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This study aims to assess the robustness and accuracy of the face-centred finite volume (FCFV) method for the simulation of compressible laminar flows in different regimes, using numerical benchmarks.

The work presents a detailed comparison with reference solutions published in the literature –when available– and numerical results computed using a commercial cell-centred finite volume software.

The FCFV scheme provides first-order accurate approximations of the viscous stress tensor and the heat flux, insensitively to cell distortion or stretching. The strategy demonstrates its efficiency in inviscid and viscous flows, for a wide range of Mach numbers, also in the incompressible limit. In purely inviscid flows, non-oscillatory approximations are obtained in the presence of shock waves. In the incompressible limit, accurate solutions are computed without pressure correction algorithms. The method shows its superior performance for viscous high Mach number flows, achieving physically admissible solutions without carbuncle effect and predictions of quantities of interest with errors below 5%.

The FCFV method accurately evaluates, for a wide range of compressible laminar flows, quantities of engineering interest, such as drag, lift and heat transfer coefficients, on unstructured meshes featuring distorted and highly stretched cells, with an aspect ratio up to ten thousand. The method is suitable to simulate industrial flows on complex geometries, relaxing the requirements on mesh quality introduced by existing finite volume solvers and alleviating the need for time-consuming manual procedures for mesh generation to be performed by specialised technicians.

Micro-municipalities are a widespread form of local government worldwide. However, research into micro-municipalities is often fragmented across various disciplines (e.g. public management, urban studies, etc.), limiting our understanding of the diverse influences impacting micro-municipal administration. Here, we review the literature on micro-municipalities and investigate the network relationships affecting their administration.

We performed a systematic literature review on micro-municipal administration. We adopted a network perspective for analysing the sample articles, which helps identify the multiple nodes that influence micro-municipalities’ administration, the drivers of relationships between the nodes, and the direction and flow of authority between these nodes.

We propose a network-based framework of micro-municipal administration that incorporates tailored interventions and support from higher government levels, adaptive stakeholder engagement, residents’ active participation, and responsive leadership.

This is the first systematic literature review of micro-municipalities and the first to propose a network-based framework for their effective governance.

Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) has been increasingly adopted worldwide to tackle issues of size and cost reduction in the provision of public services. Although the determinants of cooperation among municipalities have been widely investigated in the prior literature, little is known about the link between a municipality's financial health and that of the supra-municipal entity formed under IMC. The purpose of this study is to fill this research gap by analyzing the case of municipal unions (MUs) in Italy.

A quantitative approach has been used, applying OLS and quantile regression on financial information and other variables of municipalities and their MUs.

The study finds that the most important condition of operation for IMC, that is, financial sustainability, is directly linked to the financial health of member municipalities and the functional integration reached with the supra-municipal entity.

The study analyses all MUs in Italy, focusing on the factors affecting their financial sustainability. In doing so, it sheds light on the factors that influence the financial sustainability of second-tier governments, which rely on external funding.

This paper aims to trace subsequent steps of the sustainability reporting evolution in terms of changes in the organisation fields and professional jurisdictions involved. As such, it highlights the (interrelated) organisational and professional challenges associated with the progressive incorporation of “sustainability” within corporate reporting.

The paper draws on Suddaby and Viale’s (2011) theorisation of how professionals reshape organisational fields to highlight how organisational spaces, actors, rules and professional capital evolve alongside the incorporation of sustainability within corporate reporting.

The paper shows organisational spaces, actors, rules and professional capital mobilised during the recent evolution of sustainability reporting, starting from a period in which there was no space for sustainability, to more recent periods in which sustainability gained increasing momentum beyond initial niches, and culminating in more integrated forms of sustainability reporting.

Although the analysis is limited to empirical evidence collected by prior research and practice on sustainability reporting, the paper offers a view to imagine how the incorporation of sustainability within corporate reporting relies on and affects organisational fields and professional jurisdictions.

The paper offers a lens to interpret corporate and professional challenges associated with the more recent evolutions of sustainability reporting practice and standard setting. It also allows framing the papers accepted in the special issue on “new challenges in sustainability reporting” and concludes by suggesting an agenda for future research.