• Title/Summary/Keyword: Nordic

Search Result 95, Processing Time 0.021 seconds

Housing Welfare Policies in Scandinavia: A Comparative Perspective on a Transition Era

  • Jensen, Lotte
    • Land and Housing Review
    • /
    • v.4 no.2
    • /
    • pp.133-144
    • /
    • 2013
  • It is commonplace to refer to the Nordic countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland as a distinctive and homogenous welfare regime. As far as social housing is concerned, however, the institutional heritage of the respective countries significantly frames the ways in which social housing is understood, regulated and subsidized, and, in turn, how housing regimes respond to the general challenges to the national welfare states. The paper presents a historical institutionalist approach to understanding the diversity of regime responses in the modern era characterized by increasing marketization, welfare criticism and internationalization. The aim is to provide outside readers a theoretically guided empirical insight into Scandinavian social housing policy. The paper first lines up the core of the inbuilt argument of historical institutionalism in housing policy. Secondly, it briefly introduces the distinctive ideal typical features of the five housing regimes, which reveals the first internal distinction between the universal policies of Sweden and Denmark selective policies of Iceland and Finland. The Norwegian case constitutes a transitional model from general to selective during the past quarter of a decade. The third section then concentrates on the differences between Denmark, Sweden and Norway in which social housing is, our was originally, embedded in a universal welfare policy targeting the general level of housing quality for the entire population. Differences stand out, however, between finance, ownership, regulation and governance. The historical institutional argument is, that these differences frame the way in which actors operating on the respective policy arenas can and do respond to challenges. Here, in this section we lose Norway, which de facto has come to operate in a residual manner, due to contemporary effects of the long historical heritage of home ownership. The fourth section then discusses the recent challenges of welfare criticism, internationalization and marketization to the universal models in Denmark and Sweden. Here, it is argued that the institutional differences between the Swedish model of municipal ownership and the Danish model of independent cooperative social housing associations provides different sources of resistance to the prospective dismantlement of social housing as we know it. The fifth section presents the recent Danish reform of the governance model of social housing policy in which the housing associations are conceived of as 'dialogue partners' in the local housing policy, expected to create solutions to, rather than produce problems in social housing areas. The reform testifies to the strategic ability of the Danish social housing associations to employ their historically grounded institutional relative independence of the public system.

An understanding of green space policies and evaluation tools in the UK: A focus on the Green Flag Award (영국 녹지 정책과 녹지 평가 발달에 대한 이해: Green Flag Award를 중심으로)

  • Nam, Jin-Vo;Kim, Nam-Choon
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
    • /
    • v.22 no.1
    • /
    • pp.13-31
    • /
    • 2019
  • Green spaces are recognised for the benefits. They bring to the quality of people's lives. However, since the 1980s there has been a general increase in poorly-managed green spaces. In an attempt to address this issue, green space policy has changed its focus on green space management through the gradual introduction of green space evaluation tools, such as the Green Flag Award (GFA). The GFA, as an established green space evaluation tool in the UK, reflects a shift in policy drivers of green spaces management. However, there is a lack of research investigating the contextualisation between a wide range of policy contexts and such green space evaluation tools (the GFA in this study). The aims of this study are therefore to explore the development of green space evaluation since the late 1990s, with respect to the growth of the GFA and its impact on other evaluation tools across the UK and several countries. To address the aims, this study employs in-depth literature reviews on UK green space policy mainly conducted by government. In addition, case studies are presented, focusing on the GFA and independent green space evaluation tools intrinsically derived from the GFA in the UK's cities and Nordic countries. Results show that based on the awareness of the severity of declining standards of green spaces, newly emerging policy arrangements have been adopted to address negative issues, which affect the standard of green spaces such as the transfer of responsibility for green space management, the implementation of Compulsory Competitive Tendering and ongoing budget cuts. Significantly, the GFA's indicators reflect the emerging changes of economic and social contexts associated with green spaces management where, in particular, the prospect of continuous budget cuts, which encourages communities to become involved in green space management. The GFA has widely contributed to leading such UK's cities and other countries to be able to create their independent green space evaluation tools in different approaches based on stakeholders' (mainly community) involvement in the decision-making process of green space evaluation. In conclusion, this study implies that successful green space evaluation tools do embody the value of green spaces and address drivers of emerging green space management with correspondence to the context of policy arrangements. Importantly, stakeholders have an opportunity to be involved in a partnership in the decision-making process through some green space evaluation tools. It is hoped that for well-managed green spaces this study will contribute valuable knowledge to our existing understanding of green space management in an era of austerity.

Effects of core training on abdominal muscle strength, sagent lump, Y-balance and equilibrium sensory control in freestyle skiers (코어 훈련이 프리스타일 스키 선수들의 배근력, 서전트 점프, Y-자 검사 및 평형감각 조절 능력에 미치는 효과)

  • Jung, Chul;Park, Woo-Young
    • Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
    • /
    • v.38 no.2
    • /
    • pp.608-617
    • /
    • 2021
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 8 weeks of core training on the abdominal muscle strength, sargent lumps, Y-balance and equilibrium freestyle skiers'. Fourteen freestyle players were randomly assigned to the exercise group(Ex)(n=7) and control groups(Con)(n=7). Ex undertook a 8-week training program that included exercises for the Bench, Sideway bench, and Nordic hamstring whereas Con performed their usual activities. Muscular fitness were significant effect observed, but there was no difference between groups. The Y-balance test was effective in the front left, and the left and right left posteromedial showed significantly differences between the groups. In the total score, the Ex decreased to 7.5cm in the left and right difference and 1.66cm in the post, but the control group increased from 3.73cm in the pre-test to 7.01cm in the post-test. In the Equilibrium test, there was significant result in condition(C) in C2, C5, and C6. In conclusion, the 8-week core training was found to have a beneficial effect on the postural control in freestyle skiers'.

Comparison of Safety Culture Awareness between Client and Subcontractors' Employees according to the Experience of Accidents and Near Misses (사고와 아차사고 경험에 따른 원청과 협력업체 근로자 간 안전문화 인식 비교)

  • Kim, Dong Yeol;Park, Jae Hee
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
    • /
    • v.37 no.2
    • /
    • pp.28-34
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study analyzes the impact that accidents and near misses have on clients' and contractors' awareness of safety culture. Due to the unique characteristic of employment structure in Korea, the occurrence of accidents differs by company size, which has relevant implications for the establishment of safety culture. Attention has been drawn to the importance of the management of accidents and near misses, with safety awareness acting as a core factor. A positive effect on the prevention of accidents could be achieved by noting the difference in safety awareness between clients and contractors and suggesting an associated suitable safety management system. In support of this study, a survey was distributed to workers in the automobile manufacturing industry (May-August 2020), and data from a total of 574 workers was collected and analyzed, including 399 clients' worksers and 175 contractors' workers. The questionnaire addressed participants' experiences of accidents and near misses as well as 50 items from the Nordic Occupational Safety Climate Questionnaire. Analysis of the responses was conducted using the methods of frequency analysis, Fisher's exact test, t-test, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results demonstrated that clients had more experiences with accidents and near misses compared to contractors. Additional differences between clients and contractors were noted in terms of the safety culture factors of learning, communication, and trust. A correlation was observed between the experience of accidents and safety justice management: for clients and contractors who experienced accidents, safety justice management was 9.4 times higher. Furthermore, clients' and contractors' awareness of employees' commitment to safety was determined to be 28.5 times higher in those who had experienced near misses This study concludes that, in order to improve accident prevention through the management of accidents and near misses, clients must focus on overseeing safety justice management and aspects of safety culture factors, while contractors must focus efforts on managing employees' commitment to safety. In further applications, this study could provide baseline data for health and safety activities in terms of the safety culture of clients and contractors. Further study on the establishment of safety culture as related to employment structure is proposed for future research.

A Study on Application of Improved Tunnel Water-Sealing Grouting Construction Process and the Inverse Analysis Material Selection Method Using the Injection Processing Results (개선된 터널 차수그라우팅 시공 프로세스 적용 및 그 주입시공결과를 이용한 역해석 재료선정방법 연구)

  • Kim, Jin Chun;Yoo, Byung Sun;Kang, Hee Jin;Choi, Gi Sung;Kim, Seok Hyun
    • Journal of Korean Society of Disaster and Security
    • /
    • v.15 no.3
    • /
    • pp.101-113
    • /
    • 2022
  • This study is planned with the aim of developing a systematic construction process based on the scientific and engineering theory of the water-sealing grouting construction applied to the tunnel excavation process during the construction of the downtown underground traffic network, so that the construction quality of the relatively backward domestic tunnel water-sealing grouting construction is improved and continuously maintained no matter who constructs it. The main contents of the improved tunnel water-sealing grouting can be largely examined in the classification of tunnel water-sealing grouting application and the definition of grouting materials, the correlation analysis of groundwater pressure conditions with groundwater inflow, the study of the characteristic factors of bedrock, and the element technologies and injection management techniques required for grouting construction. Looking at the trends in global research, research in the field of theoretical-based science and engineering grouting is actively progressing in Nordic countries (Sweden, Finland, Norway, etc.), Japan, Germany, and the United States. Therefore, in this study, the algorithm is established through theoretical analysis of the elements of tunnel water-sealing grouting construction techniques to provide an integrated solution including a construction process that can effectively construct tunnel water-sealing grouting construction.