No abstract

No abstract

The phenomenon of climate change requires a rethinking of existing socio-geographical arrangements. This paper argues that the transition to 'post-fossil urbanization' is hampered by the lack of positive imaginations of alternative possible urban futures and post-fossil city life. It asks the question why it is so difficult to conceive of new possible urban worlds, and tries to answer it by using the established concept of 'imaginary' and introducing the concept of 'technique of futuring'. The salience of the imaginary of the modern city is used as an example. The paper points at the International Society for Organization (ISO) and 'living labs' as contemporary techniques of futuring, organizing urban futures. It then aims to recoup one's capacity to imagine alternative possible worlds and explores the role that academics can play in this endeavour. KEYWORDS imagination; imaginaries; techniques of futuring; post-fossil city; sustainable futures HISTORY

No abstract

We present a discursive psychological analysis of how the idiomatic expression “Listen to Your Body” is deployed in online forum discussions about ADHD medication and aspartame. The Listen to Your Body device allows participants to demonstrate to others that they take their health seriously and for that reason avoid scientific knowledge. They contrast Listen to Your Body with “blindly following science,” presenting Listen to Your Body as the more critical and, therefore, more rational behavior. Instead of treating the idiomatic expression as “anyone’s knowledge,” speakers and recipients compete for the right to own it. It is discussed what these results mean for the role of and relation between experiential knowledge (“lay expertise”) and scientific expertise in online discussions about health issues.

No abstract

No abstract

Alongside the gradual increase in use of participatory technology assessment (PTA), a tool to democratize decision-making on controversial technologies, a growing body of literature on how to assess the impact of PTA has developed. A distinction can be made between two generations of impact assessment studies. The first generation includes evaluations of the effects of PTAs on the state as a bounded unit of political decision-making. The second generation of assessment studies acknowledges a wider range of loci to study impact. However, neither provides insights into how a PTA impacts the relationships between the multiple arenas of political influence and political judgment. This paper develops a framework for impact assessment from a dynamic, process-oriented perspective. It draws on the 'dynamics of contention' theory proposed by McAdam et al. in Dynamics of Contention (Cambridge University Press, 2001). The framework is applied to three cases of PTA on controversial medical technologies: xenotransplantation (in the Netherlands and Switzerland) and genetic testing (in Austria).