: Nowadays, sustainability issues are gaining more and more topicality in the context of improving organizational processes, including in the ﬁeld of conformity assessment. In the ﬁeld of certiﬁcation of persons, competence assessment institutions have also become interested in using new approaches as the quality of assessment execution does not fully meet the requirements of stakeholders regarding the ability of a person to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in situations related to the professional activity. The aim of the research is to analyze the aspects of professional competence assessment related to the certiﬁcation of persons and its performance according to the stakeholder requirements in order to develop a new sustainable approach to the process of certiﬁcation of persons that would ensure the quality and reliability of its execution. Qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used to analyze the elements of the concept of certiﬁcation of persons and the main elements of the concept of professional competence. As a result of the research, a new sustainable approach to certiﬁcation of persons is offered, where certiﬁcation of persons transforms from a conformity assessment procedure into a professional competence assessment process and ensures that a person’s ability is assessed not only in accordance with the industry requirements, but also with the stakeholder needs.

Sustainable Approach to Certiﬁcation of Persons: Ensuring Reliability and Quality

Nowadays, sustainability issues are gaining more and more topicality in the context of improving organizational processes, including in the field of conformity assessment. In the field of certification of persons, competence assessment institutions have also become interested in using new approaches as the quality of assessment execution does not fully meet the requirements of stakeholders regarding the ability of a person to apply the acquired knowledge and skills in situations related to the professional activity. The aim of the research is to analyze the aspects of professional competence assessment related to the certification of persons and its performance according to the stakeholder requirements in order to develop a new sustainable approach to the process of certification of persons that would ensure the quality and reliability of its execution. Qualitative and quantitative research methods have been used to analyze the elements of the concept of certification of persons and the main elements of the concept of professional competence. As a result of the research, a new sustainable approach to certification of persons is offered, where certification of persons transforms from a conformity assessment procedure into a professional competence assessment process and ensures that a person’s ability is assessed not only in accordance with the industry requirements, but also with the stakeholder needs. 

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/3/1137/pdf?version=1642752416

Sustainable Approach to Certification of Persons: Ensuring Reliability and Quality

This study explores how the services provided by different types of Chinese communities varied in their impact on the social involvement of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The literature revealed problems caused by travel restrictions, including using oversimplified measures for grassroots governance, which might result in decreased residents’ social involvement during COVID-19. We argue that the services provided by “smart communities” in China not only adhered to the COVID-19 pandemic governance, but also promoted the social involvement of residents. Using a case study approach of the smart community Fang Xing and the traditional community Qili Tang, both of which are located in China, this article compared the traditional and smart community services based on 122 interviews with residents and frontline community staff members. The findings suggest that while the traditional community decreased the residents’ social involvement by restricting certain services during the pandemic, the smart community was able to apply COVID-19 governance measures, considerably increasing the residents’ social involvement. It offered an attractive option for residents to act as community service managers, and it prepared them for local-level pandemic governance. This study provides an understanding of the relationship between the community services and the residents’ social involvement in terms of the community services. The smart community model can act as a reference for international community development during pandemic governance.

/pdf/community-services-and-social-involvement-in-covid-19-1xxdzcq7.pdf

Community Services and Social Involvement in COVID-19 Governance: Evidence from China

The concept of a smart city is widely implemented all over the world, and this fact creates both possibilities and new challenges for all participants and stakeholders of the process. This study examines the implementation of smart governance in the context of smart cities. The goal of the research is to distinguish between the effects and externalities of the smart governance domain, both positive and negative ones; the effects and externalities are elicited from the outcomes of smart governance implementation revealed from a review of scientific publications devoted to the results, barriers, and facilitators of smart governance functioning. The publications were selected according to a systematic review methodology, then the selected articles were analyzed and the factors that foster the processes of smart governance implementation (facilitators) or vice versa hamper the acquisition of results (barriers), as well as the outcomes of smart governance, were extracted. The extracted factors were attributed to six areas: Information, Efficiency, Citizen-Centricity, Transparency, Digital Divide, and Regulation. Further, the outcomes of smart governance implementation were distinguished as effects and externalities, which were both positive and negative.

/pdf/effects-and-externalities-of-smart-governance-1pgoefgi.pdf

Effects and Externalities of Smart Governance

The built environment should be re-evaluated in the context of Covid-19 pandemic for preventing the spread of the virus. The study aims to reveal the issues that arise in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic at different scales of the built environment, from urban to interior scale and also to emphasize the importance of designing a sustainable environment by considering the lessons learned. The study highlights the significance of designing a sustainable environment by incorporating lessons learned from the pandemic experience. By investigating and highlighting these issues, the research aims to provide recommendations that can guide future efforts towards creating resilient and adaptive built environments. The method of the study is based on the critical review of the published studies on the issue between April 2020-April 2022 and observations on user experiences. The findings of the study highlight the necessity of further questioning the built environment in light of possible pandemics.

Covid-19 Salgını Bağlamında Yapılı Çevreyi Yeniden Düşünmek: Eleştirel Bir İnceleme

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes in everyone's life Villages and rural areas are among the places where people have sought refuge in order to stay away from others and to be able to comply with government regulations during an emergency Crisis conditions require the choice of means of communication, remote employment and self-help and self-support Smart and strong communities or villages - this means more than only technologically and economically advanced communities - can be more successful in overcoming the crisis This study analyses the characteristics of smart communities, the external factors influencing the functioning of these communities, as well as the specific circumstances caused by the first wave period of the Covid-19 pandemic (from March 2020 till June 2020) Collecting basic information on smart communities, external factors and special circumstances, and using the methods of analysis, comparison and drawing conclusions, the most important factors that have positively affected communities in the pandemic conditions have been taken into account within the framework of this study, clearly indicating the sustainability and development advantages of smart communities in Latvia Nobody knows what will be "new normal" after COVID-19, but some benefits of smart thinking are noticed

https://llufb.llu.lv/Raksti/Landscape_Architecture_Art/2020/LLU_Landscape_Architect_Art_Vol_17_2020-78-88.pdf

P. Edgars

Papers

Smart and Sustainable Local Communities in Global Covid-19 Pandemic Conditions