No abstract

Sustainability is a multidisciplinary discipline posing a difficult problem as a result of its integrated assessment. From a broad perspective, it considers the impact of human activities (using different resources) and natural conditions on local environments. Urban development has been identified as one of the most important reasons for environmental and social degradation. To address the complexity of sustainability and its impact, policymakers need to be equipped with the right toolkit to foresee the integrated effect of projects and plans on urban sustainability more effectively in their policy design. In this paper, we propose a tool to assess the sustainable performance of urban areas through a common framework of indicators which provides an integrated measurement based on the relative efficiency of key input variables on desirable and undesirable outputs. Using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), we propose a procedure for determining the relative efficiency of relevant urban areas, proposing this method as a candidate for integrated sustainability measurement. The selection of variables is based on dimensions which can be addressed from a political perspective for achieving more desirable outputs, or reducing the undesirable ones, controlling for key resources as much as possible. Our analysis takes a comprehensive scope including an environmental and socioeconomic perspective. This will be useful to identify weaknesses and strengths to improve the integrated performance of cities. Our array of indicators, based on standardized key performance indicators (KPIs) will enable policymakers to gather an insightful impact of their proposals in urban sustainability carrying out a global sustainability impact assessment through DEA. The main goal is to gather the urban experience of transforming cities into smarter cities and putting technological progress at the service of their societies.

The main object of this research is to describe social exclusion in a comparative world perspective. Social exclusion is a main concern worldwide. Non-desirable social groups as neighbours are used as a proxy measure to answer three questions: who are the most excluded social groups, who are the excluders, and what are the main explanatory variables of social exclusion. Social exclusion, as a multidimensional phenomenon, is defined in relation to concepts such as stigma, discrimination, and prejudice. Social, economic, political and ideological-religious attitudes are used to construct the profile of the excluder. Social exclusion has been measured through three indexes of social exclusion, personal, group and total exclusion, since a main component analysis demonstrated that the degree of social exclusion varied depending on whether the excluded group was more or less based on personal decisions on one's behaviour taken by the individual. Based on theory and previous research, four main variables have been tested to explain social exclusion: social position, exposure to information, post-materialist values and perception of security. But other explanatory variables were also added to the analysis. EVS and WVS databases (from 1981 to 2014) have been used, though most of the analysis has been based on the last WVS-6 th wave on 59 countries with a total of more than 85,000 interviews.

El objetivo de esta investigación es describir la exclusión social en una perspectiva comparada internacional. Grupos no deseables como vecinos se utilizan frecuentemente como aproximación para responder a tres preguntas: quiénes son los grupos sociales más excluidos, quiénes son los excluyentes y cuáles son las principales variables explicativas de la exclusión social. La exclusión social, como fenómeno multidimensional, se define en relación a conceptos como estigma, discriminación y prejuicio. Se han construido tres índices para medir la exclusión social y analizado cuatro variables para explicar la exclusión social: posición social, exposición a la información, valores postmaterialistas y percepción de seguridad. Asimismo se han añadido otras variables al análisis. Las bases de datos utilizadas han sido EVS y WVS (de 1981 a 2014).

Hobbes formuló el problema del orden social en un contexto de guerra civil. ¿Es la perspectiva del problema del orden social aplicable a la integración en la España del siglo 21? Los ataques terroristas en EEUU (2001) y, más recientemente, en Europa perpretados por ciudadanos de países musulmanes o por ciudadanos europeos con origen inmigrante y musulmán han provocado un miedo al inmigrante generalizado. La radicalización de jóvenes de origen musulmán, las bandas de delincuentes juveniles (bandas latinas en España) y la inmigración masiva desde países pobres en un contexto de profunda crisis económica plantean una preocupación para las poblaciones de los países occidentales. Se adapta el concepto de posicionamiento social a los procesos de inmigración. Se desarrollan análisis estadísticos con los datos del European Social Survey para España. El objetivo es desvelar la percepción de la población española y de los inmigrantes sobre el posicionamiento social de los inmigrantes en el orden social español.Hobbes formulated the social order problem in a context of civil war. Is the social order problem perspective applicable to tackle with immigration in 21st century Spain? Terrorist attacks in the USA (2001) and, more recently in Europe carried out by citizens of Muslim countries or by European citizens with immigrant and Muslim background, have provoked a fear of the generalized immigrant. Radicalisation of young people of Muslim background, youth gangs (Latin gangs in Spain) and mass immigration from poor countries in a context of deep economic crisis raise a concern for Western countries ́ populations. The concept of social positioning is adapted to the immigration processes. Statistical analyses are developed based on the European Social Survey data for Spain. The aim is to unveil the perception of Spanish population and of immigrants about the social positioning of immigrants in the Spanish social order.