Emerging Geographies of Financial Technology in Europe: Mapping Organizational, Institutional, and Strategic Financial Center Change in the Benelux Vrije Universiteit Brussel
robotic advice, etc. Is there still a need for ...
Himalayas with their snowfields, glaciers and perennial rivers are considered to be the largest reservoir of freshwater on the planet. However, access to drinking water has now become an everyday challenge to the people living in the Himalaya region because of the rapid urbanization and growing socioeconomic and environmental changes. Urban water scarcity is acute particularly in Nepal, as towns are growing rapidly while water supply systems ...
A well-operating private rental housing market is a necessity for postindustrial economies worldwide, particularly for residents in megacities. However, financialized housing markets led to increasing difficulties to realize housing property ownership for both the local young generation and newcomers which we called ‘Generation rent’. Taking Shanghai as an example, a 60 square meters apartment downtown is worth approximately ninety-eight ...
Considering the increasing number of large dams worldwide as well as the lack of integrated studies on hydrology, agricultural systems and socio-economic effects in the downstream alluvial plains, research is required to fill this gap in a holistic framework. Ethiopia is an excellent case, since the country is engaged in an ambitious dam building plan. This project proposal exploits our longstanding expertise and network in the country and ...
An ever-growing demand for animal based food products is affecting the productivity of global food production systems, and urgently needed measures to curb further environmental degradation promise similar effects. Whether future demand scenarios can be met sustainably, depends not least on whether it is possible to significantly reduce the environmental impact of aquaculture and livestock production. Recent research suggests that the use of ...
The depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the negative environmental impacts associated with their use are the driving forces towards the biobased economy. In analogy to today's oil refineries, biorefineries can process renewable biological resources into a range of value-added bioproducts (e.g., bioplastics, paper, transport fuels, electricity, heat). However, the discontinuous (in time) and geographically fragmented (in space) availability ...
Infrastructure networks developed in the 19th and 20th centuries continue to structure entire urban areas and hinterland territories at a macro level, but they become redundant or inadapted to the new “post-growth” challenges. A new strategic spatial framework is necessary, one which is based on the regions’ ecological and metabolic systems, ensures the environmental and economic resilience of a territory, allowing it to adapt to a wide range ...
Considering derivative markets increasing influence in ordering social and political realities the proposed research explores the ideas and struggles underpinning market-driven social change. Whereas the economist or trader tend to assume the emancipatory potential of markets, I contrast their perspective with an anti-colonial critique that argues for a more thorough interrogation of the processes and arrangements underpinning derivative ...