The 2013 reforms of the Flemish renewable electricity support: Missed opportunities

The Flemish renewable electricity support system has struggled to address a number of problematic issues in the past. These included excessive profit margins and general malfunctioning of the green certificate market, as well as a lack of qualification of various existing renewable energy technologies. The Flemish government responded to these issues by introducing major reforms in 2013, including “banding” to differentiate the support for various technologies. However, reliable methods for differentiating renewable electricity technologies and calculating support levels have not been sufficiently developed. The main objective of the 2013 reforms was to reduce support costs, but application of German feed-in tariffs on 18 reference technologies has shown that most projects in Flanders continue to receive high levels of support. The 2013 reforms did not succeed in addressing malfunctioning of the green certificate market. On the contrary, the confidence of investors in renewable electricity plants has decreased as the terms of support can be altered retroactively by adjusting remuneration levels and through political interventions. Future adaptations are likely to be made which will further decrease the overall stability and effectiveness of the system.     

In the Pursuit of Pleasure: The Not so Fleeting Life of the Pavilion and its Ilk

Author and architecture critic for the London Evening Standard, Robert Bevan reflects on the enduring appeal of the temporary structure, speaking ‘to a latent desire for freedom and movement’ as a hangover of our nomadic past in a sedentary ‘civilised’ society. He highlights the type's historical apex in Henry VIII's palatial pop-up on the Field of the Cloth of Gold, questioning the purpose and purposelessness of more recent examples.     

Project competition intensity (PCI) in the construction market: a case study in China

In economic terminology, ‘competition intensity’ can be used to mirror to a certain degree the status of industrial competition in a specific market, while in the construction market, it particularly involves the part of project competition intensity (PCI). Based on a road project in China, two forms of PCI, overt and covert, are identified in this study. To lower project construction cost thus enabling better project tendering performance, clients can facilitate higher levels of overt PCI by tailoring their tendering procedures, whereas, through covert PCI project competitors can adopt anti‐competitive behaviours to attain the expected works. The difference between overt PCI and covert PCI indicates various practitioners' perspectives and impact on the levels of competition intensity in construction. The findings suggest a way to promote PCI studies in the future, and offer new insights into other parts of competition intensity in construction.     

Subcontracting in commercial and residential construction: an empirical investigation

Some twenty years ago Robert Eccles argued for the theoretical existence of the quasifirm, a semi-integrated form of production in the construction industry, following a field study of home building firms in the USA. The study was aimed at substantiating some aspects of Williamson's transaction cost theory. The present work has similar intents, and illustrates the results of two recent field studies of homebuilders and commercial contractors, and the specific features of their subcontracting practice. Given the difficulty of an effective measurement of transaction costs in construction, Williamson's concept of atmosphere is suggested to explain the different approaches observed in subcontracting.     

景观设计教学实验中的教学方法改革研究*

四川大学建筑与环境学院建筑 系景观专业进行了景观设计教学的改革 创新尝试,提出了培养有创新精神和实 践能力的复合型专业人才的目标,并根 据专业实际情况和需要,采用设计竞赛 项目和教学实验基地建设相结合的方式 进行教学方法的改革探索。本文对该实 验教学方法的改革实践进行了研究和总 结,以期对景观设计专业未来的教学改 革提供进一步的参考。     

浅论市场经济下的煤炭工业

就我国目前市场经济条件下的煤炭工业所面临的问题及原因做出一些分析，阐述了发展煤炭工业的对策，即调整产业结构，实行煤炭资源资产化管理。     

企业素质-人才、技术、管理的研究(之一)

企业素质包括管理、技术和人才3个方面，通过实例，论述了企业素质决定经营活动成果的质量，决定企业进入市场的能力。     

认识服务的商品属性加快企业后勤改革

用马克思主义价值法则和市场经济理论，分析了国有企业后勤改革必须遵循商品交换法则，运用价值规律进行调节，以适应市场经济的客观要求。     

增强企业核心竞争能力分析

本文探讨了企业核心能力的理论渊源,分析了在知识经济条件下企业核心能力的生成和构成以及创新。     

市场经济下城市住区公共设施配套的新思路——以镇江南徐新城中心区规划为例

文章分析了目前我国采用的“分级配套”、“千人指标”和“谁开发谁配套”的居住区公共设施配套模式,指出其中存在的结构封闭、指标死板、公共设施提供主体定位不当的不足,然后以镇江南徐新城中心区规划中的公共设施配套带为例,提出了一种适应市场经济条件下适应市场化操作的、开放的、弹性的带状公共设施配套模式。