Active Investment: Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Investing in Active Travel in the Urban New Zealand Context

<p>Increased uptake of active travel is widely acknowledged to promote improved health, environmental and community outcomes. Although active travel participation rates in New Zealand compare favourably to other Anglo-Saxon countries, many northern European countries report active travel rates that are many fold higher. In response to declining rates of active travel across New Zealand, the New Zealand Transport Agency created the Model Communities Programme. The goal of this programme was to boost walking and cycling rates in two demonstration cities, Hastings and New Plymouth, by improving walking and cycling infrastructure, as well as funding promotional and educational initiatives. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Model Communities Programme. This evaluation includes a quantitative appraisal in the form of a cost-benefit analysis. In addition to evaluating the economic efficiency of the programme, this study provides qualitative analysis derived from user intercept surveys and interviews with district council project managers to further assess the effectiveness of the intervention. This study has found the Model Communities Programme to be cost-beneficial under several evaluative frameworks. In addition to this, the qualitative analysis has also presented largely positive feedback from both users and project managers. This study concludes that the Model Communities Programme has indeed boosted active travel in the demonstration cities, and that similar interventions are likely to be effective at promoting active travel across urban New Zealand.</p>

Active Investment: Evaluating the Benefits and Costs of Investing in Active Travel in the Urban New Zealand Context

<p>Increased uptake of active travel is widely acknowledged to promote improved health, environmental and community outcomes. Although active travel participation rates in New Zealand compare favourably to other Anglo-Saxon countries, many northern European countries report active travel rates that are many fold higher. In response to declining rates of active travel across New Zealand, the New Zealand Transport Agency created the Model Communities Programme. The goal of this programme was to boost walking and cycling rates in two demonstration cities, Hastings and New Plymouth, by improving walking and cycling infrastructure, as well as funding promotional and educational initiatives. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Model Communities Programme. This evaluation includes a quantitative appraisal in the form of a cost-benefit analysis. In addition to evaluating the economic efficiency of the programme, this study provides qualitative analysis derived from user intercept surveys and interviews with district council project managers to further assess the effectiveness of the intervention. This study has found the Model Communities Programme to be cost-beneficial under several evaluative frameworks. In addition to this, the qualitative analysis has also presented largely positive feedback from both users and project managers. This study concludes that the Model Communities Programme has indeed boosted active travel in the demonstration cities, and that similar interventions are likely to be effective at promoting active travel across urban New Zealand.</p>

A Review of participant, agency, and community outcomes of non-familial intergenerational programs

Summary: Social workers are uniquely qualified to administer intergenerational programs, which offer a long-standing and promising way to improve the lives of children, youth, older adults, and communities. Existing reviews of intergenerational programming include a relatively limited time period and do not include agency and community outcomes. This scoping review was conducted with two primary objectives: (1) to synthesize a more comprehensive understanding of intergenerational program outcomes, organized by program type, and (2) to clarify gaps related to agency and community-level outcomes. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, we searched 18 databases for articles published between 1981 − 2019. Quantitative, qualitative, and gray literature were included that focused on formal, non-familial intergenerational programs and incorporated clear research methods. A two-cycle coding process identified six program types, five participant outcome domains, three agency-level outcomes, and four community-level outcomes. Findings: 217 articles met inclusion criteria after a first (title/abstract) and second (full-text) review. Quality appraisal of the articles found the studies to have “fair” quality overall, with a limited number of randomized controlled trials or sustained outcomes greater than six months. Approximately 12% of studies identified agency or community outcomes. Findings indicate strong psycho-social outcomes for older adults and increased inclusivity, capacity, and engagement at agency and community levels. Applications: Future program development and research efforts should address best practices for the implementation and scalability of intergenerational programs to enhance capacity and age-inclusivity at agency and community levels.

Rethinking 'Progress': an Evaluation of the Wellington Region Genuine Progress Index

<p>There is widespread and long-running discontent with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of progress for society. A number of alternative measures have been proposed, including the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). A GPI has been developed by local government in the Wellington region (New Zealand) to facilitate a rethinking of conventional notions of 'progress'. The Wellington Region GPI (WRGPI) is modelled upon the Nova Scotia GPI, which is a pluralistic index consisting of environmental, social, economic and cultural indicators with either physical or monetary values. The study explores a 'good practice' approach to public participation in the development of the GPI, and provides an overview of the context within which it fits. A synergistic link was found between the Nova Scotia GPI framework and the framework provided by the Local Government Act community outcomes process. Despite this synergy, and the commitment to the GPI on the part of local authorities, a number of challenges emerged from the context. These include the poor integration of the existing community outcomes into institutional decision-making, a weak institutional commitment to the economic valuation procedure of the GPI, and the desire on the part of the present local government minister to reduce the scope of local government. In light of these challenges, a 'good practice' approach has been developed with a normative component: deliberation, influence & inclusion, and a methodological component: purpose, process & context. Deliberation was stressed as a particularly important tool to facilitate institutional and social learning around the WRGPI and to build the value case and a constituency for the WRGPI across the local authorities and community, and therefore increasing the likelihood that conventional notions of 'progress' will be replaced with more holistic ones. While this case study provides insights into the challenge of integrating a GPI into local governance, it is still too early to judge whether the initiative will emerge as a viable alternative to the GDP for the Wellington region.</p>

Rethinking 'Progress': an Evaluation of the Wellington Region Genuine Progress Index

<p>There is widespread and long-running discontent with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a measure of progress for society. A number of alternative measures have been proposed, including the Genuine Progress Index (GPI). A GPI has been developed by local government in the Wellington region (New Zealand) to facilitate a rethinking of conventional notions of 'progress'. The Wellington Region GPI (WRGPI) is modelled upon the Nova Scotia GPI, which is a pluralistic index consisting of environmental, social, economic and cultural indicators with either physical or monetary values. The study explores a 'good practice' approach to public participation in the development of the GPI, and provides an overview of the context within which it fits. A synergistic link was found between the Nova Scotia GPI framework and the framework provided by the Local Government Act community outcomes process. Despite this synergy, and the commitment to the GPI on the part of local authorities, a number of challenges emerged from the context. These include the poor integration of the existing community outcomes into institutional decision-making, a weak institutional commitment to the economic valuation procedure of the GPI, and the desire on the part of the present local government minister to reduce the scope of local government. In light of these challenges, a 'good practice' approach has been developed with a normative component: deliberation, influence & inclusion, and a methodological component: purpose, process & context. Deliberation was stressed as a particularly important tool to facilitate institutional and social learning around the WRGPI and to build the value case and a constituency for the WRGPI across the local authorities and community, and therefore increasing the likelihood that conventional notions of 'progress' will be replaced with more holistic ones. While this case study provides insights into the challenge of integrating a GPI into local governance, it is still too early to judge whether the initiative will emerge as a viable alternative to the GDP for the Wellington region.</p>

Cultural Proficiency: The Necessary Link to Family Engagement

Although family engagement is crucial to student and community outcomes, schools often alienate families who are not part of the dominant culture. As a result, school leaders need to become culturally proficient to systematically engage all families equitably regardless of their race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other cultural identifiers. This teaching case study raises issues related to cultural proficiency and family engagement. To help current and future educational leaders foster family engagement, I provide a cultural proficiency for family and community engagement framework. I also pose questions designed to trigger conversations and find practical solutions related to equitable family engagement.

Managing trolling in online communities: an organizational perspective

PurposeThe literature lacks knowledge on how organizations can manage trolling behaviors in online communities. Extant studies tend to either focus on user responses to trolling behaviors (i.e. a micro-level perspective) or how the trolling infrastructure is governed by platforms (i.e. a macro-level perspective), paying less attention to the organizational community host. With more organizations hosting online communities on social media networks and trolling behaviors increasingly disrupting user engagement within these communities, the current understanding of trolling management practices has become inapt. Given the commercial and social damage caused by trolling behaviors, it is important to understand how these can be best managed. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to examine the meso-level perspective of trolling management by focusing on organizational practice.Design/methodology/approachThe research design consists of an in-depth non-participatory netnography based on a case study of PETA’s (“People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals”) Facebook community.FindingsSix distinct trolling management strategies are identified and categorized by their direct versus indirect communication approach: non-engaging, educating, bolstering, expurgating, asserting and mobilizing. Some strategies are deemed to be more successful than others in generating positive community outcomes such as reduced trolling frequency or further support from like-minded community members.Originality/valueThe findings contribute to the meso-level perspective in the trolling management literature by introducing a novel, empirically informed typology of organizational trolling management strategies.

Digital Citizenship and Digital Communities

Over the past decade, the vision of smart cities filled with technological innovation and digitally engaged citizens has been pursued around the globe, but not all city residents have a chance to participate in or benefit from these innovations. Connectivity is unequally distributed across cities and neighborhoods, and these disparities have costs not only for individuals, but for communities, as COVID-19 so aptly demonstrated. There is a need to examine uses and outcomes for broadband across cities and neighborhoods as digital human capital in communities. Two studies summarized here show that like other human capital, technology use conveys economic benefits for communities. Broadband adoption over time is related to prosperity and growth in the 50 largest metros. Big data on the density of domain name websites shows that this measure of technology use is likewise a significant predictor of prosperity and median income, controlling for other factors. We conclude with a research agenda on digital human capital and community outcomes.