Academic literature on the topic 'Border twin city'

AbstractThe article evaluates economic interactions between people in the adjacent border cities of Blagoveshensk (Russia) and Heihe (China). The article reveals the conflict between the development of translocality around the border of the two countries and recent Russian policy to strengthen the position of the nation-state.

<p>Terrorism and terroristic system are among domestic, regional and international challenging problem in the first decade of the 21st century in the era when terrorism has turned from an individual threat to a global problem as a weapon to achieve national goals, specific groups have become no longer limited to national and regional borders and are gaining new concept and application (or they are trying to develop a new international purpose). It is feared that the spread of international peace and security in its all areas exposed to risk. In fact, the international communities felt the crisis and the danger and criminalizing this phenomenon after the attack on the twin towers of the world trade center on September 11, 2001 with unknown purposes in New York City [29] determining the failure of the international anti-terrorism strategies of these events, showed that anti-terrorism system is unsuccessful. So shortly after the attacks, the UN Security Council , recognizing the possibility of resorting to self-defense against international terrorism, subjects of international law again to pass the international anti-terrorism calls for conventions domestic laws to crack down terrorists.</p>

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the main con- temporaty notions of metropolization in the doctrine of the EU, its development, pluses and minuses and to the consideration of the present processes taking place in this respect in modern- day Lithuania. In the beginning the author widely points to the main terms, such as metropolis, region metropolitan region, and shortly reviews the history of the EU, its territory planning principles. He reveals the early roots of these conceptions found in the works of utopian thinkers – Sir Thomas More, Robert Owen – productively continued in the territory planning blueprints of the19th century accomplished by A. Soria у Mata and E. Howard. An important stage of modern regional planning, paving the way to the later EU steps in this sphere, were wide-scale planning projects of the early decades of the 20th century and especially post-war regional programmes like Great London development. All these achievements of the past in regional planning enabled to arrive at an idea of uniting efforts on a European scale which took place in 1970 and to proclaim the Europe’s Regional Planning Chart seventeen years later. The prominent Maastricht Treaty signed in 1992 finally balanced the interests of the whole Europe and laid down the fundamentals of its “common home”. The regional situation in Lithuania, as in all the new EU member states, is rather multipartite. Its greatest drawback is lack of its own representative in the highest echelon of the Baltic Sea Region urban categories – in the composition of cities officially included into the list of the so-called european Cities. This status provides the most prestigious situation and evident advantages in the international urban network as well as in the intercon- nectional relations and cooperation of the largest metropolies. Eventually the grade of euro City presents as if an important “gate” to the wide field of various beneficial actions overgrowing national borders. The author reports his position towards Lithuania’s abilities “to delegate” its representative to the top of the BSR city hierarchy. According to the arguments given in the paper, an exclusive chance to achieve this international appreciation is through employing a unique and unprecedented situation of the country, namely, existence of the twin cities of Vilnius and Kaunas, similarity of their size and typological feature, their close many-sided cooperation, distinction by intensive oncoming commuting flows and so on. Studies of labour market show that in this spontaneous urban belt a qualitatively new model of “job-residing” location comes into being: to settle in one city and to work in the other one. Together with improving communication between these cities and mounting traffic rate, this process will certainly flourish. By a reasonable regulation and stimulation of these spontaneous processes, a great combined metropolitan unit (“dipolis”) containing Vilnius and Kaunas can be formed. Inexorable processes of globalization definitively stimulate necessity to shake-up local and national economies, to revise essentially inveterate principles of territory planning. Processes taking place globally within the last decades show unceasing trends to join cities, towns and townships network into united polycentral or bipolar systems along the main communication channels. A model of concentrated location of urban units (as the opposite to their geographically dispersed, gradually developed network suggested by W.Christaller) seems to be more rational and advantageous in numerous aspects. Therefore, resuming all these considerations, a new essential question arrises: is the idea of sustainable development formulated in 1987 by Gro Harlem Brundtland the only and undisputed alternative in territorial development? Metropolizacijos procesai ES teritorinio planavimo doktrinoje ir Lietuva Santrauka Peržvelgiama Europos Sąjungos sukūrimo chronologija, jos teritorinio planavimo doktrinos ištakos, pagrindiniai Europos „bendrųjų namų“ pamatus padėjusios Mastrichto sutarties teiginiai. Atskleidžiamos šiuolaikinių globalizacijos procesų stimuliuojamų didelių metropolinių regionų formavimosi procesų priežastys. Pritariama vis dažniau pasigirstančioms abejonėms, ar kelis dešimtmečius vyravusios darniosios plėtros samprata teritorinio planavimo procese yra vienintelė ir nenuginčijama alternatyva. Šiuo požiūriu Baltijos jūros regiono ir nusistovėjusių teritorinių struktūrinių vienetų (NUTS ) kontekste Lietuva stoko ja ryškaus urbanistinio centro, galinčio pretenduoti į oficialiai pripažintų European City rango miestų sąrašą. Vienintelė galimybė tokiam metropoliniam centrui sukurti – tai Lietuvos Respublikos teritorijos bendrajame plane numatytas Vilniaus ir Kauno potencialų sujungimas.

The achievement of family well - being is an aspiration of all families including families of migrant workers, to achieve the well - being of one of the ways that the families of migrant workers with the departure of the wife work as domestic servants in various countries. The purpose of this study was to analyze social capital, economic coping, sress symptom’s husband and family subjektive well - being of women migrant workers. This research use cross sectional studies. The location was chosen purposively in Tanggeung Village, Pagermaneuh Village, Margaluyu Village, Karangtengah Village, Tanggeung District and Pasirdalam Village Kadupandak District, Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia. Seventy five families were selected purposively among the families of women migrant workers. The finding indicates that social capital is in the moderate category, the coping economy is in the moderate category, the sress symptom’s husband is in the low category and the family well-being is in the low category. Finding in this study family subjective well-being is influenced by income per capita, sress symptom’s husband and economic coping. Keywords: economic coping, family subjective well-being, social capital, stress symptom Abstrak Kesejahteraan keluarga merupakan sesuatu yang ingin dicapai seluruh keluarga, termasuk keluarga Tenaga Kerja Wanita (TKW), untuk mencapai kesejahteraan tersebut salah satu cara yang dilakukan oleh keluarga TKW adalah mengirim istri sebagai pembantu rumah tangga di berbagai negara. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis modal sosial, coping ekonomi, gejala stres suami, dan kesejahteraan subjektif keluarga TKW. Penelitian ini menggunakan cross sectional studies. Lokasi dipilih dengan metode purposive di Provinsi Jawa Barat, Kabupaten Cianjur, Kecamatan Tanggeung, Desa Pagermaneuh, Desa Marguluyu, Desa Karangtengah, Desa Tanggeung, Kecamatan Kadupandak, Desa Pasirdalam. Jumlah sampel sebanyak 75 keluarga TKW dengan metode purposive sampling. Penelitian ini menemukan modal sosial berada pada kategori sedang, coping ekonomi berada pada kategori sedang, gelaja stres suami berada pada kategori rendah, dan kesejahteraan subjektif berada pada kategori rendah. Penelitian ini juga menemukan kesejahteraan keluarga berpengaruh terhadap pendapatan perkapita, gelaja stres suami, dan coping ekonomi. Kata kunci : coping ekonomi, gejala stres, kesejahteraan subjektif, modal sosial. References [BPS] Badan Pusat Statistik. 2016. Data provinsi termiskin 2016. Berita Resmi Statistik [internet]. 4 Januari 2016. [diunduh 2016 September 7]; Tersedia pada: http://www.bps.go.id. [BPS] Badan Pusat Statistik Jawa Barat. 2016. Garis Kemiskinan Menurut Kabupaten/Kota di Jawa Barat (Rp/kapita/bulan), 2005-2014. Berita Resmi Statistik [internet]. 4 Januari 2016, [diunduh 2016 September 7]; Tersedia pada: http://jabar.bps.go.id. Alfiasari. 2008. Analisis modal sosial dalam pemberdayaan ekonomi keluarga miskin di Kelurahan Kedung Jaya, Kecamatan Tanah Sareal, Kota Bogor. Vol. 1 no. 1 edisi Januari. Bogor (ID): Institut Pertanian Bogor. Borner, Shively J, Wunder G, Wyman S. 2012. How do rural households respond to economic shocks? Insights from hierarchical analysis using global data. International Association of Agricultural Economists. Casey L. 2013. Stress and wellbeing in Australia survey 2013. Australian Psychological Society Carbonell A F. 2005. Income and well-being: an empirical analysis of the comparison income effect. Journal of Public Economics: 89 (2005) 997 – 1019. Coleman J S. 1988. “Social capital in the creation of human capital.” American Journal of Sociology 94 (Supplement): S95-S120. Celia M, Lenore M. 2004. Somali Women and Well-Being: Social Networks and Social Capital among Immigrant Women in Australia. Human Organization. Vol. 63 :88 Djohan R. 2008. Leader & Social Capital : Lead to Togetherness. Jakarta: Fund Asia Education Debebe Z, Mebratie A, Sparrow R, Abebaw D, Dekker M, Alemu G, Bedi A. 2013. Coping with shocks in rural Ethiopia. Working Paper. African Studies Centre. Dercon S. 2000. Income risk, coping strategies and safety nets. Background paper World Development Report 2000/01: Centre for the Study of African Economies, Oxford University, Department of Economics Diener E, Tay L. 2013. Rising Income and the Subjective Well-Being of Nations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Vol. 104, No. 2, 267–276 DOI: 10.1037/a0030487 Dwyer A, Cummings A. 2001. Stress, Self-Efficacy, Social Support, and Coping Strategies in University Students. Canadian Journal of Counselling. Vol. 35:3 Ersado L, Alderman H, Alwang J. 2014. Changes in Consumption and Saving Behavior before and after Economic Shocks: Evidence from Zimbabwe. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/380136 Fujiwara F, Kawachi I. 2008. Social Capital and Health A Study of Adult Twins in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Vol. 35: 2 Garcia M, McDowell T. 2010. Mapping Social Capital: A Critical Contextual Approach For Working with Low-Status Families. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. Vol. 36 No. 1: 96. 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2009.00188.x Grootaert C. 1999. Social capital, household walfare and poverty in Indonesia. Working Paper, No.6. Washington DC, USA: The World Bank. Social Development Department. Hasanah U, Nadiroh, Neolaka A. 2017. The Influence of Couple Interaction, Roles Differences, and Social-Economic Status on Mother’s Stress Coping. American Scientific Publisher. Vol. 23 10868 – 10870. Helliwell J F, Huang H, Wang S. 2013. Social Capital and Well-Being in Times of Crisis. Journal Happiness Study: DOI 10.1007/s10902-013-9441-z Headey B, Wooden Mark. 2004. The Effects of Wealth and Income on Subjective Well-Being and Ill-Being. Melbourne Institute of Applied and Social Research: IZA DP No. 1032. Hyyppa M. T, Maki J. (2003). Social participation and health in a community rich in stock of social capital. Health Education Research, 18(6), 770–779. Hossain S. 2006. Poverty, household strategies, and coping with urban life: examining livelihood framework in Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Bangladesh e-Journal of Sociology, Vol. 2, No. 1. Jain A K, Giga S I, Cooper C L. 2013. Stress, Health and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Employee and Organizational Commitment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: doi:10.3390/ijerph10104907 Jaya, Sumertajaya I M, 2008, Pemodelan persamaan struktural dengan partial least square. Semnas Matematika dan Pendidikan Matematika. Vol. 1 118 - 132 Jha R, Nahrajan H K, Pradhan K. 2012. Household Coping Strategies and Welfare: Does Governance Matter? NCAER Working Papers on Decentralisation and Rural Governance in India. Krantz. 2001. The Sustainable Livelihood Approach to Poverty Reduction. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Kawachi I. 2006 Commentary: social capital and health: making the connections one step at a time. Int J Epidemiol. Vol. 35:989 –93. Lazarus, R S, Folkman, S, 1984. Stress, Appraisal, and Coping. New York: Springer. Mohnen S, Beate V B, Flap H, Subramanian S, Groenewegen P. 2015. The Influence of Social Capital on Individual Health: Is it the Neighbourhood or the Network?. Soc Indic Res. Vol. 121:195–214 DOI 10.1007/s11205-014-0632-8 Markovic, M, Manderson, L. (2002). Crossing national boundaries: Social identity formation among recent immigrant women in Australia from former Yugoslavia. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 2, 303-316. Puspitawati H. 2012. Gender dan Keluarga. Bogor (ID): IPB Press. ____________. 2013. Ekologi Keluarga: Konsep dan Lingkungan. Bogor (ID): IPB Press. ____________. 2013. Pengantar Studi Keluarga. Bogor (ID): IPB Press. Puspitawati H, Herawati T. 2013. Metode Penelitian Keluarga. Bogor (ID): IPB Press. Rebecca P, Crnic K A, Cox M J, Mills W R. 2013. The Family Model Stress and Maternal Psychological Symptoms: Mediated Pathways From Economic Hardship to Parenting. Journal of Family Psychology: DOI: 10.1037/a0031112 Rosidah U, Hartoyo, Istiqlaliyah. 2012. Kajian strategi koping dan perilaku investasi anak pada keluarga buruh pemetik melati gambir. Jurnal Ilmu Keluarga dan Konsumen, Vol. 5, No. 1. Stevenson B, Wolfers J. 2013. Subjective Well-Being and Income: Is There Any Evidence of Satiation? American Economic Review. 103(3): 598–604 http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.3.598 Welsh J A, Berry H L. 2009. Social capital and mental health and well-being. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University Wills E, Orozco L, Forero C, Pardo O, Andonova V. 2011. The relationship between perceptions of insecurity, social capital and subjective well-being: Empirical evidences from areas of rural conflict in Colombia. The Journal of Socio-Economics. Vol. 40 88–96 Yip W, Subramanian S. V, Mitchell A D, Lee D, Wang J, Kawachi I. 2007. Does social capital enhance health and well-being? Evidence from rural China. Journal Social Science & Medicine: 35 – 49

O presente artigo versa sobre a análise espacial dos dados educacionais coletados em pesquisa de campo nas cidades de Brasiléia e Epitaciolândia. Tais cidades, por apresentarem características sui generis como sua posição junto ao limite com a Bolívia e o seu status de cidade gêmea compartilhado com Cobija, capital do departamento boliviano de Pando, expressam suas peculiaridades por intermédio do seu quadro educacional investigado. O artigo apresentará as relações de complementariedade existentes entre centros urbanos conurbados, o deslocamento de pessoas em busca dos equipamentos educacionais e o perfil geográfico dos estudantes nesta região ainda pouco estudada do território nacional.ABSTRACTThis article focuses on the spatial analysis of educational data collected in the cities of Brasiléia and Epitaciolândia. Such cities had specific characteristics as its position near the border with Bolivia and their twin city status shared with Cobija, capital of the Bolivian department of Pando. Such specificities express their educational situation investigated. The article will present and discuss the existence of relations between conurbated urban centers, the movement of people in search of educational facilities and the geographical profile of the students in this still little studied region of Brazilian territory. Such presentation will be through the data collected in field research and complemented by educational IBGE data basis.Keywords: National Border; Twin Cities; Education.

AbstractThe imposing ruins of a Byzantine church known as Üçayak, situated in the vicinity of the city of Kırşehir in central Anatolia, on the border between the historic Byzantine provinces of Galatia and Cappadocia, exhibit several conspicuous architectural features. The church presents a combination of an ambiguous twin-church plan, a distinctive building technique, and a remarkably sophisticated exterior design comparable with those of metropolitan buildings. Together these features leave doubts about the sources of the church’s design, its original function and its patronage. In order to ponder the relationship between Üçayak‘s architecture and metropolitan and regional architectural developments, this paper deals with the church’s design and structural type within the framework of the totality of eleventh-century building activities, and examines possible function of the twin-church by comparing it with other regional Byzantine-rite churches. This study brings to the fore the extraordinary place of this church within the context of the regional construction, and establishes its close ties with eleventh-century metropolitan architecture. It also reveals the engagement of a master builder closely familiar with metropolitan practice and suggests that the building activities in the region of Bithynia may have facilitated the transmission of metropolitan architectural concepts further inland. In all probability, Üçayak‘s patron was a member of the local elite, which was customarily connected to the capital. Regarding the possible function of the twin-church of Üçayak, this article argues for the burial and commemorative functions, which often motivated the double arrangement in Cappadocian rock-cut churches.

Neste trabalho, a fronteira é vista como espaço de comunicação e de trocas promovidas por fortes interações que desconsideram o limite internacional e são caracterizadas por intercâmbios nas mais diversas áreas, sobretudo, no comércio. As localidades fronteiriças apresentam vários elementos que interessam e atraem turistas, desde aqueles produzidos pela construção histórica de seus territórios (sociedade e cultura) até aqueles de conformação natural e econômica, especialmente o comércio. As vantagens de aquisição de mercadorias em uma das bandas territoriais componentes da fronteira são importantes indutoras do turismo. Nessa perspectiva das vantagens comerciais, administrações governamentais e empresariais têm elaborado inúmeros artifícios para atrair turistas para essas regiões. Dentre esses artifícios, está a Lei 12.723/2012 do governo federal brasileiro que autoriza a instalação de free shop nas cidades gêmeas. Este trabalho objetiva, pois, analisar como os agentes territoriais de uma cidade gêmea percebem a possibilidade de implantação desta Lei e se isso pode fortalecer o turismo de fronteira. Para tanto, foram realizados levantamentos de dados primários, através de entrevistas semiestruturadas visando obter informações sobre como os agentes territoriais da fronteira Brasil/Bolívia receberam a Lei dos Free Shops. A análise dos dados corrobora a afirmativa de que, dentre os benefícios alcançados, destaca-se o fortalecimento da concorrência entre estabelecimentos instalados no Brasil e na Bolívia com foco em produtos importados. A implantação do Free Shop em Corumbá não fará com que o turista/fronteiriço deixe de frequentar a Bolívia por razões como procura por baixos preços, variedade de produtos e, sobretudo, pela oportunidade de aproximação da diversidade cultural. Tourism in twin border cities and the possibilities of Brazilian Law n. 12.723/2012 ABSTRACT In this study, the border is seen as a space of communication and exchanges promoted by strong interactions that disregard the international limit and are characterized by exchanges in the most diverse areas, especially in commerce. Frontier localities present several elements that interest and attract tourists, from those produced by the historical construction of their territories (society and culture) to those of natural and economic conformation, especially commerce. The advantages of purchasing goods in one of the towns components of the frontier are important boosts of tourism. In the perspective of the commercial advantages, governmental and business administrations have elaborated numerous devices to attract tourists to these regions. Among these devices, there is the Law n. 12.723/2012 of the Brazilian federal government that authorizes the installation of free shops in the twin cities. This study aims, therefore, to analyze how the territorial agents of a twin city perceive the possibility of implementation of this Law and if this can strengthen the frontier tourism. For this purpose, primary data were collected through semi-structured interviews to obtain information about how the territorial agents of the Brazil/Bolivia border received the Free Shops Law. The analysis of the data corroborates the affirmation that, among the benefits achieved, it is worth highlighting the strengthening of competition between establishments located in Brazil and in Bolivia with focus on imported products. The establishment of the Free Shop in Corumbá will not cause the tourist/frontier to stop attending Bolivia for reasons such as low prices, variety of products and, above all, the opportunity to approach cultural diversity. KEYWORDS: Border; Tourism; Free Shop.

Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) has killed millions of trees in the United States. Community managers face treatment or removal decisions for all publicly owned ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees. These decisions are based on the overall condition of each tree. In this study, the U.S. Forest Service-trained a Boy Scout troop in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, U.S., in a tree health assessment protocol that used rubrics designed to measure physiological stress symptoms. The city provided tree inventory data, which included the location of 316 cityowned ash trees. After a two-hour training session, the Scouts and adult leaders assessed all ash trees in August 2015. A tree health expert re-assessed 20% of the trees. The protocol measured diameter at breast height and included a suite of tree stress assessment variables. Researchers used a five-class system for defoliation, leaf discoloration, and overall vigor. Fine-twig dieback was estimated in 5% classes. Digital photographs were taken and automatically processed so as to measure percent crown transparency. Expert/volunteer agreement for diameter at breast height was within 2.5 cm 92% of the time; defoliation, discoloration, and vigor were within two classes 100%, 93%, and 92% of the time, respectively. Crown dieback estimates were within 10% of each other 76% of the time, and transparency estimates were within 15% of each other 76% of the time. Researchers calculated an overall stress index value and ranked the trees from lowest to highest stress. The volunteer-generated data enabled Oconomowoc to make science-based management decisions for its infested ash trees.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Europe in the beginning of 2020, a majority of countries reacted by closing their state borders. By drawing on concepts of border studies and border regional resilience, this thesis aims to examine the impact of the (im)mobility shock caused by the pandemic on two border twin cities in Europe. Through a qualitative approach, conducting semi-structured expert interviews and content analyses, the thesis attempts to identify (1) Which factors facilitated/obstructed the coping/adapting strategies to the problems caused by the pandemic induced state border closures; and (2) Which long-term effects the COVID-19 crisis will have on the future development of the border twin cities and whether their development path will transform into a more resilient one. The main finding of this thesis is that the crisis management on the local level was considerably limited by the restrictions enacted at the national level. To be better prepared for similar shocks, the border twin cities have already made plans based on their experience. However, it remains to be seen whether these strategies can contribute to the resilience of the cities. Nevertheless, coordination between the local, regional and national level is essential to plan and establish resilient border twin cities.

Finland and Estonia, the two peripheral states of the European Union’s north-eastern corner have steadily converged since the fall of the Soviet Union, both bilaterally and in a multilateral European context. The co-operation is significant and covers multiple sectors of society. Now the two countries have set out on a project to join their two capitals by building a fixed link under the Gulf of Finland forming the symbolic twin-capital of Talsinki. This case-study sets out to analyse what motivations there are in creation of the twin-capital, and what relevance does the fixed link have on the regionalization process.The qualitative analysis of policy and spatial-economic documentation triangulated with media sources shows that the incentives are mainly economic, and the process is mainly driven by state- and regional level politicians motivated by regional development. The study also indicates that the rising influence of China and other global actors has an effect on the regional politics of peripheral Europe.

This chapter expands upon the notion of proliferating borders as sites of the failure of coexistence. It centres on two novels by Sayed Kashua, a prominent Palestinian journalist and writer who publishes primarily in Hebrew. Building on meditations on the relationship between language, silence, and estrangement by Julia Kristeva and Jacques Derrida, I trace Kashua’s journey into disillusion and despair, expressed through the silence and alienation imposed by a set of increasingly constricting borders. The novels Second Person Singular (2010)and Let It Be Morning (2004) reveal the failure of coexistence through the persistent re-emergence of the very borders that coexistence seeks to break down or render irrelevant, and the hollowness of strategies of linguistic and cultural assimilation. In Kashua’s novels, these attempts constantly fail at the border, a space that produces myriad forms of alienation and eventually exile. The analysis focuses on the locales of a suddenly blockaded Palestinian village and the divided city of Jerusalem as the twin sites of this paradigm’s failure. Kashua’s engagement with borders reveals what he eventually calls the “lie” of coexistence.

On my third evening in Russia, the world changed. I was in Stavropol, a city founded by Prince Gregory Potemkin at the time of the American Revolution as one of ten fortresses to defend the borders of the expanding Russian Empire. To the south were the Caucasus, formidable mountains and myriad peoples. Stavropol grew as an administrative center of tsarist and later Soviet power. It briefly fell to the Wehrmacht in 1942 as the invading army drove unsuccessfully toward the oilfields of Baku. Later, a popular young party secretary from the area got noticed in Moscow, joined the Politburo, and in 1985 became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms would inadvertently lead to a geopolitical earthquake, the end of the Cold War in Europe, and the unthinkable—the collapse of the Communist empire built by Lenin and Stalin. That evening the provost of Stavropol State University toasted the health of the international academics attending the conference starting the next morning. Many other benevolent toasts were exchanged, and a singularly somber one. A researcher with the Memorial Human Rights Center reminded us that a war raged nearby in Chechnya, an “inner abroad” of Russia. Here Russia’s new president had approved the indiscriminate shelling of a Russian city and a dirty war against citizens redefined as “terrorists.” Returning to our hotel that evening in a bus under armed guard, a Croatian friend and I were chatting when told to turn on the television. Russian television was broadcasting footage of airplanes crashing into skyscrapers in lower Manhattan on what seemed like a continuous loop. The full magnitude of what had happened was only apparent the next day. Like many, the Twin Towers were entwined with personal memories—first seeing them in rural Ireland on a pennant my uncle brought back from his vacation to New York, and later visiting the observation deck with my parents and friends. Furthermore, the attack on the Pentagon was only two miles from my home, a few more from where I worked, and all too close to some former students who worked in the building.

Aim/Purpose: This paper provides the results of the preliminary analysis of the findings of an ongoing study that seeks to examine the social media use, cultural and political awareness, civic engagement, issue prioritization, and social activism of Gen Z students enrolled at four different institutional types located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The aim of this study is to look at the group as a whole as well as compare findings across populations. The institutional types under consideration include a mid-sized majority serving or otherwise referred to as a traditionally white institution (TWI) located in a small coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean, a small Historically Black University (HBCU) located in a rural area, a large community college located in a county that is a mixture of rural and suburban and which sits on the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania, and graduating high school students enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs in a large urban area. This exploration is purposed to examine the behaviors and expectations of Gen Z students within a representative American region during a time of tremendous turmoil and civil unrest in the United States. Background: Over 74 million strong, Gen Z makes up almost one-quarter of the U.S. population. They already outnumber any current living generation and are the first true digital natives. Born after 1996 and through 2012, they are known for their short attention spans and heightened ability to multi-task. Raised in the age of the smart phone, they have been tethered to digital devices from a young age with most having the preponderance of their childhood milestones commemorated online. Often called Zoomers, they are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation and are on track to be the most well-educated generation in history. Gen Zers in the United States have been found in the research to be progressive and pro-government and viewing increasing racial and ethnic diversity as positive change. Finally, they are less likely to hold xenophobic beliefs such as the notion of American exceptionalism and superiority that have been popular with by prior generations. The United States has been in a period of social and civil unrest in recent years with concerns over systematic racism, rampant inequalities, political polarization, xenophobia, police violence, sexual assault and harassment, and the growing epidemic of gun violence. Anxieties stirred by the COVID-19 pandemic further compounded these issues resulting in a powder keg explosion occurring throughout the summer of 2020 and leading well into 2021. As a result, the United States has deteriorated significantly in the Civil Unrest Index falling from 91st to 34th. The vitriol, polarization, protests, murders, and shootings have all occurred during Gen Z’s formative years, and the limited research available indicates that it has shaped their values and political views. Methodology: The Mid-Atlantic region is a portion of the United States that exists as the overlap between the northeastern and southeastern portions of the country. It includes the nation’s capital, as well as large urban centers, small cities, suburbs, and rural enclaves. It is one of the most socially, economically, racially, and culturally diverse parts of the United States and is often referred to as the “typically American region.” An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2021 attending a high school dual enrollment program, a minority serving institution, a majority serving institution, and a community college all located within the larger mid-Atlantic region. The survey included a combination of multiple response, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by several content and methodological experts in order to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. Finally, the survey was pilot tested prior to implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly prior to widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Over 800 individuals completed the survey with just over 700 usable results, after partial completes and the responses of individuals outside of the 18-24 age range were removed. Findings: Participants in this study overwhelmingly were users of social media. In descending order, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, WhatsApp, LinkedIn and Tik Tok were the most popular social media services reported as being used. When volume of use was considered, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter were the most cited with most participants reporting using Instagram and Snapchat multiple times a day. When asked to select which social media service they would use if forced to choose just one, the number one choice was YouTube followed by Instagram and Snapchat. Additionally, more than half of participants responded that they have uploaded a video to a video sharing site such as YouTube or Tik Tok. When asked about their familiarity with different technologies, participants overwhelmingly responded that they are “very familiar” with smart phones, searching the Web, social media, and email. About half the respondents said that they were “very familiar” with common computer applications such as the Microsoft Office Suite or Google Suite with another third saying that they were “somewhat familiar.” When asked about Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Blackboard, Course Compass, Canvas, Edmodo, Moodle, Course Sites, Google Classroom, Mindtap, Schoology, Absorb, D2L, itslearning, Otus, PowerSchool, or WizIQ, only 43% said they were “very familiar” with 31% responding that they were “somewhat familiar.” Finally, about half the students were either “very” or “somewhat” familiar with operating systems such as Windows. A few preferences with respect to technology in the teaching and learning process were explored in the survey. Most students (85%) responded that they want course announcements and reminders sent to their phones, 76% expect their courses to incorporate the use of technology, 71% want their courses to have course websites, and 71% said that they would rather watch a video than read a book chapter. When asked to consider the future, over 81% or respondents reported that technology will play a major role in their future career. Most participants considered themselves “informed” or “well informed” about current events although few considered themselves “very informed” or “well informed” about politics. When asked how they get their news, the most common forum reported for getting news and information about current events and politics was social media with 81% of respondents reporting. Gen Z is known to be an engaged generation and the participants in this study were not an exception. As such, it came as no surprise to discover that, in the past year more than 78% of respondents had educated friends or family about an important social or political issue, about half (48%) had donated to a cause of importance to them, more than a quarter (26%) had participated in a march or rally, and a quarter (26%) had actively boycotted a product or company. Further, about 37% consider themselves to be a social activist with another 41% responding that aren’t sure if they would consider themselves an activist and only 22% saying that they would not consider themselves an activist. When asked what issues were important to them, the most frequently cited were Black Lives Matter (75%), human trafficking (68%), sexual assault/harassment/Me Too (66.49%), gun violence (65.82%), women’s rights (65.15%), climate change (55.4%), immigration reform/deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) (48.8%), and LGBTQ+ rights (47.39%). When the schools were compared, there were only minor differences in social media use with the high school students indicating slightly more use of Tik Tok than the other participants. All groups were virtually equal when it came to how informed they perceived themselves about current events and politics. Consensus among groups existed with respect to how they get their news, and the community college and high school students were slightly more likely to have participated in a march, protest, or rally in the last 12 months than the university students. The community college and high school students were also slightly more likely to consider themselves social activists than the participants from either of the universities. When the importance of the issues was considered, significant differences based on institutional type were noted. Black Lives Matter (BLM) was identified as important by the largest portion of students attending the HBCU followed by the community college students and high school students. Less than half of the students attending the TWI considered BLM an important issue. Human trafficking was cited as important by a higher percentage of students attending the HBCU and urban high school than at the suburban and rural community college or the TWI. Sexual assault was considered important by the majority of students at all the schools with the percentage a bit smaller from the majority serving institution. About two thirds of the students at the high school, community college, and HBCU considered gun violence important versus about half the students at the majority serving institution. Women’s rights were reported as being important by more of the high school and HBCU participants than the community college or TWI. Climate change was considered important by about half the students at all schools with a slightly smaller portion reporting out the HBCU. Immigration reform/DACA was reported as important by half the high school, community college, and HBCU participants with only a third of the students from the majority serving institution citing it as an important issue. With respect to LGBTQ rights approximately half of the high school and community college participants cited it as important, 44.53% of the HBCU students, and only about a quarter of the students attending the majority serving institution. Contribution and Conclusion: This paper provides a timely investigation into the mindset of generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. This insight is useful to educators who should be informed about the generation of students that is currently populating higher education. The findings of this study are consistent with public opinion polls by Pew Research Center. According to the findings, the Gen Z students participating in this study are heavy users of multiple social media, expect technology to be integrated into teaching and learning, anticipate a future career where technology will play an important role, informed about current and political events, use social media as their main source for getting news and information, and fairly engaged in social activism. When institutional type was compared the students from the university with the more affluent and less diverse population were less likely to find social justice issues important than the other groups. Recommendations for Practitioners: During disruptive and contentious times, it is negligent to think that the abounding issues plaguing society are not important to our students. Gauging the issues of importance and levels of civic engagement provides us crucial information towards understanding the attitudes of students. Further, knowing how our students gain information, their social media usage, as well as how informed they are about current events and political issues can be used to more effectively communicate and educate. Recommendations for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. Additionally, in other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Impact on Society: During a highly contentious period replete with a large volume of civil unrest and compounded by a global pandemic, understanding the behaviors and attitudes of students can help us as higher education faculty be more attuned when it comes to the design and delivery of curriculum. Future Research This presentation presents preliminary findings. Data is still being collected and much more extensive statistical analyses will be performed.