Towards a renaissance in urban parks

Public parks have been a familiar and popular feature of our towns and cities since their appearance throughout the 19th century. They arose out of social concern over public health and happiness and as a reaction to the squalid conditions endured by the masses. Civic pride determined that they were maintained to a very high standard as symbols of municipal power and excellence. Public parks were the first resort for local communities, especially children, to have fun and to relieve the pressures of modern life. As well as providing an urban pastoral they also provided for the exuberance of amatuer sport and lively play. They continued and strengthened the British fascination with horticultural magnificence ‐council apprenticeships provided the head gardeners for the National Trust and private estates as well as the men who competed with their peers in ever more imaginative and technically accomplished picture‐and carpet‐bedding displays which adorned the nation's premier public parks.

All this has sadly passed. The decline of parks can be traced back to the removal of railings for the War effort and consequent loss of sense of place, but the real damage became cumulative from the mid‐1970s. Local government reorganisation, political struggle between local and central government, privatisation of local services, year‐on‐year cuts in capital and revenue budgets and a shift of emphasis to foreign holidays and car‐borne countryside recreation all contributed to the downfall of urban parks into the dismal, neglected and vandalised landscapes which have become so familiar today. Responding to the concerns of voluntary and professional bodies, the Heritage Lottery Fund launched the Urban Parks Programme in 1996 to begin to address the issues. The Urban Parks Programme experience has highlighted how seriously underfunded parks have been and has committed far more money than intended to tackle the massive backlog of repairs to essential park infrastructure. It has also tried to address the causes of decline in partnership with local authorities and other bodies in the field ‐ loss of management structure and skills, lack of political support and understanding, and dearth of relevant data concerning parks.

This article traces the fortunes of public parks from their inception to their decline and documents the stirring of a potential renaissance as the government shows its concern with quality of life issues, with social exclusion, with multiple deprivation and with regeneration of the economic vitality and social coherence of urban areas. A government Select Committee has recently examined the state of the nation's parks and declared itself shocked and appalled at the extent of the problems that parks have faced in the last 30 years. There is now a chance that the long downward trend in the status and condition of urban parks can be reversed if a vigorous lead is given by government.     

Les graphes de flux dans l'enseignement secondaire

Sans résuméTravail effectué dans le cadre du groupe de recherche en didactique de la mathématique du Conseil National des Recherches.     

The ethical status of non-commercial spam

Much attention has been given in recent years to the moral status of commercial spam. Less attention has been focused on newer, non-commercial varieties of spam, such as spam from political parties, community sector organizations and governments. This article makes a start on evaluating the moral status of these non-commercial varieties of spam, drawing on arguments used to evaluate commercial spam.     

L'intégration centrée autour des mathématiques du ler cycle de l'enseignement secondaire

Sans résuméConférence tenue au Congrès sur l'Intégration des enseignements scientifiques, à Varna, 11–19 Septembre 1968.     

Beyond the Classroom: Fostering Soft Skills in Pre-Professional LIS Organizations

Are LIS graduates being adequately prepared to work in the information workplace? While students are absorbing valuable knowledge, library school curricula do not foster the essential soft skills students need to thrive in their post-graduate careers. However by being an active member of a graduate student organization, future LIS professionals can gain and hone effective soft skills, such as communication, initiative, curiosity, understanding, and the means to deal with mistakes, while adopting responsibilities that will all ultimately translate to success in the professional workplace, particularly in their first positions following graduation.     

Physical activity patterns of ethnic children from low socio-economic environments within the UK

Many children fail to meet physical activity (PA) guidelines for health benefits. PA behaviours are complex and depend on numerous interrelated factors. The study aims to develop current understanding of how children from low Socio-economic environments within the UK use their surrounding built environments for PA by using advanced technology. The environment was assessed in 96 school children (7–9 years) using global positioning system (GPS) monitoring (Garmin Forerunner, 305). In a subsample of 46 children, the environment and PA were assessed using an integrated GPS and heart rate monitor. The percentage of time spent indoor, outdoor, in green and non-green environments along with time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in indoor and outdoor environments were assessed. A 2-by-2 repeated measures analysis of covariance, controlling for body mass index, BF%, assessed the environmental differences. The findings show that 42% of children from deprived wards of Coventry fail to meet PA guidelines, of which 43% was accumulated during school. Children engaged in more MVPA outdoor than indoor environments (P < 0.01) and a greater amount of time was spent in non-green environments (P < 0.01). Increased time outdoors was negatively associated with BF%. In conclusion, outdoor environments are important for health-enhancing PA and reducing fatness in deprived and ethnic children.     

Reliability and validity of a talent identification test battery for seated and standing Paralympic throws

Paralympic throwing events for athletes with physical impairments comprise seated and standing javelin, shot put, discus and seated club throwing. Identification of talented throwers would enable prediction of future success and promote participation; however, a valid and reliable talent identification battery for Paralympic throwing has not been reported. This study evaluates the reliability and validity of a talent identification battery for Paralympic throws. Participants were non-disabled so that impairment would not confound analyses, and results would provide an indication of normative performance. Twenty-eight non-disabled participants (13 M; 15 F) aged 23.6 years (±5.44) performed five kinematically distinct criterion throws (three seated, two standing) and nine talent identification tests (three anthropometric, six motor); 23 were tested a second time to evaluate test–retest reliability. Talent identification test–retest reliability was evaluated using Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Bland–Altman plots (Limits of Agreement). Spearman’s correlation assessed strength of association between criterion throws and talent identification tests. Reliability was generally acceptable (mean ICC = 0.89), but two seated talent identification tests require more extensive familiarisation. Correlation strength (mean r_s = 0.76) indicated that the talent identification tests can be used to validly identify individuals with competitively advantageous attributes for each of the five kinematically distinct throwing activities. Results facilitate further research in this understudied area.     

The Uneasy Relationship of Self‐Critique in the Public Art Institution

Reacting to the gradual neoliberalization of the European public art institutional landscape, actors within a number of critical art museums and galleries have attempted to reform their institutions from within through a process that is largely commensurate with Chantal Mouffe's radical political strategy of ‘critique as hegemonic engagement‐with’. This article focuses on Manuel J. Borja‐Villel's attempt to implement such a strategy at the Museu D'Art Contemporani, Barcelona (MACBA) in the early 2000s. Through an examination of two key projects – Las Agencias (The Agencies) (2001) and Com Volem ser Governats? (How do we want to be governed) (2003‐2004) – it considers the efficacy of such an approach. In so doing, it calls into question the public art institution's ability to perform a self‐critique when embedded within the hegemony of the neoliberal order and constrained by bureaucratic institutional limitations. It concludes by noting that Mouffe's strategy of engagement does not give sufficient consideration to the dependence critical public art institutions have on local and national political support and its funding channels, making them extremely susceptible to instrumentalization. In response to this constraint, it makes the recommendation that, rather than curbing their experimentation, these critical actors should embrace the potentially temporary status of their institutions, and intentionally push them to and even beyond their bureaucratic limitations.     

Exploring factors that influence adoption of e‐learning within higher education

E‐learning is increasingly adopted in the workplace for supporting professional development and continuing education; however, in higher education, the use of e‐learning is predominantly used as a tool support teaching. As a relatively new priority for universities, this paper explores what influences its adoption. Challenges identified in the literature include organisational features of universities like faculty autonomy and dispersed academic perspectives. This study, carried out at the University of Warwick, adopted a phenomenological approach and explored participants' perceptions through a series of faculty‐based focus groups and individual interviews. Factors identified as influential to adoption of e‐learning included the institutional infrastructure, staff attitudes and skills, and perceived student expectations. Participants suggested the importance of an institutional strategy targeted at providing sufficient resources and guidance for effective implementation. This strategy needs to be supported by a varied programme of staff development and opportunities for sharing practice among colleagues. In further developing understanding in this area, it would be beneficial to replicate the study with other stakeholder groups (including the leadership team and students) to develop an institutional strategy responsive at all levels of implementation. It would also be valuable to investigate the extent to which these findings are replicated within other workplaces looking to adopt innovation.