Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) has drawn scholarly attention for its innovative features, such a... more Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) has drawn scholarly attention for its innovative features, such as the emergence of new associational forms, proximal relations and new quality conventions. A better understanding of SFSC is attained when looking at it as alternative food networks structured around organizational relationships. Aiming toward a comprehensive conceptualization of SFSC, this paper presents the findings of a transnational empirical investigation of different cases in a search of their central and most typical features. Building upon the Community of Practice (CoP) concept, SFSC are conceptualized as co-creative processes and as constructed realities with their traits being shaped by the interaction of participating multiple-actors. The sample of this study involves nine CoPs which are located in different parts of Europe and which were studied through open space discussions (World Café) with the participation of the various actors involved in the chain from production to ...
Sustainability, one of the most popular terms of public debate and policy agenda, enters architec... more Sustainability, one of the most popular terms of public debate and policy agenda, enters architectural thought to make sustainable architectural design mainstream. Sometimes focusing on issues of environmental protection and energy conservation, sometimes on green aesthetics and some other times on participatory processes, sustainable design is a pluralistic term with regard to its materialities, the process of its production, its aesthetics and the professional practices with which it is linked. Beginning with these observations and being based on a social constructivist approach, the study is searching for the social meaning of sustainable design by examining the accounts of Greek architects. In depth interviews were carried out and analyzed with the use of three interpretative tools: the social representation, the sociopolitical framing and the narrative approach of sustainable design. The findings suggest that sustainable design can be interpreted either from a techno-centric or...
Supplemental material, abs8-online-appendix for The Spatial Scope of Youth-Related Claims Making ... more Supplemental material, abs8-online-appendix for The Spatial Scope of Youth-Related Claims Making in Nine European Countries by Maria Paschou, Maria Kousis, Manlio Cinalli and Didier Chabanet in American Behavioral Scientist
The notion of solidarity plays an important role in debates about the future of Europe. Yet, it c... more The notion of solidarity plays an important role in debates about the future of Europe. Yet, it can be used in a diverse or even contradictory manner as contemporary discussions about refugees in Europe or the implementation of social rights at the EU-level well illustrate. While the focus of public attention is often on political leaders, the goal of this article is to deepen our knowledge about the understanding of solidarity by its practitioners at the grassroots-level of solidarity work. Our study is based on 97 individual interviews with representatives of transnational solidarity organisations (TSOs) located in Germany, Poland, and Greece. We show how their understanding of solidarity varies across three basic themes: the rationale of action, the scope of beneficiaries, and relations with and among beneficiaries. Most strikingly, our research reveals that the core understanding of solidarity among the TSOs under review reflects a progressive, transnational type of solidarity t...
A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective cit... more A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective citizen initiatives arising in response to hard economic times, such as solidarity-based exchanges and networks, cooperative structures, barter clubs, credit unions, ethical banks, time banks, alternative social currency, citizens' self-help groups, neighbourhood assemblies and social enterprises. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, scholarly attention on novel, alternative, resilient structures has increased, especially in regions that have been most affected. A comprehensive literature review is therefore needed on these initiatives which usually aim to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, health and education at the community level, or build and envision autonomous communities. This paper has four aims. First, it proposes a new, all-encompassing conceptual framework, alternative forms of resilience, to embrace all issues and groups related to such initiatives, during the ne...
The European ‘crisis decade’ triggered discussions about solidarity and it´s limits; at the polic... more The European ‘crisis decade’ triggered discussions about solidarity and it´s limits; at the policy level, the debates were mostly about determining the deservingness of solidarity of each vulnerable group, and at the street level, actors involved saw the demand for concrete service provision grow while their resources stayed the same or retrenched. This paper is interested in the limits of solidarity precisely at the street level; hence we investigate what combinations of operational conditions (budget, status, volunteers) lead the civil society organizations to engage in more solidarity activities (service provision and advocacy). Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are, beside the state and the family, a vital provider of solidarity services and a significant actor in advocacy for vulnerable groups. As any organization, CSOs are rationalised structures that pursue a concrete goal and for this purpose, rely on different resources and strategies. The paper, therefore, investigates co...
This article highlights the importance of crisis-related transformations experienced during the 2... more This article highlights the importance of crisis-related transformations experienced during the 2008–2016 period by transnationally oriented, citizen-led solidarity organisations, a topic that has received scant scholarly attention. It offers an exploratory, comparative analysis of the main features of these Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) which rests on a comprehensive conceptual framework of ‘alternative forms of resilience’, referring to the ability to bounce back from hardship and meet human needs in challenging times. We apply a new methodology, Action Organisation Analysis, which is based on information coded from organisational websites of solidarity organisations retrieved from online directories. Using a sample of 1753 TSOs, we examine two types of approaches: adaptive (philanthropic, formal, or reformist) and autonomous (mutual-help, informal, or contentious) ones. We document differential transformations for adaptive and autonomous TSOs, as reflected in thei...
Η βιωσιμότητα, ένας από τους δημοφιλέστερους όρους του δημόσιου διαλόγου και της πολιτικής ατζέντ... more Η βιωσιμότητα, ένας από τους δημοφιλέστερους όρους του δημόσιου διαλόγου και της πολιτικής ατζέντας, εντάσσεται στην αρχιτεκτονική σκέψη καθιστώντας το βιώσιμο αρχιτεκτονικό σχεδιασμό κυρίαρχη τάση του κλάδου σήμερα. Άλλοτε επικεντρωνόμενος σε ζητήματα περιβαλλοντικής προστασίας κι εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας, άλλοτε στην πράσινη αισθητική κι άλλοτε σε ζητήματα συμπαραγωγής του σχεδιασμού, ο βιώσιμος σχεδιασμός αποτελεί όρο πλουραλιστικό ως προς τις υλικότητές του, τη διαδικασία παραγωγής του, την αισθητική του και τα πρότυπα πρακτικής που προτείνει. Ξεκινώντας από αυτές τις διαπιστώσεις και βασιζόμενη στην υπόθεση της κοινωνικής κατασκευής του βιώσιμου σχεδιασμού, η μελέτη αναζητά το κοινωνικό του νόημα μέσα από τους λόγους ελλήνων αρχιτεκτόνων. Το εμπειρικό υλικό που προκύπτει από τη διενέργεια συνεντεύξεων βάθους αναλύεται με τη βοήθεια τριών ερμηνευτικών εργαλείων: της κοινωνικής αναπαράστασης, της κοινωνικοπολιτικής πλαισίωσης και της αφηγηματικής προσέγγισης του βιώσιμου σχεδιασμο...
This comparative examination sheds light on the spatial scope of actors making youth-related clai... more This comparative examination sheds light on the spatial scope of actors making youth-related claims in mainstream media. Drawing on the “political opportunity structure” approach, our main argument is that the spatial scope of political debates on youth-related issues are driven by institutional arrangements reflecting windows of opportunities for the representation of various youth interests. Methodologically, we draw on “claim-making” analysis of five newspapers for each of the nine countries of the EURYKA project, that is, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Our cross-national exploratory analysis aims to show, (a) how state configuration and youth regime contexts impact on the spatial scope of youth and nonyouth actors, and furthermore, on specific state, civil society, and interest group actors, as well as (b) whether this leads to a new clustering of countries across spatial divides in the age of youth precarity. Cross-na...
A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective cit... more A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective citizen initiatives arising in response to hard economic times, such as solidarity-based exchanges and networks, cooperative structures, barter clubs, credit unions, ethical banks, time banks, alternative social currency, citizens' self-help groups, neighbourhood assemblies and social enterprises. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, scholarly attention on novel, alternative, resilient structures has increased, especially in regions that have been most affected. A comprehensive literature review is therefore needed on these initiatives which usually aim to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, health and education at the community level, or build and envision autonomous communities. This paper has four aims. First, it proposes a new, all-encompassing conceptual framework, alternative forms of resilience, to embrace all issues and groups related to such initiatives, during the ne...
The economic crisis following the financial meltdown in 2007 had disparate impacts for citizens o... more The economic crisis following the financial meltdown in 2007 had disparate impacts for citizens of the southern and northern Eurozone member states. In this study, we analyze public debates in Germany and Greece, two countries that have attracted global attention during the crisis, through a political claims analysis based on newspaper articles published between 2005 and 2014. The article makes use of multiple correspondence analysis to detect the patterns governing the discursive construction of the European financial and economic crisis. Our findings corroborate the expected differences between the Greek and German debates in regard to core issues and assessments. However , the de-alignment of political cleavages in both countries is notable and stresses seemingly an underlying mainstreaming process that limits the diversity of crisis-related claims.
Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) has drawn scholarly attention for its innovative features, such a... more Short Food Supply Chains (SFSC) has drawn scholarly attention for its innovative features, such as the emergence of new associational forms, proximal relations and new quality conventions. A better understanding of SFSC is attained when looking at it as alternative food networks structured around organizational relationships. Aiming toward a comprehensive conceptualization of SFSC, this paper presents the findings of a transnational empirical investigation of different cases in a search of their central and most typical features. Building upon the Community of Practice (CoP) concept, SFSC are conceptualized as co-creative processes and as constructed realities with their traits being shaped by the interaction of participating multiple-actors. The sample of this study involves nine CoPs which are located in different parts of Europe and which were studied through open space discussions (World Café) with the participation of the various actors involved in the chain from production to ...
Sustainability, one of the most popular terms of public debate and policy agenda, enters architec... more Sustainability, one of the most popular terms of public debate and policy agenda, enters architectural thought to make sustainable architectural design mainstream. Sometimes focusing on issues of environmental protection and energy conservation, sometimes on green aesthetics and some other times on participatory processes, sustainable design is a pluralistic term with regard to its materialities, the process of its production, its aesthetics and the professional practices with which it is linked. Beginning with these observations and being based on a social constructivist approach, the study is searching for the social meaning of sustainable design by examining the accounts of Greek architects. In depth interviews were carried out and analyzed with the use of three interpretative tools: the social representation, the sociopolitical framing and the narrative approach of sustainable design. The findings suggest that sustainable design can be interpreted either from a techno-centric or...
Supplemental material, abs8-online-appendix for The Spatial Scope of Youth-Related Claims Making ... more Supplemental material, abs8-online-appendix for The Spatial Scope of Youth-Related Claims Making in Nine European Countries by Maria Paschou, Maria Kousis, Manlio Cinalli and Didier Chabanet in American Behavioral Scientist
The notion of solidarity plays an important role in debates about the future of Europe. Yet, it c... more The notion of solidarity plays an important role in debates about the future of Europe. Yet, it can be used in a diverse or even contradictory manner as contemporary discussions about refugees in Europe or the implementation of social rights at the EU-level well illustrate. While the focus of public attention is often on political leaders, the goal of this article is to deepen our knowledge about the understanding of solidarity by its practitioners at the grassroots-level of solidarity work. Our study is based on 97 individual interviews with representatives of transnational solidarity organisations (TSOs) located in Germany, Poland, and Greece. We show how their understanding of solidarity varies across three basic themes: the rationale of action, the scope of beneficiaries, and relations with and among beneficiaries. Most strikingly, our research reveals that the core understanding of solidarity among the TSOs under review reflects a progressive, transnational type of solidarity t...
A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective cit... more A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective citizen initiatives arising in response to hard economic times, such as solidarity-based exchanges and networks, cooperative structures, barter clubs, credit unions, ethical banks, time banks, alternative social currency, citizens' self-help groups, neighbourhood assemblies and social enterprises. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, scholarly attention on novel, alternative, resilient structures has increased, especially in regions that have been most affected. A comprehensive literature review is therefore needed on these initiatives which usually aim to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, health and education at the community level, or build and envision autonomous communities. This paper has four aims. First, it proposes a new, all-encompassing conceptual framework, alternative forms of resilience, to embrace all issues and groups related to such initiatives, during the ne...
The European ‘crisis decade’ triggered discussions about solidarity and it´s limits; at the polic... more The European ‘crisis decade’ triggered discussions about solidarity and it´s limits; at the policy level, the debates were mostly about determining the deservingness of solidarity of each vulnerable group, and at the street level, actors involved saw the demand for concrete service provision grow while their resources stayed the same or retrenched. This paper is interested in the limits of solidarity precisely at the street level; hence we investigate what combinations of operational conditions (budget, status, volunteers) lead the civil society organizations to engage in more solidarity activities (service provision and advocacy). Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are, beside the state and the family, a vital provider of solidarity services and a significant actor in advocacy for vulnerable groups. As any organization, CSOs are rationalised structures that pursue a concrete goal and for this purpose, rely on different resources and strategies. The paper, therefore, investigates co...
This article highlights the importance of crisis-related transformations experienced during the 2... more This article highlights the importance of crisis-related transformations experienced during the 2008–2016 period by transnationally oriented, citizen-led solidarity organisations, a topic that has received scant scholarly attention. It offers an exploratory, comparative analysis of the main features of these Transnational Solidarity Organisations (TSOs) which rests on a comprehensive conceptual framework of ‘alternative forms of resilience’, referring to the ability to bounce back from hardship and meet human needs in challenging times. We apply a new methodology, Action Organisation Analysis, which is based on information coded from organisational websites of solidarity organisations retrieved from online directories. Using a sample of 1753 TSOs, we examine two types of approaches: adaptive (philanthropic, formal, or reformist) and autonomous (mutual-help, informal, or contentious) ones. We document differential transformations for adaptive and autonomous TSOs, as reflected in thei...
Η βιωσιμότητα, ένας από τους δημοφιλέστερους όρους του δημόσιου διαλόγου και της πολιτικής ατζέντ... more Η βιωσιμότητα, ένας από τους δημοφιλέστερους όρους του δημόσιου διαλόγου και της πολιτικής ατζέντας, εντάσσεται στην αρχιτεκτονική σκέψη καθιστώντας το βιώσιμο αρχιτεκτονικό σχεδιασμό κυρίαρχη τάση του κλάδου σήμερα. Άλλοτε επικεντρωνόμενος σε ζητήματα περιβαλλοντικής προστασίας κι εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας, άλλοτε στην πράσινη αισθητική κι άλλοτε σε ζητήματα συμπαραγωγής του σχεδιασμού, ο βιώσιμος σχεδιασμός αποτελεί όρο πλουραλιστικό ως προς τις υλικότητές του, τη διαδικασία παραγωγής του, την αισθητική του και τα πρότυπα πρακτικής που προτείνει. Ξεκινώντας από αυτές τις διαπιστώσεις και βασιζόμενη στην υπόθεση της κοινωνικής κατασκευής του βιώσιμου σχεδιασμού, η μελέτη αναζητά το κοινωνικό του νόημα μέσα από τους λόγους ελλήνων αρχιτεκτόνων. Το εμπειρικό υλικό που προκύπτει από τη διενέργεια συνεντεύξεων βάθους αναλύεται με τη βοήθεια τριών ερμηνευτικών εργαλείων: της κοινωνικής αναπαράστασης, της κοινωνικοπολιτικής πλαισίωσης και της αφηγηματικής προσέγγισης του βιώσιμου σχεδιασμο...
This comparative examination sheds light on the spatial scope of actors making youth-related clai... more This comparative examination sheds light on the spatial scope of actors making youth-related claims in mainstream media. Drawing on the “political opportunity structure” approach, our main argument is that the spatial scope of political debates on youth-related issues are driven by institutional arrangements reflecting windows of opportunities for the representation of various youth interests. Methodologically, we draw on “claim-making” analysis of five newspapers for each of the nine countries of the EURYKA project, that is, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Our cross-national exploratory analysis aims to show, (a) how state configuration and youth regime contexts impact on the spatial scope of youth and nonyouth actors, and furthermore, on specific state, civil society, and interest group actors, as well as (b) whether this leads to a new clustering of countries across spatial divides in the age of youth precarity. Cross-na...
A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective cit... more A variety of theoretical and conceptual perspectives have been applied to studying collective citizen initiatives arising in response to hard economic times, such as solidarity-based exchanges and networks, cooperative structures, barter clubs, credit unions, ethical banks, time banks, alternative social currency, citizens' self-help groups, neighbourhood assemblies and social enterprises. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, scholarly attention on novel, alternative, resilient structures has increased, especially in regions that have been most affected. A comprehensive literature review is therefore needed on these initiatives which usually aim to meet basic needs such as food, shelter, health and education at the community level, or build and envision autonomous communities. This paper has four aims. First, it proposes a new, all-encompassing conceptual framework, alternative forms of resilience, to embrace all issues and groups related to such initiatives, during the ne...
The economic crisis following the financial meltdown in 2007 had disparate impacts for citizens o... more The economic crisis following the financial meltdown in 2007 had disparate impacts for citizens of the southern and northern Eurozone member states. In this study, we analyze public debates in Germany and Greece, two countries that have attracted global attention during the crisis, through a political claims analysis based on newspaper articles published between 2005 and 2014. The article makes use of multiple correspondence analysis to detect the patterns governing the discursive construction of the European financial and economic crisis. Our findings corroborate the expected differences between the Greek and German debates in regard to core issues and assessments. However , the de-alignment of political cleavages in both countries is notable and stresses seemingly an underlying mainstreaming process that limits the diversity of crisis-related claims.
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