Percorrer por autor "Guimarães, Maria Helena"
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- Birdwatcher profile in the Ria Formosa Natural ParkPublication . Costa, Andreia; Pintassilgo, Pedro; Matias, António; Pinto, Patrícia; Guimarães, Maria HelenaIn the Algarve the potential for birdwatching tourism is widely recognized, especially in the Ria Formosa Natural Park (RFNP). This study aims to describe birdwatchers' profile in the RFNP. For this purpose, a survey was applied. The results show that the most frequent nationalities of birdwatchers are: British (39%), Dutch (17%) and Portuguese (17%). The majority of birdwatchers are male (55%) and married (57%). The average age is 50 years old. They are highly educated (74% have an academic degree). Concerning profession, the most frequent answer was retired (41%). Respondents are committed to the activity as the majority possess special equipment and practice birdwatching in vacations. This study also tests if nationality is related to other characteristics of the birdwatchers, by using the Kruskal-Wallis and the Chi-square tests. Overall, the results of this study highlight that regional management organizations should invest in developing birdwatching in the RFNP.
- Do fisher associations really represent their members’ needs and opinions? The case study of the octopus fishery in the Algarve (south Portugal)Publication . Rangel, Mafalda; Pita, Cristina; de Oliveira, Manuela Maria; Guimarães, Maria Helena; Rainha, Rita; Sonderblohm, Carlos; Monteiro, Pedro; Oliveira, Frederico; Ballesteros, Marta; Gonçalves, Jorge Manuel Santos; Pierce, Graham J.; Erzini, KarimFishers’ participation in the fishery management decision-making process is generally low, particularly in small-scale fisheries (SSF). Within the overarching goal of improving fisheries governance, fishers’ participation is crucial. Yet, how can fishers participate in the decision-making processes which affect their actions, and to what extent do fisher associations represent their interests? These questions were tackled by means of an empirical case study in the “Tertúlia do Polvo” project, focusing on the octopus SSF in the Algarve region (south Portugal), where the octopus fishery is managed top-down with sporadic participation of fishers. During the study (2014 and 2015), seven participatory workshops (tertúlias) were held, involving fisher associations, management authorities and researchers, to propose and discuss management measures for the fishery. Also, a face-to-face questionnaire survey (121 valid replies) was undertaken with local fishers to gauge their opinions about the management measures proposed during the workshops. Results show a strong agreement between the outcomes achieved during the workshops and the main concerns and possible solutions identified by fishers. Taking into consideration the difficulty in structuring and assuring a transparent and effective participation of fishers in the management of their activity, the results obtained are promising. In this study, the use of a participatory process (restricted to a small group of stakeholders) combined with consultation (targeting a sample of the fisher population) allowed the validation of the overall results obtained. Such a methodological approach can be tried in other fishing communities to implement efficient and effective collaborative management, contributing to improved fisheries governance.
- Exploring residential satisfaction in shrinking cities: a decision-tree approachPublication . Barreira, Ana Paula; Agapito, Dora; Panagopoulos, Thomas; Guimarães, Maria HelenaThe number of cities experiencing population decline has been increasing worldwide. Despite the existence of theoretical propositions of shrinkage as an opportunity to increase levels of residential satisfaction, the issue has not been addressed empirically. This article contributes to fill this gap by assessing, through survey, the residential satisfaction of inhabitants of four shrinking Portuguese cities. Data were analysed by means of a tree-decision approach: the Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection analysis. A sense of safety is the feature that best discriminates inhabitants' level of residential satisfaction. The results show that shrinkage due to deindustrialisation processes is detrimental to residential satisfaction.
- Factors driving the population growth and decline of portuguese citiesPublication . Barreira, Ana Paula; Ramalho, Joaquim J. S.; Panagopoulos, Thomas; Guimarães, Maria HelenaDespite the worldwide trend of urbanisation, data reveal that some cities are growing whereas others are losing inhabitants. To assess such dynamics in Portuguese cities, demographic, employment, housing, and climate variables were analysed as possible drivers of population change for the period 1991-2011. Panel data models show that higher shares of employment in the secondary and tertiary sectors, higher maximum temperatures, and a higher proportion of middle-aged vacant houses act as pull factors attracting inhabitants, whereas a higher unemployment rate is a push factor for cities.
- Historical trajectories of currently shrinking Portuguese cities: A typology of urban shrinkagePublication . Alves, Daniel; Barreira, Ana Paula; Guimarães, Maria Helena; Panagopoulos, ThomasCities develop according to different patterns, undergoing population growth during some periods and decline (shrinkage) during others. Theories attempting to understand these behaviours include: 1) shrinkage is a natural process in the life cycle of a city, alternating with periods of growth, or 2) shrinkage is an extreme event that places cities into a continuous decline process with no return to population growth. We use retrospective data over a period of 130 years to study 25 Portuguese cities currently facing population decline, and show that both theories coexist in time and space. Five types of shrinking city are revealed: "Persistent Early Shrinkage" due to exodus from the rural periphery, "Metropolitan Shrinkage" due to the challenges of urban sprawl, "Recent Shrinkage" in de-industrialisation hotspots, "Cyclic Shrinkage" occurring in political transformation cores, and "Mild Shrinkage" due to life-style disamenity. As diversity of city population trajectories appears to be the norm in both Portugal and other Western European countries, the incorporation of this range into the management of urban transitions is recommended in order to reinforce city resilience. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
- Residents' preferred policy actions for shrinking citiesPublication . Guimarães, Maria Helena; Nunes, Luis Catela; Barreira, Ana Paula; Panagopoulos, ThomasCities facing a continued and prolonged process of population decline require innovative urban regeneration policies complementary to growth-oriented policies. Losing inhabitants involves a decrease in economic activity and social capital. Therefore citizens' participation in defining policies to cope with population decline is being increasingly advocated. This research focused on four shrinking cities of Portugal to capture residents' knowledge about the strengths and weaknesses of their city of residence as well as the policies and actions they prioritized for dealing with the population decline. The responses from 701 questionnaires show that economic revival policies as well as safety and accessibility policies were preferred. To put these policies into action, the recovery of industrial activity, the creation of business incubators, an improvement in law enforcement, and public lighting were ranked as top priorities. Rank-ordered logistic regression models were used to understand which variables influenced the residents' rankings. We found that the evaluation of the city's characteristics impact the ranking of the policies and actions. Hence, residents show a high level of coherence when engaging in a discussion at the level of policy-making. Therefore, the findings support residents' involvement in decision-making processes regarding urban regeneration in shrinking cities.
- Satisfied but thinking about leaving: the reasons behind residential satisfaction and residential attractiveness in shrinking Portuguese citiesPublication . Barreira, Ana Paula; Nunes, Luís Catela; Guimarães, Maria Helena; Panagopoulos, ThomasCreating liveable cities is a policy priority, especially for cities that are experiencing population loss. A decline in the number of inhabitants is commonly associated with low levels of residential satisfaction. However, such a supposition does not often find empirical support in shrinking cities. In the present study, we identify variables that influence the level of residential satisfaction, as well as those influencing residential attraction (captured by the intention of current residents to leave their city in the near future). The study is based on a face-to-face questionnaire administered to 701 residents in four shrinking Portuguese cities. As expected, lower levels of residential satisfaction lead to an increased intention to leave the city. The results also show that the variables explaining residential satisfaction mostly differ from those explaining residential attractiveness. The specific characteristics of each city influence citizens’ assessment of residential satisfaction, but the variables impacting residential attractiveness are universal.
- Transdisciplinary conceptual modeling of a social-ecological system: a case study application in Terceira Island, AzoresPublication . Guimarães, Maria Helena; Ballé-Béganton, Johanna; Bailly, Denis; Newton, Alice; Boski, T.; Dentinho, TomazScience and policy integration towards natural resource management is not novel; however it has not always been successful. Partially, this failure is explained by the lack of consideration of different forms of knowledge. In order to incorporate the diversity of knowledge, transdisciplinary has been proposed and, this paper tests conceptual modeling as a tool to promote it. Qualitative modeling is an intermediate step of Systems Approach Framework (SAF) that is a methodology towards the sustainability of social-ecological systems. SAF has been applied in Praia da Vitoria Bay, in the Azores to analyze the future use of wetlands. We promoted a workshop bringing together 18 stakeholders: scientists, managers, private sectors and Non-Governmental Organizations. This paper presents the procedures and discusses the observed interaction between participants, their views and, how the wetlands services were described. Results show that non-scientists found the exercise particularly challenging but with high value due to: the systemic view and, opportunity of sharing viewpoints. The wetlands were mostly described by the direct benefits. The results show that transdisciplinarity can be operationalized and that conceptual modeling is an adequate exercise to achieve it. However, interdisciplinary work and stakeholders' analysis are also necessary because the knowledge gathered is different.
- What makes people stay in or leave shrinking cities? An empirical study from PortugalPublication . Guimarães, Maria Helena; Nunes, Luis Catela; Barreira, Ana Paula; Panagopoulos, ThomasThe attractiveness of cities as places to live determines population movements into or out of them. Understanding the appealing features is fundamental to local governments, particularly for cities facing population decline. Pull and push attributes can include economic aspects, the availability of amenities and psychological constructs, initiating a discussion around which factors are more relevant for migration. However, such discussion has been underexplored in studies of shrinking cities. In the present study, we contribute to the discussion by identifying pull and push factors in Portuguese shrinking cities. Data were collected using a face-to-face questionnaire of 701 residents in four shrinking cities: Oporto, Barreiro, Peso da Regua and Moura. Factor analysis and automatic linear modelling were used to analyse the data. Our results show that the economic activity is the most relevant feature for retaining residents. However, characteristics specific to each city, related to heritage and natural beauty, are also shown to influence a city's attractiveness. The cause of population shrinkage was also found to influence residents' assessments of the pull and push attributes of each city. Furthermore, the results show the relevance of social ties and of place attachment to inhabitants' intention to continue living in their city of residence.