontrarse en el camino de la gestión editorial en Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño, se considera esta labor como algo sumamente importante, que requiere un trabajo sin descanso y con mucho compromiso, por entregar cada vez un producto de la mayor calidad, que realmente se constituya en un espacio de reflexión y referencia en la discusión sobre los problemas de fondo en que sobreviven la Ciudad y el Territorio en la contemporaneidad. Es un orgullo entregar este tercer número de la revista de divulgación científica Procesos Urbanos, adscrita a la Facultad de Ciencias Básicas, Ingeniería y Arquitectura de la Corporación Universitaria del Caribe–CECAR, Colombia. Gestión editorial que tiene como misión contribuir, de manera significativa, al conocimiento y desarrollo de la investigación en el área de la Arquitectura y disciplinas afines a la construcción colectiva de Ciudad, Campo y Territorio. Este tercer número llega en un momento histórico de muchas incertidumbres. Un momento de crisis y cambios, en el cual, a pesar de acceder con gran facilidad a la información, muchas veces esta se ve manipulada y distorsionada, aprovechando la ingenuidad de las masas para favorecer los oscuros intereses de algunos grupos, que salen a la luz dentro de nuevos movimientos de ultra derecha, racismo y fanatismo religioso, entre otras manifestaciones. La Ciudad y el Territorio, escenarios en trasformación, producto de las múltiples dinámicas que plantea la contemporaneidad, son, a partir de las reflexiones que hoy se proponen, un lugar donde el esfuerzo optimista y el deseo de encontrar respuestas y soluciones, exigen el compromiso inquebrantable de arquitectos, urbanistas, diseñadores y demás profesionales involucrados en la producción social del hábitat, siempre con una conciencia humana y ecológica para el desarrollo sustentable de nuestro planeta. Hemos compilado, para este número, unos trabajos de gran trascendencia y pertinencia, debido a su alto grado de actualidad, ya que tocan, de manera interesante, con profundidad y rigor científico, problemáticas de orden global y local relativas al hábitat humano. El artículo que da inicio a este número, un abordaje histórico desarrollado por el maestro Alberto Saldarriaga Roa, denominado “Acerca de las ciudades: la mirada de ayer y de hoy”, describe y analiza distintos planteamientos en torno de aquello que se ha entendido y juzgado como ciudad, desde la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII hasta la actualidad. Se resaltan, a partir de múltiples referencias, los temas y posiciones predominantes en los discursos más representativos. ¿Cómo encaja la Ciudad Latinoamericana como idea en estos discursos? Aparece la complejidad como constante presente en todas las miradas sobre la ciudad a lo largo del tiempo, la cual aún hoy constituye un escenario que envuelve múltiples realidades. Se presenta, a continuación, el artículo del arquitecto Hans Intveem Pérez, denominado “Borde costero resiliente: aprendizaje post-27F para el norte grande”. Un producto de investigación que plantea una sistematización de principios generales de ordenamiento para espacios costeros en el contexto del paisaje chileno. Propone estrategias que permiten no solo la resistencia de los bordes costeros contra los eventos naturales catastróficos, sino su eficiente reconstrucción y rápida adaptación a circunstancias adversas. Aspecto de gran importancia y actualidad, debido a las crecientes amenazas que soporta la Ciudad Contemporánea. En el sentido de analizar problemáticas producto de procesos de urbanización, se presentan dos artículos. Uno, que toma como ejemplo la ciudad de Medellín, Colombia, de la magíster en diseño del paisaje Olgalicia Palmett Plata, denominado “Externalidades ambientales ocasionadas por la urbanización en la ciudad de Medellín”. Y otro del sociólogo y magíster en planificación urbana y regional Alejandro Mendoza Jaramillo, denominado “Procesos y lógicas de las urbanizaciones cerradas en áreas metropolitanas: Bogotá y Buenos Aires”. Ambos artículos de gran actualidad, dada la naturaleza de las problemáticas que desarrollan. Se presentan, luego, dos artículos que abordan la temática del fractal. Un tópico de gran pertinencia teniendo en cuenta las dinámicas a nivel urbano y arquitectónico en la ciudad contemporánea. Uno de la arquitecta Joely Sulbarán Sandoval, denominado “El Fractal como Paradigma Arquitectónico: Deconstrucción vs. Lenguaje de Patrones Vivientes”, el cual hace una aproximación conceptual al fractal y sus relaciones con la Arquitectura. El otro, del arquitecto Alejandro Guerrero Torrenegra, denominado “Periferias espontáneas de Ciudad Bolívar, Bogotá: vista desde la perspectiva fractal. Abordaje metodológico”, quien pone el fractal en el contexto de las periferias latinoamericanas. A seguir, un bloque de artículos que reflexiona sobre problemáticas específicas de la ciudad y la producción de Arquitecturas, con gran sentido crítico, es constituido, en primera instancia, por el trabajo realizado por los arquitectos Oscar Guevara y Diana Sevilla, denominado “Análisis urbano ambiental del espacio litoral del municipio de Coveñas en el departamento de Sucre, Colombia”, en el cual describen las problemáticas ambientales del borde costero de uno de los municipios del Caribe colombiano, enfatizando en soluciones desde la planificación territorial. También, en el artículo del ingeniero Milton Guerrero, denominado “Embalses de retención y canales verdes: herramientas para el control de inundaciones y la planificación urbana. Caso de estudio: municipio de Turbaco, Bolívar”, se analizan problemáticas urbanas específicas, con el fin de aportar soluciones a los problemas ambientales identificados. Por su parte, el artículo del arquitecto Raimundo Portillo, “Criterios de diseño para las edificaciones educativas del estado Zulia”, revisa el tema de la normatividad aplicada a la arquitectura escolar, analiza y enumera criterios generales de diseño para las edificaciones educativas públicas del estado Zulia, con la finalidad de motivar la reflexión sobre la escueta normativa nacional existente, como una contribución al mejoramiento de la calidad de la arquitectura escolar en Venezuela. En la continuidad de este bloque de artículos, el trabajo sobre contaminación visual, desarrollado por los arquitectos Angélica Sierra Franco y Oscar Guevara, denominado “Contaminación visual en centros históricos: un problema estético y de valor social de las ciudades actuales”, en el cual se realiza una mirada a esta problemática cada vez más urgente de las ciudades contemporáneas, en una de las ciudades del Caribe colombiano, preocupados por analizar problemas que afectan la valoración de la estética del paisaje urbano de la ciudad y, por consiguiente, la competitividad urbana a nivel regional y nacional. Para finalizar, dos artículos en los cuales se abordan aspectos metodológicos relativos a los procesos de producción de la Arquitectura y el Diseño. El primero, por la designer Bruna Ramírez Brito y el arquitecto Otoniel López Altamirano, denominado “Aspectos transdisciplinares de diseño y arquitectura: Un enfoque metodológico basado en la innovación”, quienes se centran en procesos metodológicos transdisciplinarios, como herramientas que permiten al diseñador y arquitecto apoderarse de nuevos conceptos y técnicas que contribuyen a la innovación. Y un artículo de mi autoría denominado “La subjetividad de la metodología en la proyectación de la arquitectura”, en el cual realizo una reflexión sobre procesos metodológicos utilizados en la proyectación de la Arquitectura, a partir de una experiencia de contrastación, con el fin de revisar y verificar posibles formas con las cuales abordar un problema de diseño arquitectónico, desde la perspectiva de la investigación. Estamos convencidos de que este esfuerzo por congregar tan destacado grupo de trabajos e investigadores de tan alta calidad, será de su entero agrado. Se espera que se conviertan en referentes sobre las discusiones que proponen, y dinamicen reflexiones tanto en sus respectivos lugares de origen, como en los diferentes contextos en los cuales logremos multiplicar este conocimiento con la creciente visibilidad de nuestra revista.

The rural region of North Karelia is located close to the Finnish-Russian border, and faces challenges due to population decline and labor shortage. However, it has a unique strength which is its proximity to Russia. This paper analyses the perceived role of immigration in enhancing the vitality of North Karelia. It investigates how the impact of immigration is presented in the regional media, and how Russian-speaking immigrant women’s roles as “agents of development” can be interpreted on the basis of their interviews. The analysis is based on text material obtained from the regional newspaper, and ethnographic interviews conducted among Russian-speaking immigrant women. Findings based on the newspaper material indicate that immigrants are valued primarily for their contribution to regional economic development. However, in some of the texts, immigrants are presented as an integral part of the region’s population, who diversify the skills of communities and thus create potential for promoting local resilience. The analysis of the interview data indicates that the proximity of the border, transnational connections, and ethno-cultural capital which is based on immigrants’ national background are important factors that impact on the attractiveness of North Karelia for Russian immigrant women. Everyday transnational multiculturalism encompasses women’s precarious employment which impacts on the well-being of broader communities on both sides of the border. Although Russian immigrant women are a vital part of these communities, they do not themselves participate in the newspaper discussions about the vitality of rural communities. This indicates that Russian women are “invisible” agents of rural development, who are not fully recognized as contributors of resilience in North Karelia.

Abstract Although the preparedness to health emergencies of biological, chemical, environmental and unknown origin across the Europe is at high level, gaps do exist across the EU Member States and European countries. The previous coronavirus epidemic, SARS in 2002, showed that countries responded largely individually to this emerging threat. EU wide, joint responses were not taken. SARS epidemic showed that strengthening of the common EU efforts was needed. Many actions were taken, and since 2013 the European Commission Decision 1082/2013/EU on serious cross-border threats to health has provided a framework to improve preparedness and to strengthen the response capacities in Europe to health threats. SHARP Joint Action is a 3-year collaborative action of 26 countries and 61 partners, co-funded by the EC and coordinated by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland, and co-coordinated by Robert Koch Institute, Germany and National Institute of Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italy. SHARP started it's actions in June 2019, and it aims to strengthen implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) and the Decision 1082/2013/EU. SHARP consists of ten work packages covering core public health capacities, including: IHR core capacity strengthening and assessment, preparedness and response planning, training, laboratory preparedness and responsiveness, chemical safety and threats, and case management, infection prevention and control preparedness. Through this cross-sectoral approach, SHARP supports the Member States and partner countries in strengthening their capacities. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, SHARP has also supported the EC and the Member States, and especially work packages for laboratory preparedness and responsiveness (WP7) and for case management and infection prevention and control preparedness (WP10) were activated. The activities regarding laboratory preparedness and response have been coordinated with the ECDC. Key messages SHARP Joint Action strengthens the implementation of Decision 1082/2013/EU on serious cross-border threats to health and the implementation of International Health Regulations in the EU. SHARP improves preparedness and response to serious cross-border threats to health, and resilience of the health systems at national, EU and regional level.

<p><em>Asia Pacific is a region with great attractions and also highly dynamic, with its growth and economic pulse that affects economy of the world. High economic growth coupled with regionalism and globalization generates implications the emergence of issues related to maritime security, national borders, disputes on territory rich in resources, environmental issues, transnational organized crimes, natural disasters, and energy and food security. Globalization itself creates new interactions among regional countries as a precondition to solve and face common problems in maritime domain awareness network. Regional Maritime Partnership is a smart choice when regional stability is becoming the goal of all states to maintain regional resilience. Indonesia’s position is unique as the link between two regions (Pacific and Indian Ocean) dependent on each other. Indonesia never recedes in providing the drive for regional stability through balancing strategies without becoming entangled in alliances. Indonesian Navy as a component of national strength participates in the application of national strategy into naval strategy and operationalizing it in diplomacy and multilateral exercises to enhance interoperability among navies in Asia Pacific, especially among ASEAN nations.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong><em>Keywords:</em></strong><em> Maritime Challenges, Maritime Security, Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), Regional Maritime Partnership. </em></p>

Abstract In November 2019, in the wake of political demonstrations against the regime, Iran managed to selectively cut off most traffic from the global Internet while fully operating its own domestic network. It seemingly confirmed the main hypothesis our research had led us to, based on prior observation of data routing: Iran’s architecture of connectivity enables selective censorship of international traffic. This paper examines, through the case of Iran, how states can leverage the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) as a tool of geopolitical control and what are the trade-offs they face. This question raises a methodological question that we also address: how the analysis of BGP can infer and document these strategies of territorialization of cyberspace. The Internet is a network of networks where each network is an autonomous system. Autonomous systems (ASes) are independent administrative entities controlled by a variety of actors such as governments, companies and universities. Their administrators have to agree and communicate on the path followed by packets travelling across the Internet, which is made possible by BGP. Agreements between ASes are often confidential but BGP requires neighbouring ASes to interact with each other in order to coordinate routing through the constant release of connectivity update messages. These messages announce the availability (or withdrawal) of a sequence of ASes that can be followed to reach an IP address prefix. In our study, we inferred the structure of Iran's connectivity through the capture and analysis of these BGP announcements. We show how the particularities of Iran's BGP and connectivity structure can enable active measures, such as censorship, both internally and externally throughout the network. We argue that Iran has found a way to reconcile a priori conflicting strategic goals: developing a self-sustaining and resilient domestic Internet, but with tight control at its borders. It thus enables the regime to leverage connectivity as a tool of censorship in the face of social instability and as a tool of regional influence in the context of strategic competition.

Amongst growing sociotechnical efforts, engineering students and professionals both in the international development sector and industry are challenged to approach projects more holistically to achieve project goals. Engineering service learning organizations must similarly adapt their technological projects to consider varying cultural and economic structures, ensuring more resilient social progress within development efforts. In practice, systems thinking approaches can be utilized to model the social, economic, political, and technological implications that influence the sustainability of an engineering project. This research assesses the utility of integrating systems thinking into Engineers Without Borders (EWB) project planning and development, thereby improving project impact and more effectively engaging members. At a workshop held at an EWB-USA 2016 Regional Conference, the authors presented a planning and evaluation framework that applies group model building with system dynamics to foster systems thinking through factor diagramming and analysis. To assess the added value of the framework for EWB project planning and development, extensive participant feedback was gathered and evaluated during the workshop and through an optional post-workshop survey. Supported by thoughtful observations and feedback provided by the EWB members, the model building workshop appeared to help participants reveal and consider project complexities by both visually and quantitatively identifying key non-technical and technical factors that influence project sustainability. Therefore, system dynamics applied in a group model building workshop offers a powerful supplement to traditional EWB project planning and assessment activities, providing a systems-based tool for EWB teams and partner communities to build capacity and create lasting change.

Abstract Despite multiple efforts made by its government to improve public health, Niger still regularly faces numerous disasters including epidemics. Between 2017 and 2019, a consortium was established between Doctors of the World and Veterinarians Without Borders to implement a “One Health” project. This approach aims to reduce the populations' vulnerabilities to health risks related to environmental disasters and improve the health system's resilience at several levels. By promoting interdisciplinary between human, veterinary and environmental health issues, it aims to tackle emerging diseases with pandemic risk. The project was implemented in 2 municipalities: Sakoira and Ingall. For the first time, a program focused on preventing health and environmental risks rather than responding to a crisis. An external evaluation based on 278 interviews identified 5 project's achievements: (1) the increase in availability and accessibility of human and veterinary pharmaceutical products which improved vaccination coverage and medicalization while lowering treatment and prevention costs; (2) the mobilization and coordination of human and animal health professionals, national authorities and municipalities; (3) the strengthening of joint epidemiological surveillance through professional and community actors in order to reduce the response time to epidemics and disasters; (4) the strengthening of communities' understanding of health risks and how to prevent them; (5) the capacity building of professionals regarding the One Health approach at national, regional and local level. Coordination between human and animal health professionals has made possible the design and implementation of joint actions. These actions have enabled to: build capacity for 43 health providers, 116 community health workers and 41 livestock auxiliaries, vaccinate, de-worm and treat 24311 small and 7590 large ruminants, give primary health care to 4190 people, sensitize 2268 people on human and animal health. Key messages The project is innovative as it focuses on preventing epidemic risks instead of responding to crisis. Collaboration between human and animal health actors is the main success factor of the project.

IntroductionFestivals, according to Chris Gibson and John Connell, are like “glue”, temporarily sticking together various stakeholders, economic transactions, and networks (9). Australia’s First Nations peoples see festivals as an opportunity to display cultural vitality (Henry 586), and to challenge a history which has rendered them absent (587). The 2017 Australia Council for the Arts Showcasing Creativity report indicates that performing arts by First Nations peoples are under-represented in Australia’s mainstream venues and festivals (1). Large Aboriginal cultural festivals have long thrived in Australia’s northern half, but have been under-developed in the south. Each regional happening develops a cultural landscape connected to a long and intimate relationship with the natural environment.The Far South East coast and mountainous hinterland of New South Wales is rich in pristine landscapes that ground the Yuin and Monaro Nations to Country as the Monaroo Bobberrer Gadu (Peoples of the Mountains and the Sea). This article highlights cross-sector interaction between Koori and mainstream organisations in producing the Giiyong (Guy-Yoong/Welcoming) Festival. This, the first large festival to be held within the Yuin Nation, took place on Aboriginal-owned land at Jigamy, via Eden, on 22 September 2018. Emerging regional artists joined national headline acts, most notably No Fixed Address (one of the earliest Aboriginal bands to break into the Australian mainstream music industry), and hip-hop artist Baker Boy (Danzal Baker, Young Australian of the Year 2019). The festival followed five years of sustained community preparation by South East Arts in association with Grow the Music, Twofold Aboriginal Corporation, the Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council, and its Elders. We offer dual understandings of the Giiyong Festival: the viewpoints of a male Yuin Elder wedded to an Australian woman of European descent. We acknowledge, and rely upon, key information, statistics, and photographs provided by the staff of South East Arts including Andrew Gray (General Manager), Jasmin Williams (Aboriginal Creative and Cultural Engagement Officer and Giiyong Festival Project Manager), and Kate Howarth (Screen Industry Development Officer). We are also grateful to Wiradjuri woman Alison Simpson (Program Manager at Twofold Aboriginal Corporation) for valuable feedback. As community leaders from First Nations and non-First Nations backgrounds, Simpson and Williams complement each other’s talents for empowering Indigenous communities. They plan a 2020 follow-up event on the basis of the huge success of the 2018 festival.The case study is informed by our personal involvement with community. Since the general population barely comprehends the number and diversity of Australia’s Indigenous ‘nations’, the burgeoning Indigenous festival movement encourages First Nations and non-First Nations peoples alike to openly and confidently refer to the places they live in according to Indigenous names, practices, histories, and knowledge. Consequently, in the mental image of a map of the island-continent, the straight lines and names of state borders fade as the colours of the Indigenous ‘Countries’ (represented by David Horton’s wall map of 1996) come to the foreground. We reason that, in terms of ‘regionality,’ the festival’s expressions of “the agency of country” (Slater 141) differ vastly from the centre-periphery structure and logic of the Australian colony. There is no fixed centre to the mutual exchange of knowledge, culture, and experience in Aboriginal Australia. The broader implication of this article is that Indigenous cultural festivals allow First Nations peoples cultures—in moments of time—to assume precedence, that is to ‘stitch’ back together the notion of a continent made up of hundreds of countries, as against the exploitative structure of ‘hub and region’ colonial Australia.Festival Concepts and ContextsHoward Becker observed that cultural production results from an interplay between the person of the artist and a multitude of support personnel whose work is not frequently studied: “It is through this network of cooperation that the art work we eventually see or hear comes to be and continues to be” (1). In assisting arts and culture throughout the Bega Valley, Eurobodalla, and Snowy Monaro, South East Arts delivers positive achievements in the Aboriginal arts and cultural sector. Their outcomes are significant in the light of the dispossession, segregation, and discrimination experienced by Aboriginal Australians. Michael Young, assisted by Indigenous authors Ellen Mundy and Debbie Mundy, recorded how Delegate Reserve residents relocating to the coast were faced with having their lives controlled by a Wallaga Lake Reserve manager or with life on the fringes of the towns in shacks (2–3). But as discovered in the records, “their retention of traditional beliefs, values and customs, reveal that the accommodation they were forced to make with the Europeans did not mean they had surrendered. The proof of this is the persistence of their belief in the value of their culture” (3–4). The goal of the Twofold Aboriginal Corporation is to create an inclusive place where Aboriginal people of the Twofold Bay Region can be proud of their heritage, connect with the local economy, and create a real future for their children. When Simpson told Williams of the Twofold Aboriginal Corporation’s and Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council’s dream of housing a large cultural festival at Jigamy, Williams rigorously consulted local Indigenous organisations to build a shared sense of community ownership of the event. She promoted the festival as “a rare opportunity in our region to learn about Aboriginal culture and have access to a huge program of Aboriginal musicians, dancers, visual artists, authors, academics, storytellers, cooks, poets, creative producers, and films” (McKnight).‘Uncle Ossie’ Cruse of Eden envisaged that the welcoming event would enliven the longstanding caring and sharing ethos of the Yuin-Monaro people. Uncle Ossie was instrumental in establishing Jigamy’s majestic Monaroo Bobberrer Gudu Keeping Place with the Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council in 1994. Built brick by brick by Indigenous workers, it is a centre for the teaching and celebration of Aboriginal culture, and for the preservation of artefacts. It represents the local community's determination to find their own solutions for “bridging the gap” by creating education and employment opportunities. The centre is also the gateway to the Bundian Way, the first Aboriginal pathway to be listed on the NSW State Heritage Register. Festival Lead-Up EventsEden’s Indigenous students learn a revived South Coast language at Primary and Secondary School. In 2015, Uncle Ossie vitally informed their input into The Black Ducks, a hip-hop song filmed in Eden by Desert Pea Media. A notable event boosting Koori musical socialisation was a Giiyong Grow the Music spectacle performed at Jigamy on 28 October 2017. Grow the Music—co-founded by Lizzy Rutten and Emily White—specialises in mentoring Indigenous artists in remote areas using digital recording equipment. Eden Marine High School students co-directed the film Scars as part of a programme of events with South East Arts and the Giiyong Festival 2018. The Eden Place Project and Campbell Page also create links between in- and out-of-school activities. Eden’s Indigenous students thus perform confidently at NAIDOC Week celebrations and at various festivals. Preparation and PersonnelAn early decision was made to allow free entry to the Giiyong Festival in order to attract a maximum number of Indigenous families. The prospect necessitated in-kind support from Twofold Aboriginal Corporation staff. They galvanised over 100 volunteers to enhance the unique features of Jigamy, while Uncle Ossie slashed fields of bushes to prepare copious parking space. The festival site was spatially focused around two large stages dedicated to the memory of two strong supporters of cultural creativity: Aunty Doris Kirby, and Aunty Liddy Stewart (Image 1). Image 1: Uncle Ossie Cruse Welcomes Festival-Goers to Country on the Aunty Liddy Stewart Stage. Image Credit: David Rogers for South East Arts, Reproduction Courtesy of South East Arts.Cultural festivals are peaceful weapons in a continuing ontological political contest (Slater 144). In a panel discussion, Uncle Ossie explained and defended the Makarrata: the call for a First Nations Voice to be enshrined in the Constitution.Williams also contracted artists with a view to capturing the past and present achievements of Aboriginal music. Apart from her brilliant centrepiece acts No Fixed Address and Baker Boy, she attracted Pitjantjatjara singer Frank Yamma (Image 2), Yorta Yorta singer/songwriter Benny Walker, the Central Desert Docker River Band, and Jessie Lloyd’s nostalgic Mission Songs Project. These stellar acts were joined by Wallaga Lake performers Robbie Bundle, Warren Foster, and Alison Walker as well as Nathan Lygon (Eden), Chelsy Atkins (Pambula), Gabadoo (Bermagui), and Drifting Doolgahls (Nowra). Stage presentations were technologically transformed by the live broadcast of acts on large screens surrounding the platforms. Image 2: Singer-Songwriter Frank Yamma Performs at Giiyong Festival 2018. Image Credit: David Rogers for South East Arts, Reproduction Courtesy of South East Arts.Giiyong Music and Dance Music and dance form the staple components of Indigenous festivals: a reflection on the cultural strength of ancient ceremony. Hundreds of Yuin-Monaro people once attended great corroborees on Mumbulla Mountain (Horton 1235), and oral history recorded by Janet Mathews evidences ceremonies at Fishy Flats, Eden, in the 1850s. Today’s highly regarded community musicians and dancers perform the social arrangements of direct communication, sometimes including their children on stage as apprentices. But artists are still negotiating the power structures through which they experience belonging and detachment in the representation of their musical identity.Youth gain positive identities from participating alongside national headline acts—a form of learning that propels talented individuals into performing careers. The One Mob Dreaming Choir of Koori students from three local schools were a popular feature (Image 3), as were Eden Marine student soloists Nikai Stewart, and Nikea Brooks. Grow the Music in particular has enabled these youngsters to exhibit the roots of their culture in a deep and touching way that contributes to their life-long learning and development. Image 3: The One Mob Dreaming Choir, Directed by Corinne Gibbons (L) and Chelsy Atkins (R). Image Credit: David Rogers for South East Arts, Reproduction Courtesy of South East Arts. Brydie-Leigh Bartleet describes how discourses of pride emerge when Indigenous Australian youth participate in hip-hop. At the Giiyong Festival the relationship between musical expression, cultural representation, and political positioning shone through the songs of Baker Boy and Gabadoo (Image 4). Channelling emotions into song, they led young audiences to engage with contemporary themes of Indigeneity. The drones launched above the carpark established a numerical figure close on 6,000 attendees, a third of whom were Indigenous. Extra teenagers arrived in time for Baker Boy’s evening performance (Williams), revealing the typical youthful audience composition associated with the hip-hop craze (Image 5).Image 4: Bermagui Resident Gabadoo Performs Hip-Hop at the Giiyong Festival. Image Credit: David Rogers for South East Arts, Reproduced Courtesy South East Arts.Image 5: A Youthful Audience Enjoys Baker Boy’s Giiyong Festival Performance. Image Credit: David Rogers for South East Arts, Reproduced Courtesy South East Arts.Wallaga Lake’s traditional Gulaga Dancers were joined by Bermagui’s Gadhu Dancers, Eden’s Duurunu Miru Dancers, and Narooma’s Djaadjawan Dancers. Sharon Mason founded Djaadjawan Dancers in 2015. Their cultural practice connects to the environment and Mingagia (Mother Earth). At their festival tent, dancers explained how they gather natural resources from Walbanja Country to hand-make traditional dance outfits, accessories, and craft. They collect nuts, seeds, and bark from the bush, body paint from ancient ochre pits, shells from beaches, and bird feathers from fresh roadkill. Duurunu Miru dancer/didjeriduist Nathan Lygon elaborates on the functions of the Far South East Coast dance performance tradition:Dance provides us with a platform, an opportunity to share our stories, our culture, and our way of being. It demonstrates a beautiful positivity—a feeling of connection, celebration, and inclusion. The community needs it. And our young people need a ‘space’ in which they can grow into the knowledge and practices of their culture. The festival also helped the wider community to learn more about these dimensions. (n.p.)While music and dance were at the heart of the festival, other traditional skills were included, for example the exhibitions mounted inside the Keeping Place featured a large number of visual artists. Traditional bush cooking took place near Lake Pambula, and yarn-ups, poetry, and readings were featured throughout the day. Cultural demonstrations in the Bunaan Ring (the Yuin name for a corroboree circle) included ‘Gum Leaf Playing.’ Robin Ryan explained how the Yuin’s use of cultural elements to entertain settlers (Cameron 79) led to the formation of the Wallaga Lake Gum Leaf Band. As the local custodian of this unique musical practice, Uncle Ossie performed items and conducted a workshop for numerous adults and children. Festival Feedback and Future PlanningThe Giiyong Festival gained huge Indigenous cultural capital. Feedback gleaned from artists, sponsors, supporters, volunteers, and audiences reflected on how—from the moment the day began—the spirit of so many performers and consumers gathered in one place took over. The festival’s success depended on its reception, for as Myers suggests: “It is the audience who create the response to performance and if the right chemistry is achieved the performers react and excel in their presentation” (59). The Bega District News, of 24 September 2018, described the “incredibly beautiful event” (n.p.), while Simpson enthused to the authors:I believe that the amount of people who came through the gates to attend the Giiyong Festival was a testament to the wider need and want for Aboriginal culture. Having almost double the population of Eden attend also highlights that this event was long overdue. (n.p.)Williams reported that the whole festival was “a giant exercise in the breaking down of walls. Some signed contracts for the first time, and all met their contracts professionally. National artists Baker Boy and No Fixed Address now keep in touch with us regularly” (Williams). Williams also expressed her delight that local artists are performing further afield this year, and that an awareness, recognition, and economic impact has been created for Jigamy, the Giiyong Festival, and Eden respectively:We believe that not only celebrating, but elevating these artists and Aboriginal culture, is one of the most important things South East Arts can do for the overall arts sector in the region. This work benefits artists, the economy and cultural tourism of the region. Most importantly it feeds our collective spirit, educates us, and creates a much richer place to live. (Giiyong Festival Report 1)Howarth received 150 responses to her post-event survey. All respondents felt welcome, included, and willing to attend another festival. One commented, “not even one piece of rubbish on the ground.” Vanessa Milton, ABC Open Producer for South East NSW, wrote: “Down to the tiniest detail it was so obvious that you understood the community, the audience, the performers and how to bring everyone together. What a coup to pull off this event, and what a gift to our region” (Giiyong Festival Report 4).The total running cost for the event was $257,533, including $209,606 in government grants from local, state, and federal agencies. Major donor Create NSW Regional Partnerships funded over $100,000, and State Aboriginal Affairs gave $6,000. Key corporate sponsors included Bendigo Bank, Snowy Hydro and Waterway Constructions, Local Land Services Bega, and the Eden Fisherman’s Club. Funding covered artists’ fees, staging, the hiring of toilets, and multiple generators, including delivery costs. South East Arts were satisfied with the funding amount: each time a new donation arrived they were able to invite more performers (Giiyong Festival Report 2; Gray; Williams). South East Arts now need to prove they have the leadership capacity, financial self-sufficiency, and material resources to produce another festival. They are planning 2020 will be similar to 2018, provided Twofold Aboriginal Corporation can provide extra support. Since South East Arts exists to service a wider area of NSW, they envisage that by 2024, they would hand over the festival to Twofold Aboriginal Corporation (Gray; Williams). Forthcoming festivals will not rotate around other venues because the Giiyong concept was developed Indigenously at Jigamy, and “Jigamy has the vibe” (Williams). Uncle Ossie insists that the Yuin-Monaro feel comfortable being connected to Country that once had a traditional campsite on the east side. Evaluation and ConclusionAlthough ostensibly intended for entertainment, large Aboriginal festivals significantly benefit the educational, political, and socio-economic landscape of contemporary Indigenous life. The cultural outpourings and dissemination of knowledges at the 2018 Giiyong Festival testified to the resilience of the Yuin-Monaro people. In contributing to the processes of Reconciliation and Recognition, the event privileged the performing arts as a peaceful—yet powerful truth-telling means—for dealing with the state. Performers representing the cultures of far-flung ancestral lands contributed to the reimagining of a First Nations people’s map representing hundreds of 'Countries.’It would be beneficial for the Far South East region to perpetuate the Giiyong Festival. It energised all those involved. But it took years of preparation and a vast network of cooperating people to create the feeling which made the 2018 festival unique. Uncle Ossie now sees aspects of the old sharing culture of his people springing back to life to mould the quality of life for families. Furthermore, the popular arts cultures are enhancing the quality of life for Eden youth. As the cross-sector efforts of stakeholders and volunteers so amply proved, a family-friendly, drug and alcohol-free event of the magnitude of the Giiyong Festival injects new growth into an Aboriginal arts industry designed for the future creative landscape of the whole South East region. AcknowledgementsMany thanks to Andrew Gray and Jasmin Williams for supplying a copy of the 2018 Giiyong Festival Report. We appreciated prompt responses to queries from Jasmin Williams, and from our editor Rachel Franks. We are humbly indebted to our two reviewers for their expert direction.ReferencesAustralian Government. Showcasing Creativity: Programming and Presenting First Nations Performing Arts. Australia Council for the Arts Report, 8 Mar. 2017. 20 May 2019 <https://tnn.org.au/2017/03/showcasing-creativity-programming-and-presenting-first-nations-performing-arts-australia-council/>.Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh. “‘Pride in Self, Pride in Community, Pride in Culture’: The Role of Stylin’ Up in Fostering Indigenous Community and Identity.” The Festivalization of Culture. Eds. Andy Bennett, Jodie Taylor, and Ian Woodward. New York: Routledge, 2014.Becker, Howard S. Art Worlds. 25th anniversary edition. Berkeley: U of California P, 2008.Brown, Bill. “The Monaroo Bubberer [Bobberer] Gudu Keeping Place: A Symbol of Aboriginal Self-determination.” ABC South East NSW, 9 Jul. 2015. 20 May 2019 <http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/07/09/4270480.htm>.Cameron, Stuart. "An Investigation of the History of the Aborigines of the Far South Coast of NSW in the 19th Century." PhD Thesis. Canberra: Australian National U, 1987. Desert Pea Media. The Black Ducks “People of the Mountains and the Sea.” <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fbJNHAdbkg>.“Festival Fanfare.” Eden Magnet 28 June 2018. 1 Mar. 2019 <edenmagnet.com.au>.Gibson, Chris, and John Connell. Music Festivals and Regional Development in Australia. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2012.Gray, Andrew. Personal Communication, 28 Mar. 2019.Henry, Rosita. “Festivals.” The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture. Eds. Syvia Kleinert and Margot Neale. South Melbourne: Oxford UP, 586–87.Horton, David R. “Yuin.” Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. Ed. David R. Horton. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1994.———. Aboriginal Australia Wall Map Compiled by David Horton. Aboriginal Studies Press, 1996.Lygon, Nathan. Personal Communication, 20 May 2019.Mathews, Janet. Albert Thomas Mentions the Leaf Bands That Used to Play in the Old Days. Cassette recorded at Wreck Bay, NSW on 9 July 1964 for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (AIATSIS). LAA1013. McKnight, Albert. “Giiyong Festival the First of Its Kind in Yuin Nation.” Bega District News 17 Sep. 2018. 1 Mar. 2019 <https://www.begadistrictnews.com.au/story/5649214/giiyong-festival-the-first-of-its-kind-in-yuin-nation/?cs=7523#slide=2>. ———. “Giiyong Festival Celebrates Diverse, Enduring Cultures.” Bega District News 24 Sep. 2018. 1 Mar. 2019 <https://www.begadistrictnews.com.au/story/5662590/giiyong-festival-celebrates-diverse-enduring-cultures-photos-videos/>.Myers, Doug. “The Fifth Festival of Pacific Arts.” Australian Aboriginal Studies 1 (1989): 59–62.Simpson, Alison. Personal Communication, 9 Apr. 2019.Slater, Lisa. “Sovereign Bodies: Australian Indigenous Cultural Festivals and Flourishing Lifeworlds.” The Festivalization of Culture. Eds. Andy Bennett, Jodie Taylor, and Ian Woodward. London: Ashgate, 2014. 131–46.South East Arts. "Giiyong Festival Report." Bega: South East Arts, 2018.———. Giiyong Grow the Music. Poster for Event Produced on Saturday, 28 Oct. 2017. Bega: South East Arts, 2017.Williams, Jasmin. Personal Communication, 28 Mar. 2019.Young, Michael, with Ellen, and Debbie Mundy. The Aboriginal People of the Monaro: A Documentary History. Sydney: NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2000.

IntroductionThis paper is concerned with recent attempts to develop the creative economy in rural Scotland. Research shows that the creative economy is far from self-organising, and that an appropriate institutional landscape is important to its development (Andersson and Henrekson). In Scotland, there is a proliferation of support mechanisms – from those designed to help creative entrepreneurs improve their business, management, or technical expertise, to infrastructure projects, to collective capacity-building. In rural Scotland, this support landscape is particularly cluttered. This article tackles the question: How do rural creative entrepreneurs negotiate this complex funding and support landscape, and how do they aid the development of the rural creative economy ‘from below’? From Creative Industries to the Creative EconomyThe creative industries have been central to the UK’s economic growth strategy since the 1990s. According to the Centre for Economics and Business Research the creative industries contributed £5.9bn to the economy in 2013 (CEBR 17). In the last five years there have been significant improvements in ICTs, leading to growth in digital creative production, distribution, and consumption. The established creative industries, along with the nascent ‘digital industries’ are often grouped together as a separate economic sector – the ‘creative economy’ (Nesta A Manifesto for the Creative Economy).Given its close association with creative city discourses (see Florida 2002), research on the creative economy remains overwhelmingly urban-focused. As a result of this urban bias, the rural creative economy is under-researched. Bell and Jayne (209) note that in the last decade a small body of academic work on the rural creative economy has emerged (Harvey et al.; White). In particular, the Australian context has generated a wealth of discussion as regards national and regional attempts to develop the rural creative economy, the contribution of ‘creativity’ to rural economic and social development, sustainability and resilience, and the role that individual creative practitioners play in developing the rural creative economy (see Argent et al.; Gibson, Gibson and Connell; Waitt and Gibson).In the absence of suitable infrastructure, such as: adequate transport infrastructure, broadband and mobile phone connectivity, workspaces and business support, it often falls to rural creative practitioners themselves to ‘patch the gaps’ in the institutional infrastructure. This paper is concerned with the ways in which rural creative practitioners attempt to contribute to the development of the creative economy ‘from below’. ICTs have great potential to benefit rural areas in this respect, by “connecting people and places, businesses and services” (Townsend et al. Enhanced Broadband Access 581).The Scottish InfrastructureSince 1998, cultural policy has been devolved to Scotland, and has fallen under the control of the Scottish Government and Parliament. In an earlier examination of a Scottish creative business support agency, I noted that the Scottish Government has adopted a creative industries development strategy broadly in line with that coming out of Westminster, and subsequently taken up worldwide, and that the Scottish institutional infrastructure is extremely complex (Schlesinger et al.). Crucially, the idea of ‘intervention’, or, the availability of a draw-down programme of funding and support that will help creative practitioners develop a business from their talent, is key (Schlesinger).The main funder for Scottish artists and creative practitioners is Creative Scotland, who distribute money from the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) also offer funding and support for creative practitioners working in the Highlands and Islands region. Further general business support may be drawn down from Business Gateway (who work Scotland-wide but are not creative-industries specific), or Scottish Enterprise (who work Scotland-wide, are not creative-industries specific, and are concerned with businesses turning over more than £250,000 p.a.). Additionally, creative-sector specific advice and support may be sought from Cultural Enterprise Office (based in Glasgow and primarily serving the Central Belt), Creative Edinburgh, Dundee or Stirling (creative networks that serve their respective cities), the Creative Arts and Business Network (based in Dumfries, serving the Borders), and Emergents (based in Inverness, dealing with rural craftspeople and authors).MethodologyThe article draws on material gathered as part of three research projects, all concerned with the current support landscape for creative practitioners in Scotland. The first, ‘Supporting Creative Business’ was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the second, ‘Towards a model of support for the rural creative industries’ was funded by the University of Glasgow and the third, ‘The effects of improved communications technology of rural creative entrepreneurs’ funded by CREATe, the Research Council's UK Centre for the Study of Copyright and New Business Models in the Creative Economy.In all three cases, the research was theoretically and practically informed by the multi-sited ethnographies of cultural, creative and media work conducted by Moeran (Ethnography at Work, The Business of Ethnography) and Mould et al. Whilst the methodology for all three of my projects was ethnography, the methods utilised included interviews (n=23) – with interviewees drawn from across rural Scotland – participant and non-participant observation, and media and document analysis. Interviewees and study sites were accessed via snowball sampling, which was enabled by the measure of continuity between the three projects. This paper draws primarily on interview material and ethnographic ‘vignettes’. All individuals cited in the paper are anonymised in line with the University of Glasgow’s ethics guidelines.Cities, Creativity, and ‘Buzz’As noted earlier, cities are seen as the driving force behind the creative industries; and accordingly, much of the institutional infrastructure that supports the rural creative industries is modelled on urban systems of intervention. Cities are seen as breeding grounds for creativity by virtue of what Storper and Venables call their ‘buzz’ – consider, for example, the sheer numbers of creative practitioners that congregate in cities, the presence of art schools, work spaces and so on. Several of the creative practitioners I spoke to identified the lack of ‘buzz’ as one key difference between working in cities and working from rural places:It can be isolating out here. There are days when I miss art school, and my peers. I really valued their support and just the general chit chat and news. […] And having everything on your doorstep. (Visual artist, Argyll)Of course, rural creatives didn’t equate the ‘buzz’ of activity in cities with personal or professional creative success. Rather, they felt that developing a creative business was made easier by the fact that most funders and support agencies were based in Scotland’s Central Belt. The creatives resident there were able to take advantage of that proximity and the relationships that it enabled them to build, but also, the institutional landscape was supplemented by the creative ‘buzz’, which was difficult to quantify and impossible to replicate in rural areas.Negotiating the Funding and Support LandscapeI spoke to rural creative practitioners about whether the institutional infrastructure – in this case, relevant policy at national and UK level, funding and support agencies, membership bodies etcetera – was adequate. A common perspective was that the institutional infrastructure was extremely complex, which acted as a barrier for creatives seeking funding and support:Everything works ok, the problem is that there’s so many different places to go to for advice, and so many different criteria that you have to meet if you wanted funding, and what’s your first port of call, and it’s just too complicated. I feel that as a rural artist I fall between the cracks […] am I a creative business, a rural creative business, or just a rural business? (Craftsperson, Shetland) Interviewees suggested that there were ‘gaps’ in the institutional infrastructure, caused not by the lack of appropriate policy, funders, or support agencies but rather by their proliferation and a sense of confusion about who to approach. Furthermore, funding agencies such as Creative Scotland have, in recent years, come under fire for the complexity of their funding and support systems:They have simplified their application process, but I just can’t be bothered trying to get anything out of Creative Scotland at the moment. I don’t find their support that useful and they directed me to Cultural Enterprise Office when I asked for advice on filling in the form and tailoring the application, and CEO were just so pushed for time, I couldn’t get a Skype with them. The issue with getting funding from anywhere is the teeny tiny likelihood of getting money, coupled with how time-consuming the application process is. So for now, I’m just trying to be self-sufficient without asking for any development funds. But I am not sure how sustainable that is. (Craftsperson, Skye, interview) There was a sense that ‘what works’ to enable urban creative practitioners to develop their practice is not necessarily sufficient to help rural creatives. Because most policymakers, funders and support bodies are based in the Central Belt, rural creatives feel that the challenges they face are poorly understood. One arts administrator summed up why, statingthe problem is that people in the Central Belt don’t get what we’re dealing with up here, unless they’ve actually lived here. The remoteness, poor transport links, internet and mobile access […] it impacts on your ability to develop your business. If I want to attend a course, some organisations will pay travel and accommodation. But they don’t account for the fact that if I travel from Eigg, I’ll need to work around the ferry times, which might mean two extra nights’ accommodation plus the cost of travel … we’re excluded from opportunities because of our location. (Arts administrator, the Small Isles) A further issue identified by several participants in this research is that funding and support agencies Scotland-wide tend to work to standardised definitions of the creative industries that privilege high-growth sectors (see Luckman). This led to many heritage and craft businesses feeling excluded. One local authority stakeholder told me,exactly what the creative industries are, well that might be obvious on paper but real life is a bit more complicated. Where do we put a craftsperson whose craft work is done in her spare time but pays just enough to stop her needing a second job? How do we tell people like this, who say they are in the creative industries, that they aren’t actually according to this criteria or that criteria? (Local authority stakeholder, Shetland, interview)Creating Virtual ‘Buzz’? The Potential of ICTsAccording to 2015 OFCOM figures (10-12), in rural Scotland 85.9% of households can receive broadband, and 6.3% can receive superfast. The Scottish Government’s ambition is to deliver superfast broadband to up to 90 per cent of premises in Scotland by March 2016, and to extend this to 95 per cent by 2017. Whilst the current landscape as regards broadband provision is far from ideal, there are signs that improved provision is profoundly affecting the way that rural creatives develop their practice, and the way they engage with the institutional infrastructure set up to support them.At an industry event run by HIE in July 2015, a diverse panel of rural creatives spoke of how they exploited the possibilities associated with improved ICTs in order to offset some of the aforementioned problems of working from rural and remote areas. As the event was conducted under Chatham House rules, the following is adapted from field notes,It was clear from the panel and the Q&A that followed that improved ICTs meant that creatives could access training and support in new ways–online courses and training materials, webinars, and one-on-one Skype coaching, training and mentoring. Whilst of course most people would prefer face-to-face contact in this respect, the willingness of training providers to offer online solutions was appreciated, and most of the creatives on the panel (and many in the audience) had taken advantage of these partial solutions. The rural creatives on the panel also detailed the tactics that they used in order to ‘patch the gaps’ in the institutional infrastructure:There were four things that emerged from the panel discussion, Q&A and subsequent conversations I had on how technology benefited rural creatives: peer support, proximity to decision-makers, marketing and sales, and heritage and provenance.In terms of peer support, the panel felt that improved connectivity allowed them to access ‘virtual’ peer support through the internet. This was particularly important in terms of seeking advice regarding funding, business support and training, generating new creative ideas, and seeking emotional support from others who were familiar with the strains of running a creative business.Rural creatives found that social media (in particular) meant that they had a closer relationship with ‘distant’ decision-makers. They felt able to join events via livestreaming, and took advantage of hash tagging to take part in events, ‘policy hacks’ and consultations. Attendees I spoke to also mentioned that prominent Government ministers and other decision-makers had a strong Twitter presence and made it clear that they were at times ‘open’ to direct communication. In this way, rural creatives felt that they could ‘make their voices heard’ in new ways.In terms of marketing and sales, panel members found social media invaluable in terms of building online ‘presence’. All of the panel members sold services and products through dedicated websites (and noted that improved broadband speeds and 3G meant that these websites were increasingly sophisticated, allowing them to upload photographs and video clips, or act as client ‘portals’), however they also sought out other local creatives, or creatives working in the same sector in order to build visible networks on social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. This echoes an interview I conducted with a designer from Orkney, who suggested that these online networks allowed designers to build a rapport with customers, but also to showcase their products and build virtual ‘buzz’ around their work (and the work of others) in the hope their designs would be picked up by bloggers, the fashion press and stylists.The designer on the panel also noted that social media allowed her to showcase the provenance of her products. As she spoke I checked her Twitter and Instagram feeds, as well as the feeds of other designers she was linked to; a large part of their ‘advertising’ through these channels entailed giving followers an insight into life on the islands. The visual nature of these media also allowed them to document how local histories of making had influenced their practice, and how their rural location had influenced their work. It struck me that this was a really effective way to capture consumers’ imaginations. As we can see, improved ICTs had a substantial impact on rural creatives’ practice. Not only did several of the panel members suggest that improved ICTs changed the nature of the products that they could produce (by enabling them to buy in different materials and tools, and cultivate longer and more complex supply chains), they also noted that improved ICTs enabled them to cultivate new markets, to build stronger networks and to participate more fully in discussions with ‘distant’ policymakers and decision makers. Furthermore, ICTs were seen as acting as a proxy for ‘buzz’ for rural creatives, that is, face-to-face communication was still preferred, but savvy use of ICTs went some way to mitigating the problems of a rural location. This extends Storper and Venables’s conceptualisation of the idea, which understands ‘buzz’ as the often-intangible benefits of face-to-face contact.Problematically however, as Townsend et al. state, “rural isolation is amplified by the technological landscape, with rural communities facing problems both in terms of broadband access technologies and willingness or ability of residents to adopt these” (Enhanced Broadband Access 5). As such, the development activities of rural creatives are hampered by poor provision and a slow ‘roll out’ of broadband and mobile coverage. ConclusionsThis paper is concerned with recent attempts to develop the rural creative economy in Scotland. The paper can be read in relation to a small but expanding body of work that seeks to understand the distinctive formation of the rural creative industries across Europe and elsewhere (Bell and Jayne), and how these can best be developed and supported (White). Recent, targeted intervention in the rural creative industries speaks to concerns about the emergence of a ‘two tier’ Europe, with remote and sparsely-populated rural regions with narrow economic bases falling behind more resilient cities and city-regions (Markusen and Gadwa; Wiggering et al.), yet exactly how the rural creative industries function and can be further developed is an underdeveloped research area.In order to contribute to this body of work, this paper has sketched out some of the problems associated with recent attempts to develop the creative economy in rural Scotland. On a Scotland-wide scale, there is a proliferation of policies, funding bodies, and support agencies designed to organise and regulate the creative economy. In rural areas, there is also an ‘overlap’ between Scotland-wide bodies and rural-specific bodies, meaning that many rural creatives feel as if they ‘fall through the cracks’ in terms of funding and support. Additionally, rural creatives noted that Central Belt-based funders and support agencies struggled to fully understand the difficulties associated with making a living from a rural location.The sense of being distant from decision makers and isolated in terms of practice meant that many rural creatives took it upon themselves to develop the creative economy ‘from below’. The creatives that I spoke to had an array of ‘tactics’ that they used, some of which I have detailed here. In this short paper I have focused on one issue articulated within interviews – the idea of exploiting ICTs in order to build stronger networks between creatives and between creatives and decision makers within funding bodies and support agencies. Problematically, however, it was recognised that these creative-led initiatives could only do so much to mitigate the effects of a cluttered, piecemeal funding and support landscape.My research suggests that as it stands, ‘importing’ models from urban contexts is alienating and frustrating for rural creatives and targeted, rural-specific intervention is required. Research demonstrates that creative practitioners often seek to bring about social and cultural impact through their work, rather than engaging in creative activities merely for economic gain (McRobbie Be Creative, Rethinking Creative Economies; Waitt and Gibson). Whilst this is true of creatives in both urban and rural areas, my research suggests that this is particularly important to rural creatives, who see themselves as contributing economically, social and culturally to the development of the communities within which they are embedded (see Duxbury and Campbell; Harvey et al.). ‘Joined up’ support for this broad-based set of aims would greatly benefit rural creatives and maximise the potential of the rural creative industries.ReferencesAndersson, Martin, and Magnus Henrekson. "Local Competiveness Fostered through Local Institutions for Entrepreneurship." Research Institute on Industrial Economics Work Paper Series (2014), 0-57. Argent, Neil, Matthew Tonts, Roy Jones and John Holmes. “A Creativity-Led Rural Renaissance? Amenity-Led Migration, the Creative Turn and the Uneven Development of Rural Australia.” Applied Geography 44 (2013): 88-98.Bell, David, and Mark Jayne. 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