Call for Abstracts: Prototypes for Humanity - Submission Deadline 22 May 2026

Dear Colleagues, 

I am pleased to invite the submission of abstracts to the Prototypes for Humanity 2026 Short Papers Platform. 

Abstract Submission Deadline: 22nd May 2026
Invitations to Successful Authors: 8th July 2026
Conference Dates: 15th - 19th November, Dubai, UAE 

** Description **

The Short Papers Platform provides a forum for professors to share their research and engage in interdisciplinary dialogue, fostering global collaboration and knowledge exchange, with a focus on driving real-world impact through academic research.

For 2026, Prototypes for Humanity is delighted to announce the launch of a strategic partnership with the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), for the Short Papers Platform. This joint effort reinforces the programme’s commitment to advancing impactful innovation through collaboration between academia and industry, focusing on the key sectors and themes that reflect international research priorities and that are relevant to the city and to the fund. 

Themes 

• Wellbeing and Human Performance
• Infrastructures and Cities
• Autonomous Systems and Advanced Manufacturing
• Environment, Sustainability and Energy
• Mobility and Logistics
• Socio-Economic Empowerment, Digital Economies and Future Markets
• Open and Speculative

Awards

As part of the programme’s ongoing commitment to research translation, ICD will award a $50,000 prize to one of the short papers presented at the conference. The award recognises academic work with strong potential for practical application, identified through engagement with ICD industry experts, and will support the winning project’s next stage of development towards implementation.

Submissions

Full details can be found at: https://www.prototypesforhumanity.com/press-releases/stories/Call_For_Abstracts_2026

Apply here: https://form.jotform.com/260705028532451?source=https://www.jisc.ac.uk

Deadline for abstract submission: 22 May, 2026

We strongly encourage you to apply where your interests and research aligns with the programme’s thematic areas.

If you have any questions, please contact us at professors AT prototypesforhumanity.com

Sarah Ward
University Relations Manager
Prototypes for Humanity

E: sarah.ward AT prototypesforhumanity.com

My source: Email - https://www.bcs-sgai.org/

New Journal Alert - Philosophy and Urban Affairs

Dear Philosophers,

I'm pleased to announce that Philosophy and Urban Affairs is now operational. Below is a description.

Philosophy and Urban Affairs is a peer-reviewed journal that explores the ethical, political, epistemological, metaphysical, and social dimensions of cities. Articles may be theoretical, applied, or both, provided they illustrate how philosophical investigation can elucidate, critique, or inform city living.

Unsolicited manuscripts are not accepted. Instead, the journal solicits submissions through public calls on emerging topics or through invitations to scholars working on specific themes. On occasion, a focus article will be published to prompt response papers and foster sustained scholarly dialogue.

Philosophy and Urban Affairs is fully open access and charges no fees of any kind.

Check out the first CFP, Philosophical Perspectives on Coastal and Island Cities. 

All the best - Shane

Shane Epting, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Missouri University of Science and Technology

New Book: Creating Future Cities: Technology, Ethics, and the Fight for the Good Life

Shane Epting, in Creating Future Cities, insightfully analyzes complex normative challenges in urban planning and design—from organizing urban residents' political power to building for resilience—and passionately argues that citizens of cities must fight for their cities and their futures. - Ronald R. Sundstrom, University of San Francisco, USA

My source:

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" is run by the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/ Messages to the list are archived at http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/philos-l.html. Recent posts can also be read in a Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/PhilosL/ Follow the list on Twitter @PhilosL. Follow the Department of Philosophy @LiverpoolPhilos 

Sociology: Open access resources and course materials - BUP

As an introduction to our publishing in Sociology -

 https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/SOC-Taster-Collection 

 

- we curated a collection of free and open access books and chapters that we think will contribute to your reading lists. Our growing list has a global outlook featuring high-quality research across emerging and established areas in the field, such as migration, gender, education, ageing, science and technology, death and culture, activism and organizing, race and ethnicity, decolonization, public sociology and children and families.

Highlights from the collection include:

• Permanent Racism: Race, Class and the Myth of Postracial Britain
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/display/book/9781447360193/ch001.xml?rskey=3Kdr6W&result=21?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026

• The Politics of Intersectional Practice: Representation, Coalition and Solidarity in UK NGOs
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollchap/book/9781529247220/int001.xml?rskey=L6cpzn&result=1?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026

• Welcoming Cities: How Newcomers Shape Urban Policy Making
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monochap/book/9781447378457/int001.xml?rskey=L6cpzn&result=4?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026
  
  
• Emotions in Crisis: Youth and Social Change in Spain
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monochap/book/9781529235050/int001.xml?rskey=NiTJML&result=20?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026
  
  
• Navigating Contemporary Fatherhood in Europe: Care and Involvement in Everyday Life
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollchap/book/9781529247220/int001.xml?rskey=L6cpzn&result=1?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026
  
  
• The Digital Transformation of the European Border Regime: The Powers and Perils of Imagining Future Borders
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/monochap/book/9781529235227/ch001.xml?rskey=CvpInL&result=18?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026

Please feel free to share this collection with your network and your students. Chapters that are not perpetually open access will be free to download until end of March 2026

Our aim is to ensure that the vital work of our authors reaches the lecturers, researchers and policymakers who can use it to drive meaningful, real-world change.

You can request access to our full Sociology Collection

https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/subject/SOC-Collection?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026 - via your institution’s library. 

We offer tiered pricing on our collections tailored to smaller organisations and their libraries. For more details, institutions can contact our team at bup-digital AT bristol.ac.uk.

You may also be interested in our Sociology journals - 

https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/page/journals?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026 - including:

• Open access Global Social Challenges Journal
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/gsc/view/journals/gscj/gscj-overview.xml?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026
  
  
• Consumption and Society
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/consoc/consoc-overview.xml?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026
  
  
• Gender and Justice
  https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/gj/gj-overview.xml?utm_source=listserv&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026
  <https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/gj/gj-overview.xml?utm_source=CRM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sociology-2026 ​​​

Publish with us: If you are writing in this field, consider publishing your work with an ethical university press. To discuss your publishing projects, please contact our editor emily.ross AT bristol.ac.uk.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Kind regards,

Bahar Celik Muller - Senior Marketing Executive

Bahar Muller - Senior Marketing Executive

New books

Liberation and Corruption: Why Freedom Movements Fail

by Peter Hain
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/liberation-and-corruption?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=BUP-email-signature

Reckoning: Creating Positive Change Through Radical Empathy

by Terri Givens
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/reckoning?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=BUP-email-signature 

Mind the Inclusion Gap: How Allies Can Bridge the Divide Between Talking Diversity and Taking Action

by Suzy Levy
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/mind-the-inclusion-gap?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=BUP-email-signature 

White Privilege: The myth of a post-racial society

by Kalwant Bhopal
https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/trade/white-privilege-1?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=BUP-email-signature 

Our charity for 2025 is Bristol Refugee Rights. Find out more and donate here
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/charity?utm_source=signature&utm_medium=signature&utm_campaign=BUP-email-signature

 

My source: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=EUROPEAN-SOCIOLOGIST

Podcast: Local green spaces and mental health

Dear CHAIN member,

We would like to draw your attention to the following NIHR alert. Please pass on as appropriate. Thank you.

NIHR

Local green spaces are linked with better mental health

Podcast: Local green spaces and mental health

In this podcast, Helen Saul, Editor in Chief of NIHR Evidence, and study author Sarah Rodgers, Professor of Health Informatics, University of  Liverpool, discuss the impact of local green spaces on people's mental health.

Researchers analysed data on more than 2 million people in Wales over 10 years to explore the impact of green spaces on mental health. They linked information about people’s mental health with information about the greenness of their home’s immediate surroundings and how close they lived to green or blue spaces (such as parks, lakes, and beaches). They found that people had a lower risk of anxiety and depression if:

· their home’s immediate surroundings (within 200-300 metres) were greener
· they could access green and blue spaces nearby.

The researchers say that local authorities could improve the mental health of their community by increasing the greenery in their towns and cities and improving access to green and blue spaces.

Read more at: https://evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/local-green-spaces-are-linked-with-better-mental-health/?source=chainmail

Regards,

Irina Johnston
CHAIN Administrative Assistant

(and my source.)

Previously: 

c/o @TheLancetPlanet - Paper: Residential greenness and prevalence of major depressive disorders... or "All colours fictitious"

'nature'

Share your thoughts: Health Research & Community/Public Engagement

Dear HIFA Community,

As part of a multi-country scoping study commissioned by Wellcome Trust 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/wellcome-trust/

Pivot Collective: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pivotcollective/

- is conducting a rapid survey to better understand community/public engagement and knowledge exchange in health research.

*The Ask:* Provide your insights, thoughts and perspectives - click the survey here: 

https://lnkd.in/dgR6Wak3

This should take 15-30 minutes to complete, and data will be anonymised.

Please complete the survey by Wednesday 17 May 2023.

Thank you!

As background, this survey is part of a larger project that aims to identify more effective routes for communities to be involved in research, with *an ultimate goal of understanding how communities can play a genuinely meaningful, inclusive, and reciprocal role in the research ecosystem.

The project is led by Pivot Collective: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pivotcollective/ in partnership with - 

Eh!woza: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eh-woza
citiesRISE: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cities-rise
Restless Development: https://www.linkedin.com/company/restless-development
Vocal, Praxis, and Fiocruz.

If you'd like to learn more, please don't hesitate to reach out.
We are grateful for your time and insights, and would love to talk.

Best wishes,
Claire B. Cole

Co Director Pivot Collective Consulting +1 917.523.6523
claire AT pivotcollective.org
pivotcollective.org
27 Palmer Road, Muizenberg, 7945 

https://www.facebook.com/PivotCollective/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/30643635
https://www.instagram.com/pivot_collective/

HIFA profile: Claire Cole is Co-Director and Senior Technical Advisor at Pivot Collective USA. Research interests: Participatory and applied research; Sexual and reproductive health and rights; Adolescent health and development; HIV and AIDS; Marginalized and underserved populations; Adaptive management and adaptive implementation; Responsive health systems; Resilience; Implementation science.

My source:
You are receiving this message because you are a member of the community -
HIFA - Healthcare Information For All.

New York – Livable Cities: A Conference on Issues Affecting Life in Cities

NEW YORK Conference: Abstract Deadline

New York / Virtual

14-16, June 2023

Abstracts: Nov 20th, 2022 (Round One)

https://amps-research.com/conference/livable-cities-new-york/

A cross-departmental conference held at City Tech (CUNY) with the Departments of Architectural Technology, Construction Management, Civil Engineering and Environmental Technology

LIVABLE CITIES - NEW YORK is a conference covering architecture, design, planning, health, technology, urban economics and social policy. It is calling for contributions to specific strands of sustainability, resilience, design, planning and construction.

These strands seek to explore issues related to net-zero energy buildings, sea defenses and strategic retreat, life cycle analysis in the construction industry, Building Environmental Assessment methods, EcoHomes, BREEAM, alternative energy generation in cities, material science and much more. 

The conference is organized across departments at City Tech (City University of New York) with Amps and publication support from Routledge and UCL Press.

CALL SUMMARY

What makes a city livable? Transport, housing, health and environment. Matters of culture, entrepreneurship, crime and safety. Affordability and education. Depending on whose ‘livability index’ you look at, it may include design quality, sustainability and the digital infrastructures of the smart city. Other criteria applied may encompass food access, job opportunities or walkability. Inclusivity and the politics of participation also come into play.

The past two decades have seen an exponential rise of livability measures. Reflecting increased urbanity globally, they risk making the notion of the city ever more contested. The two cities that host this event are cases in point. The Mercer Livability Ranking takes New York as the datum by which all other cities globally are graded – as better or worse. London, by contrast, measures itself: the London Assembly scoring everything from air quality to indices of deprivation. When we consider the livability of cities then, it is clear we are dealing with a plethora of issues – both isolated and, inevitably, interconnected.

Within this broad livability framework, we seek to develop strands and publications around themes of the design and construction sectors – particularly as they relate to sustainability and resilience.

https://amps-research.com/conference/livable-cities-new-york/

My source: http://www.cosmobilities.net/ list

n.b. A suggestion: consider the conference themes and the structure and domains of Hodges' model; what relationships, dichotomies, synergies, and opportunities can you glean?

ERCIM News No. 127 Special Theme: "Smart and Circular Cities"

Dear ERCIM News reader,

 "Smart and Circular Cities"

ERCIM News No. 127 has just been published at https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/

The Special Theme of this issue reports on research on smart and circular cities in Europe, using innovative technologies and approaches, reaching out to novel application domains. This special theme has been coordinated by our guest editors Erwin Schoitsch (AIT) and Georgios Mylonas (ISI, Athena Research and Innovation Center).

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be interested.We are also happy if you follow us and talk about us on social media @ercim_news

Next issue:
No. 128,  October 2021  January 2022*
Special Theme: "Quantum Computing" (submissions welcome!) 

About ERCIM

ERCIM - the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics - aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. Leading European research institutes are members of ERCIM. ERCIM is the European host of W3C.

Peter Kunz                      	
ERCIM Office

2004, Route des Lucioles
BP93
F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex 

Includes:

Smart and Circular Cities - Introduction to the Special Theme

 

A Holistic and Scalable Solution for Research, Innovation and Education During the Energy Transition

 

Dagstuhl Seminars and Perspectives Workshops - Call for Proposals

 

*A special form of uncertainty crept in and out again ...

 

See also:

Symposium on Solutions for Smart Cities Challenges (SSCC 2021)

Gandia, Spain. December 6-9, 2021 (Hybrid)

https://www.sscc.fr/sscc2021

WHO: 1 in 4 people projected to have hearing problems by 2050

"When unaddressed, hearing loss impacts many aspects of life at individual level"

 and collective too.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

"Communication and speech Cognition   Education and Employment: In developing countries, children with hearing loss and deafness often do not receive schooling. Adults with hearing loss also have a much higher unemployment rate. Among those who are employed, a higher percentage of people with hearing loss are in the lower grades of employment compared with the general workforce."

"Nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide ─ or 1 in 4 people ─ will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050, warns the World Health Organization’s (WHO) first World Report on Hearing, released today. At least 700 million of these people will require access to ear and hearing care and other rehabilitation services unless action is taken."

"But the most glaring gap in health system capacity is in human resources. Among low-income countries, about 78% have fewer than one ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist per million population; 93% have fewer than one audiologist per million; only 17% have one or more speech therapist per million; and 50% have one or more teacher for the deaf per million. This gap can be closed through integration of ear and hearing care into primary health care through strategies such as task sharing and training, outlined in the report."

"Impact on society and economy Years Lived with Disability (YDLs) and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) WHO estimates that unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual global cost of US$ 980 billion. This includes health sector costs (excluding the cost of hearing devices), costs of educational support, loss of productivity, and societal costs. 57% of these costs are attributed to low- and middle-income countries."

Sources:

https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2021-who-1-in-4-people-projected-to-have-hearing-problems-by-2050

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/deafness-and-hearing-loss

 

Dear colleagues,

We have recently published an article that presents some insights from Canada 

(full-text available from ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343400636_Here's_to_sound_action_on_global_hearing_health_through_public_health_approaches )

Shroff, F.M. and Jung, D. (2020), "Here's to sound action on global hearing health through public health approaches", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 235-244. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-01-2020-0004 

Abstract Purpose – A global pandemic, non-occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a completely preventable public health problem, which receives limited air time. This study has dual purposes: to contribute to scholarly literature that puts non-occupational NIHL on the global priority map and to effect change in the City of Vancouver’s policies toward noise. 

Design/methodology/approach – Experts in public health and hearing health were contacted in addition to a scoping literature search on PubMed. Information pertaining to both developed and developing countries was obtained, and comparison was made to Canada where possible. The authors met with elected officials at the City of Vancouver to inform them of the win–win aspects of policies that promoted better hearing.

Findings – Non-occupational NIHL is an underappreciated issue in Canada and many other countries, as seen by the lack of epidemiological data and public health initiatives. Other countries, such as Australia, have more robust research and public health programs, but most of the world lags behind. Better hearing health is possible through targeted campaigns addressing root causes of non-occupational, recreational noise–positive associations with loud noise. By redefining social norms so that soft to moderate sounds are associated with positive values and loud sounds are negatively attributed, the societies will prevent leisure NIHL. The authors recommend widespread national all-age campaigns that benefit from successful public health campaigns of the past, such as smoking cessation, safety belts and others. Soft Sounds are Healthy (SSH) is a suggested name for a campaign that would take many years, ample resources and sophisticated understanding of behavior change to be effective.

Research limitations/implications – A gap exists in the collection of non-occupational NIHL data. Creating indicators and regularly collecting data is a high priority for most nations. Beyond data collection, prevention of non-occupational NIHL ought to be a high priority. Studies in each region would propel understanding, partly to discern the cultural factors that would predispose the general population to change favorable attitudes toward loud sounds to associations of moderate sounds with positivity. Evaluations of these campaigns would then follow.

Practical implications – Everyday life for many people around the world, particularly in cities, is loud. Traffic, construction, loudspeakers, music and other loud sounds abound. Many people have adapted to these loud soundscapes, and others suffer from the lack of peace and quiet. Changing cultural attitudes toward loud sound will improve human and animal health, lessen the burden on healthcare systems and positively impact the economy. Social implications–Industries that create loud technologies and machinery ought to be required to find ways to soften noise. Regulatory mechanisms that are enforced by law and fines ought to be in place. When governments take up the banner of hearing health, they will help to set a new tone toward loud sounds as undesirable, and this will partially address the root causes of the problem of non-occupational NIHL.

Thanks

Irina Ibragimova, PhD

Co-editor, International Journal of Health Governance

HIFA profile: Irina Ibraghimova is a medical librarian, based in Croatia, and works with health care professionals in the countries of the Former Soviet Union, Central and Eastern Europe, and Africa. Her interests include evidence-based practice (both in health care and in library/informatics field). She is a HIFA Country Representative for Croatia. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/irina www.lrcnetwork.org www.healthconnect-intl.org ibra AT zadar.net

Source:

HIFA https://www.hifa.org/

(Posted a little late...)

Thomas Project. A Border Journal for Utopian Thoughts

Thomas Project. A Border Journal for Utopian Thoughts

Article submission date: 10^th May 2021

Issue: June / July 2021

Languages: english, portuguese, italian, french, spanish

Invited paper: Prof. dr. José Eduardo Franco

Throughout history, many utopian visions and theories have claimed to take a “global” or “universalist” approach, i.e. to speak for the whole of humankind. As such, utopian thought, like all spiritual, political and artistic configurations, is based on anthropological premises that are directly concerned with the worldview of an age – a worldview that some authors, many situated at the borders of their own age, consider worth pursuing for the sake of humankind as a whole.

The “global” scope of utopian visions gives rise to utopian plans that, if realized, could radically undermine the authors’ purposes, transforming the happy form of life they envisage into a totalitarian reality. Here we face the risk, run by many utopias, of creating dystopias.

Nevertheless, precisely through this approach, we find – within explicitly critical and satirical forms – a focus on the liberation of the weaker parts of society and an inclusive understanding of human problems. After all, political and spiritual movements – as well as many of the declarations on whose premises human rights are based, such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) – are children of both the utopian spirit and the historical tragedies of their age.

Studying the universalistic focus of the history of utopia thus involves studying the many forms through which a society conceives of itself beyond itself, its boundaries and its weaknesses. In this sense, our globalized age is also a child of global, philosophical, political, spiritual and technological utopias.

One of the most recent fields of research in this area focuses on “globalization” as a key consequence of modernity. The last thirty years have witnessed a series of phenomena the rapidity and innovativeness of which are far from being completely understood: on the one hand, the incredible digital, technological acceleration of the past few decades and the transformation of the capitalistic economy; on the other hand, the apparent creation of a world characterized by forms of living and challenges that are increasingly common to the whole of humankind.

Globalization taken in itself and the global phenomena that characterize our contemporary civilization embody images from past global utopian endeavors while producing their own global utopian visions.

For this issue, we are seeking articles that examine this theme in general, and the following sub-themes in particular:

• forms and images of global utopia:
• contemporary global utopias;
• global utopias throughout modern utopian thought;
• globalization as utopia and dystopia;
• the forms and history of the global city.

We welcome submissions that take a philosophical, literary, artistic, theological or political approach and that are written in one of the journal’s five languages: English, Italian, Portuguese, French or Spanish.

Editorial rules: here

For the full CfA, please follow this link: http://www.thomasproject.net/global-utopias/

Send your article to: redazionethomasproject AT gmail.com

My source:

Philos-L "The Liverpool List" is run by the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool 

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/philosophy/philos-l/

Book review: "Leave No One Behind" i #LNOB

Leave No One Behind

This book is like a favourite CD or LP [that's vinyl ;-) ], every track - chapter - is an ace - no duds. I wanted to start this review with the final chapter, but I'll pick that up in due course (iv?).

The book is structured in three parts:

1. People
2. Problems
3. Places

I don't read horror specifically, so it is not often a book scares me from the get-go; but this one did. 

Chapter 1 gets specific on the statistics of LNOB and sustainable development. The numbers make for grim reading and had me wondering how much sense I could make of the book overall from the albeit COVID tainted comfort of Wigan Pier. What stood out was the way the intro chapter set out the stall. Obviously, that's the purpose and while depressed at what was follow from the initial graphs, the structure and cogency provided its own impetus to read. The text is clear and very readable, the data, graphs, notes all have bite. While the SDGs are Sisyphean in nature, the intro is like a snowball that starts from the upper peaks and grows chapter by chapter in  meaning and significance.

Obviously, Agenda 2030 looms large, but if you think in first reading of poverty, or to be more specific ultra-poor, income, education, Africa, development and finance you know the agenda to follow then for this community mental health nurse there are insights aplenty.

Chapter 2 combines two central issues in gender equality (by 2030) with 'Women on the Move'. The book draws significance to decade long issues that now constitute a specific SDG - #5 in this case. The book is up-to-date - oozing contemporaneity with #MeToo and background on the cussedness of the root causes of gender inequality. There's common sense too in the need for 'adaptable solutions that are fit for the complexity of the problem'. On first reading about the progress of feminist movements, but more recently experiencing resistance in access to and being able to inhabit civil spaces, this is more 'scary' than a horror story. Reflecting on the 'other' challenges and climate change especially and the role that feminism can play, this retrograde motion could be the stuff of nightmares. The chapter and book, as I will explain, drew my attention to the fact that while I tweet and post here on feminist issues: I am no feminist. The notes provide references and pointers to specific books on feminism. From this book I can see I should read one.

Organizations, such as, BRAC, Camfed, CARE Int. and Oxfam with authors clearly experts from academia and such key players in the field. The balances are not just financial, but a community program on women and girls can potentially prompt a backlash if men and boys and not engaged. I can see further relevance of being able to traverse individual-group, as Matthews and Nunn debate the merits and limitations of individual-based and need for social-based interventions. Yes, I can see how individual-based interventions can be apolitical (and how an axis can invoke several thresholds). To a text on feminism, I must add formal reading on intersectionality too, as the analysis called upon here (box 2.2) to make sense of social and income-based factors. 

Several chapters raise the problem of scale, the lack of data, especially what is and can be measured. Without due care, false proxies can be used for measures and more simple interventions may be pursued because they are more easily quantified. This may be insufficient to fully understand the complexity of gender equality. The book is 'dynamic' throughout; with project and service-based action for the individual progressing then to movement-based at the social change level (CARE, 2017, p.31. Gender Equality Framework -- through Individual, Group, Communities to deliver Social Change).

Although in this first review-post I refer to feminism, the treatment in the book is balanced and also essential. I usually equate 'hope' with the intra- interpersonal domain. Of the many sources in this to follow-up, is evidence on the "science of hope" with Coates and MacMillan in chapter 3.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

hope	SCIENCE of HOPE

 

Homi Kharas, John W. McArthur and Izumi Ohno, (Eds.) 2020. Leave No One Behind: Time for Specifics on the Sustainable Development Goals, Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.  

Book: Refuge in a Moving World [open access]

Tracing refugee and migrant journeys across disciplines

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

	Refuge in a Moving World Tracing refugee and migrant journeys across disciplines

My source:
https://twitter.com/HealthSyria/status/1286761841373466626?s=20

C40: A City as an Individual..?

'2020' vision for leadership ...

INDIVIDUAL
|

INTER-PERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC -------------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

 GROUP 

mental wellbeing belonging  identity (sense of self) contentedness	City Geography Statistics Weather Climate Population Epidemiology Energy Roads Water Infrastructure Transport Rail Technology Waste Management Air Greening Food Evidence
community neighbourhoods Quality of Life  social values, cohesion, inclusion leisure, social spaces	C40 surveillance?, security, ethics, values policy, disaster planning (pop. shifts ongoing and to follow), health & social care services, housing, welfare provision, employment, transparency, governance, taxation...

See also (posted in October):

ERCIM News No. 119 Special theme "Smart Things Everywhere"

- which includes:

https://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en119/special/smart-municipality

Review: v "Climate Change and the People's Health"

Climate Change and the People's Health

At just over 30 pages chapter 3 the last is also the shortest, we all hope this does not reflect the length of the future?

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects

Before beginning to review Chapter 3 I need to revisit the closing sentences of the preceding chapter's conclusion - if you 'get' Hodges' model you will understand why:

"I [Friel] pick up on these ideas of complexity in chapter 3, arguing that how we understand and characterize these phenomena depends on our standpoint and also evolves as knowledge develops and available evidence accumulates. Given those complexities, responding to climate change and health inequity requires the development of policies that transcend doctrinal boundaries and draw on insights from a range of disciplines, including those in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities". p.112.

I hope you can see and will please excuse my reference to Hodges' model, but I've another.

Friel refers to how research is primarily based upon reductive pathologizing and needs to shift [ ;-) ] "towards research that is attentive to, and actively engaged with, policymaking processes". (p.114).

In Hodges' model, the Sciences and Politics are mechanistic, the sciences invariably (with some exceptions) reductive and the 4Ps I have attributed to the model as follows:

1. SCIENCES -PROCESS
2. POLITICAL - POLICY
3. SOCIOLOGY - Practice
4. INTRA- INTERPERSONAL - Purpose

(As in a previous part of this review I have been wondering how policy can (best) permeate the other care (knowledge) domains?)

Being where this review is posted I would be remiss not to state this, picking up on Friel's thought.

OK, let us get back on track. Taking the lead from chapter 2, in Chapter 3 Friel argues the need to take research, advocacy, and policy forward to address environmental degradation, social justice and health equity by breaking down the disciplinary, sectoral and various silos that exist in the many systems that are encountered. Systems research can increase our understanding and the evidence base. Interesting to note also then solutions can be crafted. (p.113). The evidence base on more equal societies is discussed. With the stress on systems research, systems and systems thinking are explained briefly and referenced. As will already be obvious I am all for the plurality of disciplinary approaches that is needed, but as Friel will conclude this, with systems science, and improved understanding of policy processes (hybridised: is this the Green Marshall Plan that is referred to?) to counter the resistance to change that is already being experienced now (p.115).

Perhaps above, I have fallen into Friel's trap. I have been caught out as a model monger (p.115)?

Scale is a concurrent consideration in Hodges' model, as with Friel's account of systems thinking. To macro- meso- and micro-levels let us add nano, there is much still unclear from the presence of plastics and other pollutants in the environment. The arrival of eco-epidemiology is to be applauded (p.116).

Any mention of 'systems' takes me to the Health System Redesign book I reviewed over a year ago on W2tQ. This is a very useful companion to "Climate Change ..." but is not referenced here. Box 3.1 'Systems Approach to Childhood Obesity Prevention' brought home the connection and the visual representation referred to (p.120). I could readily go off again with Friel's section on Politics, Policies, and Processes (p.122). Thank goodness for this - I feel better now - as Friel "shamelessly plugs" personal involvement with a research program at the CRE (p.124). The Centre for Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity needs to be, not just on the 'map' (Sciences - located geographically) but affecting policies, practices and purposes (individual and organisational). Friel provides several references - very useful and timely. I will reference this, as I'll explain next time. Again the much needed call for a move from reductionist pathologizing.

Box 3.3 Policy Principles for the World We Want is simplistic (like Hodges' model), but if delivered would be very impactful in terms of the positive change (p.128) that would ensue. Against p.134 my note is "It's a small world!" I'm not sure if this a reference to the Disney song as a perverse consumptagenic global eco-anthem, or to Schumacher? What could be noted (p.134) is the potential role of blockchain in assuring land tenure and ownership. This technology is much vaunted in health, education and the obvious application of economics. In terms of developing nations protection of land rights is critical (even as I write and you read). The chapter closes on policy from "The first 1000 days of Life" to "Health in All Policies" which I reflected upon as "Policies in All the (#h2cm) Domains"? How do we do this? There are avenues as Friel writes of macroeconomics and progressive policy development. There is much on the Social Development Goals and how cities (despite the critique on urbanization) are working together internationally to mitigate climate change effects, even as some governments fail to meet set objectives and global agreements.

The print and layout is excellent, a content listing of sections complements the index (invaluable). The next book I've to review has no index.

Small book, big ideas - correct on both counts and a very informative if rightly troubling read.
One last plea. Do buy this book, but don't leave it on your shelf; read it. There is no excuse, it's small, but your ideas on climate change and the people's health will grow!

I would like to thank OUP

CHAD ZIMMERMAN │ Senior Editor, Medicine and Public Health

Oxford University Press │ 198 Madison Avenue │ New York, NY

and Prof. Nancy Krieger for the review copy and Prof. Sharon Friel for engagement on twitter and RTs.

While I appreciate I make the request to review and this places absolutely no obligation on others, it helps a lot when a publisher / author / conference organiser ... acknowledges the effort - even just a thank you. As ever, the thanks is in the learning gained, not the thanks lost. Many do - lift a hand, nod their head ... of course, making this even more worthwhile here. TY


Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

Chapter 2. It's a Consumptagenic World: Producing Climate Change, Exacerbating Health Inequities


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York

Review: iv "Climate Change and the People's Health"

Climate Change and the People's Health

Whatever your educational philosophy when a book offers new concepts that is welcome learning. Learning enhanced when the concept, as is often the case, is a hybrid of terms.

Chapter 2 It's a Consumptagenic World looks at the veritable production of climate change. Our dependence on fossil fuels not just for our transport, but the transport of food and agricultural products is explored. Perhaps there is a political irony in the former slogan of education, education, education amid relentless growth, growth, growth. At least now there is a constant message regards there being "No Planet 'B'".

If chapter 1 considered food security, this chapter attends to the industrial food system. Once again the themes are first introduced and related back. Very interesting here is the rise of urbanisation and the drivers for this. In chapter 1 I noticed the word shift. Nurses are one occupational group that recognise this word only too well. Here though it is the shifts in population that is very worrying. Especially so when many people may be putting themselves in harm's way as chapter 1 described. It is encouraging to see references going back to the 1940s. There is an evidence trail.

Current economic systems seems to reward monopolies and creates externalities (p.60). Unfortunately there is a lack of evidence in the production of pollution if remediation is to be sought. The emission of greenhouse gases where products are produced may be remote from where they are consumed. Friel argues for accountability at the origin of products not where they are consumed. Such externalities are 'out of the box' and need to be put back in the box and properly accounted for - (ecological governance). Often industrial concerns also follow the cheapest ('best value?') labour markets, relocating when needed.

Friel really annoyed me. Yes, in a positive way. Figure 2.2 compares a range of consumer goods and how their cost has changed over time; food, housing, health care, versus technology, media goods for example (p.68). The need for sustainable health care services is a constant topic it seems (Centres of research, journal special issues, conferences, twitter chats...), but when the essentials of living are so expensive does this not undermine and load - displace the disparity - the inequity no-less on to the health sector, its workforce and funding? It is as if the scientific-economic-industrial complex is saying to the health care (and social care) sector "Carry This!". There is no choice. It is a consequence of the society in which the bulk of us live. As Friel writes, processed foods lend themselves to concentrated control of supply chains which can introduce pricing volatility (p.78). The price of good quality nutritional food is a health inequality (p.76); figure 2.3  (p.77) illustrates the system.

While reading I thought of how amid the emotional, social and economic ravages of dementia we talk (well some of us ...) of organisational memory, while having forgotten what 'local' means. The rise of glocalism and the pursuit of growth - at any price it seems - in some quarters even prompts a re-evaluation of philanthropy in the 21st relative to the 19th and 20th? I found myself wondering how we would recognise a shift (the shift) in the market's thinking when watching the business TV channels CNBC, Bloomberg and similar ilk? The consumptagenic system has an effect on organisational memory, it is a behaviour known as perseveration; repetition of the word: profit. For all the thoughts provoked in me, this book is not a capitalism bashing exercise. Far from it, it deals objectively with what remains a sad and dangerous reality.

If it were not for the realist and critical perspectives that must also be present, the efforts of technologists, policy makers and researchers (urban informatics) and others to create Smart cities would seem to guarantee success. The discussion on cities (pp. 93-112), their sustainability, projected populations and the health inequities arising from them is very illuminating. In a teaching situation there is a lot to engage students, not just in the 'city' but in the text overall.


Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York

Targeting poverty (in Hodges' model) c/o The Economist

"Indian politicians are promising more cash for the poor. They should be less selective. "

[ by the quarter - make progress ...? ]


individual - self

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group- population

"Targeting welfare is costly and difficult in a country like India.

If it looks for signs such as straw roofs, it will almost certainly miss many poor people, especially in the cities.

How is the state supposed to identify the poorest 50m households in a country where income and spending are so hard to track?

The political economy of targeted schemes is also tricky. In countries with minimal welfare states, schemes with few beneficiaries also have few supporters, and therefore risk being quietly wound down or diminished by inflation. And any formula used to target the bottom 20% is likely to be so opaque that people will never know whether they should have been included or not, so cannot fight for their entitlements."

"Two years ago a government report suggested a bold new approach. Instead of a universal basic income - an idea doing the rounds in rich countries - create a nearly universal scheme from which you exclude the richest quarter of the population."

Source: Leaders. Welfare in India: The beauty of breadth. The Economist, April 6, 2019, p.14.
Print edition.
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2019/04/06/a-better-anti-poverty-plan-for-india

WHO Housing and health guidelines

"Recommendations to promote healthy housing for a sustainable and equitable future"

The quality of housing has major implications for people’s health. Housing in cities is of particular concern, with the world’s urban population predicted to double by 2050 and, with it, the demand for housing. In both developed and developing countries, improving housing conditions and reducing health risks in the home is thus critically important.

Improved housing conditions can save lives, reduce disease, increase quality of life, reduce poverty, help mitigate climate change and contribute to the achievement of a number of Sustainable Development Goals, including those addressing health (SDG 3) and sustainable cities (SDG 11). Housing is therefore a major entry point for intersectoral public health programmes and primary prevention. [Foreward, p.xii]

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ------------ SDG 3 HEALTH----------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Mental Health Peace of Mind Sense of Well-Being Confidence Identity "Functional impairments are often operationalized in terms of whether a person can accomplish activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). IADL refers to basic tasks of everyday life such as bathing, dressing, transferring, toileting, continence and feeding. -	SDG 11 Sustainable cities Housing - Dwellings Indoors - Pollution - Outdoors benzo[a]pyrene carbon monoxide, particulate matter, ... Indoor heat :: Indoor cold Injury hazards, structure Research Weatherization Heat - Temperature - Cold Insulation Space, Noise, Fuel, Energy, Light Accessible home environments for people with functional impairments
ADL refers to a range of activities that are required for independent living in the community, such as preparing meals, housekeeping, taking medication, shopping, managing one’s own finances, travelling and using the telephone." p.69. HOME -  belonging, security and privacy Household Crowding - health Community Water access WASH water, sanitation and hygiene Social interactions	local, regional, national government Ministries of Health Housing regulations Standards Policy Funding - Cost Effectiveness Reduce poverty Impact of housing on: morbidity staying well, relapse risk hospital admissions recidivism  ...

CASA - Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis: Working Papers

Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 10:24:30 +0000
From: Willard McCarty
Subject: CASA Working Papers


Many here will find something of interest, I suspect, in the Working Papers series of the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London,
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/casa/latest/publications/working-papers. 


[updated]
 https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/casa/about-us/publications

In particular my eye was caught by Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin, "The ethics of forgetting in an age of pervasive computing", CASA Working Paper 92.

Undoubtedly those with GIS-related concerns will find much more than that.
Yours,
WM
--
Willard McCarty, FRAI / Professor of Humanities Computing & Director of the Doctoral Programme, Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London; Professor, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney; Editor, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews
(www.isr-journal.org); Editor, Humanist
(www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist/); www.mccarty.org.uk/

My source:  Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 26, No. 520. www.dhhumanist.org/
With CASA logo added here.