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A concept and an implementation of the multimedia computer system for the monitoring of environmental noise is presented in the paper. The system provides an extension to the Internet‐based system for testing hearing which was engineered and launched in 1999. A considerable portion of hearing diseases is caused by excessive industry, urban and traffic noise or any unwanted sounds occurring in everyday life. Consequently, it is expected that a reduction of hearing diseases occurrence will be achieved as a result of implementation of the solutions that have been developed within the project scope. The latest technological advances in information technology were used in the course of the project realisation. Consequently, it is shown in the paper that the presented solutions are based on some innovative ideas and inexpensive technical means for measuring noise and vibration allowing fast evaluation of its influence on the psychosomatic and the vegetative system. It is expected that implementation of the noise telemonitoring system covering whole country will contribute to rising awareness of society and authorities with regard of the influence of noise on health. Furthermore, it turns out to be an essential factor in the future improvement of the environmental noise conditions.

This chapter focuses on the newness of neighbour relations and new scenarios of neighbouring that have emerged in the recently built residential districts of large Russian cities – Moscow and St Petersburg. In the last decades, the scenarios of neighbouring in Russia have undergone significant changes due to the collapse of the Soviet system and the formation of a new sociality. In this situation, new urban districts have become a testing ground where new scenarios of neighbouring have been developed in everyday communication. The study finds that the emerging scenario of neighbouring differs from lifelong Soviet neighbouring with its close personal contacts, as well as from the isolationism of the 1990–2000s, and is based on the management and flexible reconfiguration of neighbour relations. This chapter argues that the newness of urban settings is a special state that influences neighbour relations and leads to enthusiasm for, and intensification of, interaction between neighbours; the invention of new forms of neighbour relations; and the actualisation of neighbour solidarity in a space that is still deficient in other ways. While newness is a state that allows creative forms of sociality to flourish, it is also a limiting state in the way it imposes absence and deficiencies upon residents that requires them to create new, compensatory structures and solidarities.

A fundamental change in the planning and delivery of new housing projects has taken place in the last years, with the focus shifting towards adding value to projects based on a better understanding of housing preferences. This issue becomes even more critical when it is intended to the provision of affordable houses for low and middle income groups. This paper describes a model designed to help developers and housing users to achieve their expectations regarding quality, affordability and including also reasonable profits. Developed through a “methodological pluralism”, this study identifies people-oriented variables and assumptions. The model was developed based on a case study in the city of Guayaquil-Ecuador, and information obtained from field work research was used to test it. The study examines implications and limitations of the model for inclusion of housing preferences considering local conditions and cultural values. The different parts of the model along with data requirements for each part are described. The paper concludes with findings regarding the identification of most preferred attributes by housing users and the use of alternatives methods to incorporate additional value into projects, translated into more appealing profits for developers and the provision of better and more affordable houses for users.

Much attention has of late been paid to the issue of tourist sustainable ­mobility at the destination. This issue takes on particular significance in big cities, which, prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, saw considerable increases in visitor numbers. The aim of this chapter, which draws on the case study method, is to explore the question of how foreign tourists move around in a Polish conurbation, known as Tri-city. Made up of three cities – Gdansk, Sopot, and Gdynia – it is one of Poland’s most popular tourist destinations. Crucially, in Tri-city all major tourist attractions and facilities are dispersed over a wide area, which makes it particularly well suited to researching visitor mobility patterns. The case study that forms the core of this chapter relies mainly on a paper-and-pencil questionnaire survey conducted among foreign tourists visiting Tri-city in January 2020 as well as on direct observation of reality. It turned out that walking was a preferred way of moving around Tri-city for most foreigners. The findings indicate, too, that young female visitors used public transport more often than older women and all men regardless of age. Furthermore, tourists with a university education more often opted for public transport than those without a degree, and visitors who lived in urban areas used public transport more often than those living in the countryside. The chapter concludes by ­summarizing the argument and drawing practical lessons for municipal authorities interested in facilitating tourist sustainability in their cities.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to analyze the phenomenon of urban tourism hypertrophy (UTH) in the context of the process of tourism-related social conflicts formation; and second, to discuss the extent to which destination management organizations (DMOs) are prepared to take responsibilities and actions undertaken in this process.

The paper adopts conflict management (CM) theory as a framework for discussing UTH within the city context. The paper then analyzes the empirical example of social conflict in Kraków (Poland) to assess the predispositions of key institutions engaged in destination governance to lead CM process triggered by UTH. The Circle of Conflict approach proposed by C. Moore (The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA, 2014) is utilized as the main application method.

The study shows that DMO is the most appropriate entity to deal with UTH as a conflict manager; however, it has insufficient resources to fulfill all requirements relating to that role. Therefore, the range of responsibilities and roles of the contemporary DMOs should be completed with CM as the permanent task during UTH crisis.

The example study was based on interviews carried out with a limited number of informants. Also, the contextual nature of the research as well as specific destination governance structure in Kraków blurred the picture of DMOs predispositions to leading the CM process.

The study supports urban DMO managers by suggesting a tool of diagnosis and intervention in UTH-induced conflicts. Thus, it makes fulfilling the mediator role a destination governance task.

CM brings agreement among parties as to the understanding of the nature of conflict, which forms the basis for quick and mutually agreed actions, according to sustainable development principles.

The paper proposes an alternative approach to mitigate UTH-related problems in cities by adopting the CM framework which emphasizes the universal nature of conflict causes and proposes adequate tools for undertaking actions by DMOs.

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for categorizing and evaluating stakeholders that addresses the key five constraints of The Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience (TSIS), including (1) binary attributes, (2) heterogeneous stakeholders in each category, (3) ignoring stakeholder-organization relationship, (4) ignoring stakeholders' communication frequency and (5) ignoring fringe stakeholders.

In the first step, a set of solutions for the limitations and constraints of TSIS was extracted by holding three rounds of the Delphi method with the participation of 42 senior and middle Iranian managers in various organizations and based on it, “Basic Analysis for Stakeholder Evaluation and Classification” (BASEClass) was developed as an enhanced theoretical and empirical framework for stakeholder analysis. In the second Step BASEClass is validated by conducting an empirical study in an organization with the participation of 46 managers, experts and specialists.

BASEClass is an enhanced theoretical and methodological framework for classifying stakeholders based on the three primary attributes of legitimacy, power and urgency, and also the communication quantity as a complementary attribute in a 3D cubical schema, prioritizing stakeholders in several cubes based on one of the multi-criteria group decision-making methods.

BASEClass effectively reduces the mentioned limitations and constraints of TSIS and as a result can improve the effectiveness of strategies for dealing with different stakeholders.

Replacing space is a challenge in maintaining public open space after land consolidation. Mojosongo subdistrict, Indonesia, also experienced replacing space due to social, economic and physical changes after more 20 years of consolidation. This study aims to analyze the replacing space of public open spaces after land consolidation in the Mojosongo Berseri I Housing.

This research uses a qualitative method through a case study approach. Secondary data from document reviews land consolidation. Primary data were collected through observation and in-depth interviews using snowball sampling techniques with 35 informants. The analysis techniques used are qualitative descriptive, spatial analysis and pattern matching analysis through comparing empirical case studies with relevant literature.

Public open spaces have changed function and form. The “replacing space” carried out by the community involves converting public open spaces into built-up areas used for residential purposes and commercial activities. Driving factors for “replacing space” include increase in family members, economic pressures, inflexible building concepts, lack of meaning of space, no supervision/sanctions and not optimal space.

The meaning of replacing space does not only change “space” to “place,” but can also cause changes in the form and function of a place carried out by communities. Thus, space allocation is needed according to community needs, preferences and activities to create a sense of place that is supported by regulations and supervision.

The purpose of this paper is to trace the trajectory of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, an electronic tolling (e-tolling) programme based in South Africa, to argue for the importance of taking advantage of similar public project opportunities to introduce the concept of Transformational Government (t-government).

The research uses an interpretive perspective and utilizes actor–network theory (ANT) to identify the roles and interests of the various stakeholders within the project and assess how each stakeholder could have better influenced the project’s sustainability using a t-government approach.

The findings suggest that in the midst of waning global actor interest, and strong local displeasure about specific public projects, public participation offers an ideal opportunity to introduce the notion of t-government, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to transform government for citizen benefits. The research allowed the authors to posit that public participation projects are solid and indispensable avenues for introducing t-government. Part of this claim is hinged on the view that the specific e-toll project carries a visible ICT artefact, which has embodied its own patterns of use characterized by various viewpoints, values, opinions and rhetoric.

The paper elevates the importance of t-government as a means to bring about practical transformation in government using public projects. The paper suggests how governments can use public participatory approaches to assimilate a new way of working in government.

This paper contributes to research on the emerging discourse on t-government. The paper also highlights the utility of ANT as a tool for understanding the dynamic public sector ICT programmes, their associated complexities and unintended consequences.

Globally, several studies have shown that biosphere reserves faced severe threats related to climate and human changes. Community participation in environmental sustainability may mitigate these threats in biosphere reserve destinations. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the community perceptions regarding the proposed Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve with the support of Community Readiness Theory to the framework via qualitative research.

To achieve this, 13 face-to-face interviews were conducted that covered major communities within the hill and validated via secondary sources. Phenomenological type of qualitative research and a combination of purposeful and snowball type of non-probability sampling techniques were used.

This paper found that Penang Hill Corporation does collaborate with communities around the hill in matters connected with hill conservation.

This paper is limited to investigating community perceptions regarding the proposed Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve. Future research is needed to further investigate the framework and the supporting theory (Community Readiness Theory).

This paper recommended that Penang Hill Corporation should build more effective communication capacity for the communities around the hill via coordinated synergy within the various agencies and communities. Also, the act that established the corporation should be reviewed to capture the provision of liaison offices for agencies controlling various sections of the hill.

This paper demonstrates that positive community engagement will enhance environmental sustainability and possibly facilitate recognition by UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme.

The present study focuses on the cost of quality (CoQ) based on which organizations can evaluate their quality-related activities in economic terms. The purpose of the study is to identify the CoQ practical implications as well as to group them into logical themes.

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted based on well-known academic publishers, such as Emerald Insight, Elsevier/ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Taylor & Francis, Wiley and Scopus. Sixty-seven peer-reviewed journal articles in the field of CoQ were collected, which were published between 2010 and 2019. The “affinity diagram” was applied to group the practical implications identified into logical themes.

A plethora of CoQ practical implications were identified and grouped into the following meaningful themes: benefits of CoQ measurement, effects of CoQ, business sectors measuring CoQ, factors influencing CoQ measurement, CoQ elements, future research in CoQ and the role of government.

The limited number of the publishers and keywords used to search for the articles of interest, as well as the subjectivity of grouping the large number of the practical implications into themes are the main limitations of the present study. These limitations constitute the basis upon which future literature review studies can be designed.

The present study by presenting analytically and in summary (through the themes revealed) the CoQ practical implications, provides all the respective available literature in a single study for the benefit of practitioners and academics. Thus, clear and straightforward guidelines are given to practitioners with regard to CoQ issues and academics with regard to research topics of high interest.

No previous SLR study focusing on analyzing the practical implications of CoQ has been published so far.