Search

This paper aims to explore how the principles of participatory action research (PAR) articulate with questions of climate justice. Drawing on three qualitative case studies in Brazil, Fiji and Kenya, the paper explores university institutional capabilities, asking how the principles of mobilising PAR to support transformative outcomes can further climate justice. The paper argues that for participatory action research to become a pathway to build universities' capabilities, key considerations are needed. PAR needs to: (a) move beyond change in individual behaviour to respond to climate change and affect institutional norms, procedures and practices; (b) recognise and partner with marginalised groups whose voice and experiences are at the periphery of climate debate, enabling reciprocal flows of impact and knowledge between universities and wider societies; and (c) foster "relationships of equivalence" with actors within as well as outside university to influence university governance and wider climate-related policy-making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being recognised as an appropriate tool to address different dimensions of transport-related social exclusion, the Capability Approach still lacks application within the domain of school transportation. This study conceptualised the vectors of collective functionings and capabilities of preschools and nurseries in São Paulo. From the location of 204 schools, the conditions to access schools through walking were assessed using georeferenced datasets relating to mobility, road safety, and the built environment. The schools were analysed according to their conditions to walk (resources) and the corresponding conversion rates to achieve higher shares of pedestrian trips (functionings), considering the idiosyncrasies between public and private schools. That enabled the estimation of the mobility capabilities, which presented gaps when compared with the functionings. Results corroborated with the class and race disparities in the access to education in Brazil, in which schools with poorer conditions to walk do not have any other options than walking to go to school (e.g. transit or bicycle), requiring investments in the upgrading of the urban infrastructure. On the other hand, schools in wealthier regions present barriers to the fulfilment of active mobility even when the resources are considered sufficient, in which the implementation of educational programmes in recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies the concept of poverty as insufficiency of basic capabilities in measuring living conditions of residents of a favela (shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro, the Vidigal favela. For this purpose, we develop a methodology to operationalize the capability approach. Our choice of this approach is justified by a perceived discrepancy between the ordinary judgments of the people of Rio de Janeiro, who generally regard favela dwellers as poor, and those of poverty experts, who believe that favela dwellers cannot be considered (income) poor on average. Our results show that while favela inhabitants may not be income poor, they are nonetheless very poor in freedom. Living in a favela by itself imposes a sizable discount on people's functionings. In addition, violence between drug gangs and between gangs and police, a common feature of Rio's favelas, interferes negatively with people's well-being and opportunities for collective action, in such a way that even the traditional social capital often considered a peculiar form of wealth of favela dwellers is being eroded by it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]