Search

The relationship between urban density and social conditions in urban areas has received increasing attention in recent research. However, there is a lack of understanding of the dynamics between urban densification and these social conditions from a place-specific perspective, taking into account the institutional, socio-cultural, and contextual complexities. This paper seeks to enhance this understanding by unpacking the relationship between soft densification and place attachment in Tehran, Iran. The paper develops a framework for studying 'soft densification' as a process of incremental place change by prioritising local knowledge. The findings suggest that soft densification impacts place attachment by disrupting the everyday functionality of place, eroding its physical characteristics, erasing some of its collective and personal memories, and altering its socio-demographic structure. The paper highlights the importance of thinking 'procedurally' and 'topologically' about urban densification and calls for incorporating local knowledge and experiences into policy planning and urban decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, cities have become hubs for economic activity, productivity, and important platforms for achieving sustainable development goals. The potential of urban agriculture (UA) in improving urban local economies and urban micro-climate has been acknowledged in the literature. The study looked at how the concepts of UA, local economic development (LED), and climate change can be treated in unison. Based on the review of credible published papers on the various concepts of UA, LED, climate change and nature-based solutions (NBS), a proposed conceptual framework was developed in this paper showing the linkages. The paper established that UA could boost LED, build resilient urban settlements, and promote social inclusiveness, but with social challenges. It is therefore recommended that policymakers make UA a crucial aspect of their agenda in the coming years to address the local economic and climate challenges now and in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transdisciplinary research has gained traction globally for mapping pathways for sustainable urbanisation. The involvement of local communities is believed to central to knowledge co-production needed to address sustainability challenges. But working with local communities can be challenging. This paper is structured around the authors' personal reflections on undertaking transdisciplinary household energy conservation projects in Ghana and South Africa. The paper reflects on the assumptions and challenges of doing transdisciplinary research in urban Africa and suggests some guidelines for consideration when doing transdisciplinary projects. An inductive analysis of our reflections showed five key challenges: lack of integration, divergent problem identification, tensions in knowledge co-production, asymmetrical power relations, and distrust and managing expectations. We draw on our collective experiences to develop guidelines for conducting transdisciplinary research in urban Africa. These guidelines are not prescriptive but can be useful for a growing and broader audience interested in undertaking transdisciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimating the economic risks of climate shocks and climate stressors on spatially heterogeneous cities over time remains highly challenging. The purpose of this paper is to present a practical methodology to assess the economic risks of climate change in middle-income cities to inform municipal climate response strategies. Building on a capital-based framework (CBF), spatially disaggregated baseline and future scenario scores for economic wealth and its exposure to climate change are developed for six different classes of capital across 77 major suburbs in Cape Town, South Africa. Capital-at-risk was calculated by combining relative exposure and capital scores across different scenarios, with population impacted for major suburbs and the city's eight main planning districts. The economic risk assessment presented here provides a generic approach to assist city managers through an enhanced understanding of the relative levels of capital endowment across the city vis-à-vis relative levels of exposure to climate-related hazards over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates empirically that Tokyo's rapid post-war growth coincided with decreasing intra-urban inequalities in the special ward area, both in terms of private and public living standards. This phenomenon has not received much attention to date because Japan's income inequalities were generally very low during this period. However, megacity growth of this kind is normally associated with growing segregation. This paper develops the narrative of 'spatial egalitarianism'. It attributes low intra-urban inequalities to Tokyo's homogenous urban form, equal economic structure of its neighbourhoods, and a redistributive intermediate layer of government that took a hands-off approach to urban planning. The implications are of relevance to today's developing megacities in Asia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provisioning ecosystem services are under threat in peripheral areas in African cities due to urbanisation pressures. Previous studies have focused on land conversion and food crop production. How urbanisation pressures intertwine with the provisioning ecosystem services availability to peri-urban households is an empirical question, which this paper answered using Wa in Ghana as a case. The mixed method research approach was employed involving 400 randomly selected households with the aid of a questionnaire, while interviews were also conducted with relevant stakeholders. Descriptive statistics and a five-point Likert scale were used to analyse the household data, while interview responses were thematised. We observed that urbanisation adversely affected ecosystems, reducing the availability of wild fruits, fuelwood, and game to farmer households. From the households' perspective, most of these services will disappear in the future as urbanisation intensifies. We recommend the restoration of degraded lands for the conservation of natural habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the motivations behind urban climate governance in eight Swedish municipalities. The study demonstrates that political consensus among, and willingness of, urban political leaders is of importance for motivating climate actions. Municipalities are moreover motivated by the accomplishments of other cities, national and subnational policies, and an increasing climate concern in society. In line with previous research, individual policy entrepreneurs have been important for local climate action; however, with the adoption of national and subnational policies, local climate policies are becoming increasingly institutionalised. Although some of the conclusions of the study confirm the significance of a polycentric governance approach, little relevance was attributed to citizen participation. The institutionalisation of urban climate governance deserves further attention so as to better understand how the dynamics of polycentric governance can be affected, and what implications this may have on climate policy-making process, and the engagement and support of urban residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a tendency for debates around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to focus on particular Goals or Targets. What tends to get lost, however, is the bigger picture. In this paper we ask: to what extent and under what conditions do the SDGs offer a pathway to equality? Specifically, we focus on the potentials of the SDGs as a pathway to urban equality in the decade of delivery. We focus on the ways that three key interrelated development agendas, eradicating extreme poverty, promoting prosperity, and building resilience, are mobilised through the SDGs. Together these agendas reveal tensions and opportunities in the relationship between the SDGs and urban equality. In discussion, we reflect on the potentials of an urban equality lens to read the SDGs, and the conditions under which they might contribute to the realisation of fairer and more equal cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined the dynamics of urban land use and land cover change, and their implications for livelihoods in peri-urban Tamale, Ghana. The study employed household data and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) for 1986, Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM +) for 2004 and Landsat 8 Operationalised Landsat Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLIS/TIRS) for 2019. The findings show that the urban expansion process witnessed a transition from agricultural livelihood to a more complex and monetised urban economy, which presented mixed impacts on the livelihoods of the peri-urban households. We argued that the horizontal expansion of urban areas into prime agricultural lands could be halted by promoting vertical development in the form of multi-storey buildings rather than the horizontal multiplication of individual housing units. Supporting the peri-urban households to diversify their livelihood portfolios by venturing into beekeeping, poultry farming, and livestock keeping, which do not require large tracts of land is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human existence is complemented by environmental sounds as by-products of people's activities as well as intentionally generated sounds that allow human society to function, including transport and traffic sounds and notification sounds. The resulting soundscapes surround and permeate people's daily existence. Technological, as well as behavioural change causes some of these sounds to become extinct at the local or universal level. While expressions of human communication through spoken words (language) and song are deemed to be heritage and thus formally collected and documented, there is a general lack of consideration of the heritage potential of anthropogenic environmental sounds. Focussing on examples from the state of NSW (Australia), this paper discusses sound loss in the urban heritage environment and advances two variations of a conceptual framework to assist heritage practitioners in decision-making to assess heritage potential in order to safeguard some of these sounds for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on case studies in Dublin, Ireland, this paper examines the motives for individuals to establish community gardens therein. The paper also outlines the capacities required for community groups to successfully establish and sustain community gardens in Ireland. These capacities include the involvement of individuals with a range of expertise, the presence of supportive community groups/organisations and state agencies, and access to resources, including land. The research findings, detailed in this paper, indicate that community gardens in urban settings encounter a number of challenges, including the absence of a mechanism for community groups to access land. The article provides a framework for community groups and community organisations to develop community gardens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the scope for upscaling and transnational transfer of participatory landslide risk management strategies for informal settlements in Latin America. Drawing on lessons from transdisciplinary action-research in three neighbourhoods in Medellín, Colombia, and one in São Paulo, Brazil, the paper discusses how bottom-up approaches were developed to co-produce landslide risk management in both Global South cities, in a way that optimises the collaboration between communities and relevant governmental bodies. The analysis focuses on mitigation and 'agreement-seeking', from the perspectives of scale, power and knowledge, which help understand the parallels between co-production of landslide risk management and co-production of urban services. Two key conclusions are that landslide risk management should be built into neighbourhood upgrading and management, and that both community and the state have stronger roles to play in landslide risk management from their respective capacities. The paper also reflects on the role of academia in enabling co-production of landslide risk management through engaging with local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of actors, policies and technology in the evolution of a basic urban transport service by investigating a complex range of factors shaping the inception and adaptation of the bike-sharing programme. Media data were analysed in relation to two major programmes, supplemented by further investigation into the broader discourse of the programmes. The findings reveal that an array of actors in the categories of government, citizen, business maker and investor, together with evolving policies and technology, collectively determine the sustainability of the programme. The operator-investor centred unorthodox co-production and delivery of dockless bike-sharing provides an alternative model to urban basic service provision which is currently dominated by the centralised and government-citizen centred co-production models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature is increasingly approaching the participation of households in the delivery of urban services through the lens of co-production. However, there has been no in-depth exploration of the relationship between incremental changes in the urban fabric (urban typologies and morphologies) and the forms of adaptations of co-produced water and sanitation services (WSS). The paper draws on three planned neighbourhoods in Hanoi to examine these incremental changes by considering the transformation of the neighbourhood at different scales and the consequent evolution of the sociotechnical arrangements for the delivery of water and sanitation services. By exploring forms of reconfiguration of the built environment and embedded water infrastructures, the paper outlines the possibility of an alternate reading of service co-production initiatives as incremental spatial practices, with an emphasis on the role of technology in allowing transformation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies aspects of resilience taking effect in the marketplace and their influences on the roles of low-income traders and customers towards their households. Building on the concept of marketplace resilience and drawing from the findings from 42 publications on urban marketplaces in Africa, Asia and Latin America, this paper identifies the main functions and attributes of marketplaces that contribute or hinder the activities of traders and customers, the main disturbances they can experience in the marketplace and their strategies in building resilience. While this paper demonstrates the significance of marketplaces for the households of traders and customers, it also illustrates how disturbances in the marketplace and trade-offs to maintain trade during crises can negatively impact household needs and conditions, as well as the limited capacities of traders for improving their conditions. The paper finally argues for including marketplaces in resilience assessments and infrastructure studies in low-income urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deliberates on the importance of two major themes, (a) emphasis shift from traditional urban planning approach currently practised in such cities as Tehran to a spatial metropolitan planning, and (b) giving due consideration to the role of knowledge on integrate metropolitan planning. In Tehran, the multiplicity of policy-makers involved in metropolitan planning portrays the unsolvable procedural problems of transfer of knowledge and its impact upon substantive aspects of planning. The purpose of this paper is to study the role of knowledge on integration in spatial metropolitan planning, presuming the necessity of integration in general and in Tehran as a case presented to exemplify the general ideas and challenges of knowledge-based policy integration. A qualitative content analysis was applied to achieve the purpose of this study. Application of the analytic aspect of the proposed framework disclosed the barriers of achieving a spatial integrated knowledge-based planning and policy-making in Tehran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a globalised interdisciplinary moment, where boundary-crossing research collaborations are valorised, this paper considers encounters between multidisciplinary researchers. Presenting empirics and reflections from an international project where social scientists and engineers sought to collaborate, communicate and address complex challenges associated with sustainable urban development, we question a series of assumptions about interdisciplinary research. Importantly, we pause to consider the practical implications of doing this work. In particular, we draw attention to the spaces of interdisciplinarity, from the field to the lab and the meeting room, the role of researchers' reflexivity and positionality, and the importance of being aware of the embodied, emotional realities of such work. In so doing, we call for more critical, evidence-based reflection upon the lived in/congruities of interdisciplinary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the persistent challenges in housing the urban poor in Bangladesh. In particular, it explores the empirical evidence on informal networks of the urban poor as they relate to service provision in low-income settlements of Khulna City. It also analyses the emerging forms of urban governance in low-income urban settlements. Specifically, it investigates the transformation process of project-assisted form of informal network of the urban poor. This paper argues that community-based organisations in poor settlements in Bangladesh represent informal networks of the urban poor. Whether these networks are being federated depends on their type or form, and this is often the outcome of project-led initiatives. The findings show that project based initiatives have failed to assist these networks with the appropriate rules and resources required for their effectiveness. Moreover, these efforts are taking place in a system that is attempting to establish enabling mechanisms under a system of neo-liberalism. Thus, it is necessary to explore the possible ways to bridge formal and informal processes through institutionalisation under a wider urban governance framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries facing external as well as internal constraints on resources are invariably forced to develop imaginative approaches to building resilience that offer lessons to countries under less pressure. This issue of the Journal is one of the first to be published under the Open Access format that is becoming the norm for academic publishing. Of all the policy options for increasing community-led, non-market-based options for improving access to secure and affordable land, Community Land Trusts (CLTs) offer great advantages. [Extracted from the article]

The paper aims to take forward recent research concerning the development of grassroots innovations and sustainability transitions in housing. We introduce and empirically assess a multi-level, process-oriented framework informed by strategic niche management (SNM) and social capital theory. Drawing on qualitative data, the empirical part explores the emergence of community-led housing (CLH) in England as a grassroots-based housing niche which operates in a context of market dysfunction. The paper offers further conceptual development of the role of intermediaries in grassroots niche building. Our findings suggest an evolution from independent sub-niche umbrellas to broader-based intermediaries to leverage and consolidate different sustainability practices in the niche. The results question an unadapted application of the simplistic growth-oriented SNM approach advocating for strategic coherence. In particular, our analysis shows that the development of broader-based intermediary organisations is driven by short-term government funding and carefully preserves the diversity of approaches and identities within the niche. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steady emergence of transnational municipal climate networks demonstrates that cities are globally joining forces to tackle climate change. However, we still know little about how these increasingly influential organisations function. By modifying and extending an existing network typology through the development of a set of new dimensions and indicators, this paper aims to better define, systemise, and distinguish the different networks. The paper demonstrates that there are very exclusive elite networks only open to a limited number of municipalities and very inclusive mass networks open to almost all municipalities. Moreover, many networks vary significantly in terms of organisational structure, governance, or the number of involved private, public, or other partners. Additionally, we raise critical questions to be addressed by future qualitative research. These should be focused on gaining a better understanding of the significance of the various network partners as well as the existing collaboration in several networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, urban resettlement as a specific form of urbanisation has gained its momentum in planning practices to accommodate newcomers of cities, in line with the macro policy reforms of urban-rural integration. This paper synthesises literature related to the proposed term 'urban resettlement with Chinese characteristics' to shed light on the distinctive and unparalleled socio-economic and spatial transformation entailed by the ongoing urban resettlement in China. Mindful of China's socialist ideology and authoritarian regime, we argue that urban resettlement has become a potent tool for the Chinese government to fuel economic development and urbanisation. The longstanding issues such as involuntary resettlement have been alleviated with the gradualist institutional changes, but emerging predicaments concerning social mismatch, space mismatch, and spatial mismatch still linger. This paper calls for researchers to draw lessons and implications from the discourse of 'urban resettlement with Chinese characteristics' to expand the knowledge of sustainable urban-rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in the adoption of urban agriculture (UA) has grown in recent years. The compatibility of UA with the urban social context, in particular with urban stakeholders' attitudes, is crucial for its successful implementation and represents one of the key factors influencing its development. To this end, a literature review on different approaches to analysing stakeholders' and farmers' perceptions of UA is performed. The paper identifies the main approaches to assessing these aspects and designs an integrated framework to support the development of context-tailored analytical approaches for UA drivers' and stakeholder perceptions. The study aims to address and solve potential conflicts between UA practitioners and urban stakeholders and adapt the implementation of UA to contextual factors. This increases the possibility of developing successful UA strategies that meet the challenges currently facing urban food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper records the spatial dynamics and water consumption pattern through statistical and spatial evidence. The objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of land use land cover change on water demand and supply pattern of a rapidly growing urban region. The research analyses data from Census report, local governments and spatial data from remotely sensed images. The research finds rapid transformation of open land to the built-up area, particularly in the North-West, North, North-East, South-West and South districts. Inequality of water supply volume and supply pattern varies greatly between the districts. The city continues to experience water crisis such as water deficiency during the peak summer, groundwater degradation, water accessibility of slums and informal settlements. The findings will help the policymakers to comprehend the water crisis and consider appropriate mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-production in climate change has arisen in response to improving climate knowledge. Climate service co-production provides climate knowledge for decision-making, benefiting vulnerable communities with useful and usable information such as flooding risk areas. A climate service co-production project, including mapping technologies, has been conducted in Jakarta, Indonesia. However, it has not been integrated into mainstream spatial planning. This paper investigates an enabling environment for the integration of climate service co-production and spatial planning using a collaborative governance framework. We conducted semi-structured interviews, photovoice, and focus group discussions. The results highlight factors to enable integration; (1) an institutional reform to put climate service co-production on the agenda, (2) top-down priorities aligned with local-level needs, (3) local government will and leadership to execute the tasks and actions towards climate resilience, (4) trust of the local government with the community, (5) integrated geospatial data to have an effective climate knowledge to spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a case study of Alexandria city, Egypt, this paper investigates the configuration, interrelation, and integration of urban expansion within the framework of sustainability transitions to enhance the performance of sociotechnical transitions. It explores two main arguments; first, to evaluate the recent urban planning innovations, and second, to raise awareness of the participatory planning model to enhance the involvement of the three pillars to better integrate urban sustainable development. It presumes there is a linkage between urban sustainability transitions and the geographical transitions. It further evaluates whether this linkage would benefit accommodating the rapid population growth of Alexandria. This research applies an empirical methodology to test concepts and patterns known from theory generating three scenarios from empirical data. Moving beyond the 'niche–regime dichotomy', this study concludes that innovative practices and vested interests are typically constituted in a dualistic manner and tend to incite processes of change in both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We perform a systematic review of the literature on the association between income, employment, and urban poverty from a multidisciplinary perspective. Our results, derived from the analysis of 243 articles, confirm the significant role of employment in the urban poor's lives, highlighting several factors that constrain their ability to improve their labour market outcomes: lack of access to public transport, geographical segregation, labour informality, among others. Furthermore, the paper finds different strategies used by the poor to promote their inclusion in their city's economy. We found a major bias towards research focused on advanced economies, stressing the need for development studies dealing with the specific challenges of developing economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly reviews recent and current approaches to the formulation and implementation of urban housing policies in towns and cities in the global South, with emphasis on local government-community participation and partnerships. It looks ahead into the implications of the lasting impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and tenets of climate change that will constitute the 'New Normal'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue investigates the role of technology in the co-production of urban services through six empirical articles based on case-studies from Asia, Africa and South America. This topic has not received yet extensive attention in the literature, despite the emergence of technology as the key mediator between the material and immaterial elements of co-production practice. Based on the analysis of the six contributions, this introductory paper presents nine key issues related to the role of technology in service co-production, which are considered from four analytical perspectives: materiality, knowledge, actors and outcome. Technology co-evolves with physical contexts and practices. It fosters synergic knowledge generation, while also being the product of its own application. It contributes to changing governance structures and the emergence of new intermediary actors. Finally, technology influences power dynamics and equality of access to service, resulting in service provision that may be inclusionary or exclusionary, emancipatory or restrictive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architectural and planning education and practice have undergone significant changes since the 1960s and 70s, particularly in Developing Countries. This includes the adoption of an anti-poor vocabulary and the marginalisation of the state's role in providing low-cost housing for low-income groups and ultimately resulted in a change in the goals of planning. However, placing the blame solely on the growth/adoption of neoliberalism would be reductionist since architects like Le Corbusier were promoting their ideas of modernist communities well before the former emerged onto the scene. The paper outlines the ways in which this change has impacted society and suggests that the values of equity and justice be promoted through architectural and planning education and practice so as to create a more sensitive and pro-poor society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper integrates a unique dimension of gender in the analysis of economic vulnerability in urban contexts by focusing on women aged 50 and older. We use a probit model to predict the likelihood of vulnerability with a zero-one dummy dependent variable, and four categories of socioeconomic characteristics as predictors: educational attainment, labour market participation, individual demographics, and household characteristics. Using a pooled cross-section of data from the American Community Survey (2013–2017 5-Year estimates), we explore the transmission channel of vulnerability across the four largest cities in the US. The results show, through average marginal effects, a strong association between economic vulnerability and key socioeconomic indicators. The findings support the view that gender differences in labour market participation remain key in explaining disparities. Our two policy prescriptions focus on a more targeted approach in implementing retirement policy changes and loosening the link between labour supply and income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India continues to urbanise rapidly tinged with sub-standard living conditions of a growing 'slum' population. Improving the living conditions of slum-dwellers remains a gargantuan and intractable challenge requiring solutions at scale grounded on households' real experience of the process. The State of Odisha, in Eastern India, is currently implementing a state-wide land-titling initiative to improve the tenure security of a million slum-dwellers through legal, institutional, and technical innovations based on the Odisha Land Rights to Slum-dwellersAct 2017 (OLRSD). Given the known negative consequences of titling that grants 'full property rights', such as the speculative sale of the titles, the facilitation of elite capture,and disruption of community life and social networks, the OLRSD has fashioned the title as a 'limited instrument' that still assures the possibility to inherit and aims at facilitating mortgage for housing-backed lending. The paper discusses early learnings from Odisha's 'intermediate' aspects of its titling policy in nine settlements researched across three districts. As per people's accounts of their experienced reality, the titling, complemented by slum upgrading, has already facilitated improvements in the housing conditions of households subject to extreme poverty. However, concomitant challenges are surfacing for instance, although the OLRSD formally permits the titles to be used as collateral for housing loans, the non-acceptance of the title by mainstream banks forces the recipients to borrow from spurious private lenders, thus increasing their vulnerability. Understanding such and related challenges is relevant for better addressing the dimension of de jure land tenure security in slums at scale across India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts have a strong impact on land tenure, use, distribution, accessibility, and governance; consequently, a sustainable strategy for peacebuilding requires the set-up of land-based institutional arrangements from the peace negotiation phase onwards. Based on the concept of territorial peace, these arrangements have a key role in the reconstruction of the collective, productive, and symbolic functions of the territory after conflicts, and in addressing conflict root causes related to land inequality. This paper contributes to the development of the concept of territorial peace by providing a framework for its operationalisation, based on three categories of arrangements, and testing it, to qualitatively explore and compare two comprehensive peace agreements: Colombia and the Philippines. Land may take the role of peacemaker in addressing territorial peace's collective dimensions, especially when it is at the core of a peace agreement; however, its implementation remains volatile if it lacks trust, security, and technical capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban projects are developed partly to solve local problems but often have wider aims to influence policy and practise. However, there is very little long-term evaluation carried out, and few systematic efforts to link the experience gained in project development and implementation to wider learning and capacity building. I have written this opinion piece based on my experience both in practise in the public and private sectors and in teaching and research. The paper is divided into three parts. First, why urban projects and programmes are important for learning and capacity building. Second, how we learn from projects and the opportunities and barriers to learning. Third, how we could increase learning by explicitly including learning objectives in project planning and evaluation, strengthening links between practice and learning, and improving long-term access to project materials with learning potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically analyses complex arrangements of actors, infrastructure technologies and practices to argue that co-production of urban service delivery entails a mutual, but contested dependence of state and non-state actors. We present two empirical cases based on in-depth qualitative fieldwork highlighting the role of Councillors regulating formal hydraulics and the fragile, volatile relations of private water provisioning in Baruipur Municipality, a small, peripheral town in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. Characterised by groundwater arsenic, iron risks and heterogeneous urban waterscape, our analysis shows that powerful socio-political intermediaries shape everyday provisioning and access, 're-politicisation' complicating notions of collaborative alliances, equitable benefits and sustainable, material improvements. While gaps in piped water provisioning in the global South cities do find nascent community-led, collective service delivery efforts, in a socio-political context where water is understood as a public right, a state provision, does the continued reliance on the state allow joint service delivery to manifest? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of tenure 'contracts' that exist within the low-income settlements involves more than title deeds. Accordingly, 'tenure security' manifests itself beyond legal or de jure construction as it also involves de facto forms of tenure and dweller's perception of security. The perceived tenure security is in turn a function of people's lived experiences which shape the trust they may grant to the future effectiveness of land tenure arrangements. Contextual and historical factors, ranging from political patronage to market pressure to policy provisions, govern the perception of tenure security which usually gets overlooked in policy formulations. With a focus on Mumbai and Jaipur in India, this paper aims to generate and examine the viability of a list of indicators that influence perceptions of land and housing tenure security. The intention is to engender a method towards housing solutions beyond the unidirectional aim of titling and in favour of incremental approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the dynamics of access to electricity in two West African cities: Cotonou (Benin) and Ibadan (Nigeria). Due to poor supply from the grid, households are developing varied ways of accessing electricity, based on different socio-technical dispositifs. In this paper we first demonstrate that access to electricity is based on co-production processes that must be approached from a multi-scale perspective (from the household to the urban scale). We then argue that particular attention to the socio-technical and spatial dimension of co-production arrangements makes it possible to interpret urban electrical configurations and their evolution. We thus show that co-production processes, relying on many actors and technologies to meet a growing and diversified demand for electricity in cities, support an ongoing movement of extension-hybridisation of electricity configurations on an urban scale, thus offering an interesting perspective on power changes in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a conceptual exploration of Urban Agriculture in Portugal. We argue that Portuguese Urban Agriculture primarily focuses on food production for self-consumption and that its links with the other components of urban as a system are quite limited. To substantiate our argument several Urban Agriculture international definitions are presented and critically analysed along with: 1) interviews of relevant key actors; and, 2) a web search based on key words. We conclude that there is a need to clarify the very concept of Urban Agriculture among actors involved. This could be achieved through a national network able to raise a must needed debate about this promising sector. Political decision makers, civil society, and planners, among others should be involved in this collaborative process. Finally, the paper brings some reflections on what the Portuguese experience contributes to the broader debate and definitions of Urban Agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal Authorities (Assemblies) in Ghana have been unable to generate adequate revenue to effectively manage sanitation. To address this challenge, the Akuapem North and Ga West Municipalities have recently introduced a sanitation surcharge, which is collected through property rates. Using a mixed-method approach, this paper assesses the attitudes of policymakers and taxpayers towards the policy and the implications for its effective implementation. Qualitative data were collected through interviews with officials of the Municipal Assemblies while quantitative data were collected through a survey of 832 randomly selected property owners. The study revealed that policymakers' de jure acceptance of the policy has not translated into de facto implementation. Although most taxpayers support the policy, a significant minority of them oppose it due to lack of trust in the Assemblies. Therefore, the Assemblies need to devise effective communication strategies, and enhance transparency in the use of revenue collected through the surcharge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land provision for low-income housing in sub-Saharan African cities generally and Lusaka specifically, is a significant challenge faced by planners and city managers, evidenced in the high prevalence of squatter settlements. As part of the solution to the problem of informal settlements, the paper has developed a set of recommendations for providing access to peri-urban lands under customary law for private commercial low-income housing, to reduce the need for informal housing in statutory urban areas. The set of recommendations were developed by exploring the necessary governance processes in the allocation of customary land using a partnership approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable urbanism is a global issue with a plethora of publications both theoretical and practical. This has been spurred by the encroachment on green open space in the form of development and by extension sprawl. This is now seen as the main cause of risk of chronic diseases in cities, since city dwellers spend much of their time outdoors. Loss of use of green open space has been found to be directly related to residents' behavior and socio-economic situations. Increased contact with nature, can also increase a sense of community, and can also help to reduce socio-economic inequalities. Since green open spaces are mostly not fully utilized as resources, this paper explores the practical form of encroachment on green open space with adjoining negative consequences on sustainable management in Akure. It, therefore, assesses the rate and extent of urban sprawl using remote sensing and geographic information system techniques, while assessing its health with socio-economic implication on the people. The paper concludes with suggestions on sustainable urbanism to help in governance in the use of green open space as a resource for promoting a healthy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the tensions that accompany slum upgrading in the era of world-class city construction. The focus is a slum upgrading project in Lagos, Nigeria. The paper observes the intertwining of modernist and neoliberal ideologies in world-class city construction and in slum upgrading projects. The entanglement centres on a number of shared interests; the prioritization of infrastructure and notions about urban space, participation and citizenship. As documented, the project and by extension world-class city construction fails to acknowledge the livelihoods of the poor and is undermined by protests. Historical legacies and systemic failings of governance present additional obstacles. The paper seeks to broaden the scope of world-class city research by acknowledging the local context, but at the same time recognizing the global links. Along these lines, the paper suggests that slum upgrading provides an opportunity to examine how the local is inserted into the global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a brief history of the Urbanization and Global Environmental Change (UGEC) core project of the erstwhile International Human Dimensions Programme on GEC and the evolution of the science it supported and advanced from 2006 to 2017. This paper arises out of its synthesis phase, which concluded by planning the transition into an urban component of Future Earth. This legacy is vital in the context of our now predominantly urban planet and the associated flowering of urban research and related policy initiatives. The paper also analyses UGEC’s role and contribution as a global science coordination (networking) project and, on this basis, offers guidance and future research suggestions for the urbanization and environmental change community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global challenges such as climate change, resource scarcity and poverty must increasingly be tackled in cities. While cities can be significant contributors to climate change and resource scarcity, and face considerable risks as a consequence of these, they are also central to the solutions for these challenges. The quality of infrastructure, reliability of service provision and other economic and political conditions in urban areas shape levels of resource use by, and exposure to risks for, residents. This paper – which introduces a special issue on resilience and resource efficiency at the city scale – introduces these two concepts and explores the nexus between them. It uses several case studies from different contexts to illustrate the relationship between these ideas, and describes how the papers in the issue engage with them.  [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban housing policies, in the opening decades of the 21st Century are in disarray. The objectives and targets set for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015–30 and the United Nations New Urban Agenda call for comprehensive urban housing policies, based on inclusion and participation. This paper argues for housing policies and implementation strategies that go beyond participation and are governed and managed by inclusive cost- and benefit-sharing partnerships of local government authorities and low-income group community members, NGOs and private sector stakeholders. Approaches to the formation and maintenance of democratic and equitable partnerships based on mutualism, interdependence, respect and trust are examined in the paper as a means to the efficient and effective production and management of affordable and sustainable housing and urban development; and as an end mechanism for the generation and strengthening of democratic, equitable urban communities, social change and poverty reduction and the alleviation of its impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a reflection on the implementation of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and its social and spatial repercussions. It incorporates results of research that comprises (i) survey of bibliography on mega-events; (ii) survey of information on government Internet sites and major and alternative media; (iii) mapping of social conflicts related to the Olympics' main projects; (iv) interviews with social actors and politicians; and (v) observations of public meetings organized by the government or communities. After a brief reading of the critical analyses on mega-events and its expression in Brazil, a background summary of the implementation process of sports mega-events in Rio de Janeiro and a discussion about mega-events' legacies and/or impacts are presented. The paper specially addresses the changes in the map of inequalities in Rio and reflects on the exhaustion of the political and economic conditions that fed the mega-events cycle in Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban infrastructure investment needs in the developing world are immense, particularly when the additional costs associated with lower carbon, more climate-resilient options are considered. These cannot possibly be financed from fiscal sources and ODA flows alone; private financing will need to be accessed. Focusing on the ability of city governments and subnational urban utilities to mobilize private finance, this paper makes two core arguments. First, private investment in municipal infrastructure requires robust institutional, fiscal and regulatory systems that are often absent in developing countries. Establishing such systems often requires policy and institutional reform, much of which lies beyond the competence and control of city governments themselves. Second, while the marginal investment needs related to climate mitigation and adaptation complicate and aggravate the picture, they do not alter the fundamental requirements of private investors. Put simply, municipalities and utilities will need to satisfy the requirements of regular private finance before they can attract green private finance. This paper looks across the main avenues for city governments to mobilize private finance – municipal borrowing, public–private partnerships, and land value capture instruments – and identifies four broad factors that determine the potential size and scope of city leveraging activity. It then offers a new framework to understand where the most pressing constraints to private investment readiness lie and proposes priority measures that local and national governments, together with development partners and other stakeholders, can take to address them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sekondi-Takoradi has been a preferred city in Ghana for many individuals after the discovery of oil in the area in 2007. This paper sought to analyze the land-use/cover change of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis between 1991 and 2016, and its implications on the sustainability of the city. A combination of GIS and remote sensing techniques were employed in the study. The findings of the study revealed a substantial land use/cover change over the period under investigation. Farmlands, open forests, and closed forests were converted into built-up areas. Furthermore, areas covered by water were also encroached by the built-up environment. These show evidence of unguided expansion of the physical growth of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. To address the situation, the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly in collaboration with public land and environmental agencies should undertake sustainable urban development initiatives such as urban growth boundary strategies and also encourage vertical physical land development to protect the city's nature reserves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peri-urban land access in Tanzania is adversely embroiled in a dual system that is both formal and informal. Each system is driven by different actors with diverging interests. This paper aims at demonstrating views of the actors' on the dual system in peri-urban areas. Case study strategy was employed in this study and mixed methods of data collection used. In-depth interviews, household questionnaires and document analysis were employed to collect data. Findings demonstrate that although the formal land-access system is unnecessarily bureaucratic, the associated benefits are worthwhile compared to the informal system. Despite the challenges of the informal system, it remains predominant because of multiple factors including the ability to bridge the gap of high demand for planned and surveyed land that the formal public sector has failed to meet. Thus, it is important for the government to address challenges in the formal land-access system through institutional and policy reforms. There is also need to coordinate and regulate the activities of actors involved in informal land-access processes, if effective land governance in peri-urban areas is to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the asset vulnerability and livelihood strategies of refugees and the urban poor in slum settlements of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Asset Vulnerability Framework is used as the analytical framework of how household’s assets are affected by vulnerability. Using qualitative analysis, factors which impact on the livelihood assets of both groups are examined. The paper focuses on the five main assets as indicated by Moser, while conceptualising further the assets which both populations aspire to accumulate, and which are necessary for them to prosper – rights, in this case the Right to the City. The paper, therefore, attempts to develop linkages between these areas: asset vulnerability, displacement and the Right to the City. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]