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Low impact development (LID) has been characterised as a radical approach to housing, livelihoods and everyday living which began in Britain in the 1990s as a grassroots response to the overlapping crises of sustainability (Halfacree, 2006; Maxey, 2009). It employs approaches that dramatically reduce humans’ impact upon the environment, demonstrating that human settlements and livelihoods, when done appropriately, can enhance, rather than diminish ecological diversity. However, LID is not solely concerned with the environment. It is also a direct response to social needs for housing, an anti-capitalist strategy forging alternative economic possibilities, and a holistic approach to living that pays attention to the personal as well as the political needs (Douthwaite, 1996). Thus, LIDs are a good vehicle through which to explore radical and innovative forms of sustainability and to critically assess their potential as a response to environmentally damaging ways of living. Rather than seeing LIDs as a rural back-to-the-land phenomena (Halfacree, 2007b; Jacob, 2006), this chapter argues that the movement is ‘engaged in social transformation through everyday-lived practice’ (Woods, 2008, p. 132).

This paper describes the role that smart home technology can play in enhancing the provision of supported living for people with complex needs and challenging behaviour. Intelligent building systems, or smart house technologies, offer a flexible environment that can be readily adapted and mapped onto the needs of service users and their carers. The effective management and presentation of information on the activity of service users can assist in planning care and facilitating responses to their needs in ways that promote individual dignity and independence. This paper describes how an approach was developed, using smart home technology, based on local experiences with previous technological solutions. Recommendations are offered towards the specification of a system within a design brief. The application of these recommendations is illustrated in the use of smart house technology within three contrasting local projects and the advantages of applying this approach are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to document a unique, holistic approach to skills development which succeeds on a number of levels.

The project's objectives are achieved through a structured “Community Project Challenge” programme, led by Echelon's consultants. This programme involves staff from Festival Housing Group who, in turn, involve pupils from local schools.

The Echelon/Festival Housing Group approach to developing skills experientially has impressive benefits to individuals, the organisation, local schools and even a school in Africa.

This programme provides: the practical managerial/supervisory knowledge and skills required to operate a Housing Association effectively and efficiently; opportunities for Years 10 and 11 pupils at secondary school to not only learn practical skills but also to gain work experience; job and career opportunities for school leavers; and opportunities for using these skills in corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects.

This paper describes a unique – and highly successful – approach to skills development which works on a number of levels: providing management/supervisory skills development for Festival Housing Group staff; property maintenance skills for school pupils, careers opportunities for these pupils and provides CSR benefits through putting these skills to use in the developing world (Kenya).

Questions why the analysis of class is being overlooked in the sociological mainstream. Presents some symptoms of this development followed by an evaluation. Suggests some new directions for class research which could appeal to younger researchers. Advocates work in this area to bridge the lack of information now available.

This chapter examines the impact of price fluctuations in foreign stock markets on the stock prices of domestic banks in Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Some studies have argued that the 2007–2009 global financial crisis (GFC) affected domestic banks less in East Asia, even though the supporting evidence is rather limited. Employing a multinomial logit model, we estimate how changes in the United States and Japanese stock markets affected the banking sectors in the sampled countries before the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and before and during the more recent GFC. We interpret the number of banks in a given country that experienced a large price shock on the same day (or “coexceedance”) as shocks to the domestic banking sector. The results suggest that fluctuations in foreign stock market indices exerted a larger impact on the prices of East Asian banking stocks during the 2000s than during the 1990s. In addition, although the shocks brought about by the deterioration of foreign stock markets were significant before the GFC, both increases and decreases in foreign stock prices significantly affected the banking sectors of the respective countries during the crisis. Lastly, we conclude that increasing foreign capital flows and foreign assets and liabilities greatly influenced domestic banking systems in East Asia during the 2000s.

This paper is an account of the proceedings of an Internet conference which was sponsored by Education + Training. The conference identified a number of issues and questions arising from the increasingly complex environment of Higher Education. The changing characteristics of the relationship between the providers of Higher Education and its various customer markets and publics are discussed in the proceedings. Views, opinions and examples of responses to change were shared during the conference.

This chapter reports research conducted in Melbourne, Australia that is focused on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in schools and families. The emphasis is on the relationship between technology, learning, culture and (dis)advantage. It is generally agreed that ICTs are associated with major social, cultural, pedagogical and lifestyle changes, although the nature of those changes is subject to conflicting norms and interpretations. In this chapter we adopt a critical, multi-disciplined, relational perspective in order to examine the influence of ICTs, in schools and homes, on a sample of students and their families.

Workplace restructuring implies people changing roles, leading to the deskilling of people who must learn their way back to competence. Reports the case of a person learning in a new role. The conceptual framework for the analysis is the Dreyfus model of skill development. Shows the model to be effective both for research and for individuals to understand their own development. The results enrich the understanding of workplace learning, in particular the manner in which people can be helped to learn a new role.