Social segregation and academic achievement in state-run elementary schools in the municipality of Campinas, Brazil

Space not only reflects social inequality, it also reinforces the advantages or disadvantages associated with social class. However, the study of how neighbourhoods affect their residents has only recently entered the debate on urban poverty in Latin America. We use 2000 data from the Brazilian population census, school census, and the state of São Paulo’s educational evaluation system to analyze the relationship between school infrastructure, school academic achievement, and the neighbourhoods in which these schools are located. Our analyses indicate that state-run elementary schools located in areas of concentrated poverty have lower academic achievement in mathematics tests and Portuguese than mixed and affluent areas of the city, even though these schools are all administered by the same government body. We end with a discussion of the relationship between Brazilian education policy and its influence on spatial differences in São Paulo State.     

Can we spot a neighborhood from the air? Defining neighborhood structure in Accra, Ghana

Slums are home to a large fraction of urban residents in cities of developing nations, but little attempt has been made to go beyond a simple slum/non-slum dichotomy, nor to identify slums more quantitatively than through local reputation. We use census data from Accra, Ghana, to create an index that applies the UN-Habitat criteria for a place to be a slum. We use this index to identify neighborhoods on a continuum of slum characteristics and on that basis are able to locate the worst slums in Accra. These do include the areas with a local reputation for being slums, lending qualitative validation to the index. We show that slums also have footprints that can be identified from data classified from satellite imagery. However, variability among slums in Accra is also associated with some variability in the land cover characteristics of slums.     

‘Ageing in place’: experiences of older adults in Amsterdam and Portland

This article addresses the importance and meanings of formal and informal social support relationships and neighbourhood ties for older adults ‘ageing in place’ in urban neighbourhoods in two different welfare state settings: Portland (Oregon, the United States) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands). The rising number of people growing old(er) in urban environments raises new demands and pressing challenges for urban development. The majority of older adults are and will be ageing in their homes and communities, as opposed to institutionalized care facilities and settings. At the same time, the provision of formal and public care is being increasingly challenged by government cutbacks. On top of this, the formerly strong welfare states in many European countries have weakened. In-depth interviews with 40 older adults and key informants in two neighbourhoods in each city provide the empirical basis for this study. In Portland, there are widespread local civic initiatives related to care provision for older adults. The city has a long tradition both of individual responsibility and community culture, which has emerged from and appears to compensate for the overall lack of state services and support. Amsterdam has a long tradition of state provision, but is experiencing a policy shift towards a stronger reliance on private market-led services, and an emphasis on family and community as providers of support. Although a few emerging local initiatives for elderly care in Amsterdam were identified, it is unclear whether this form of community support can compensate for decreasing state provision in Amsterdam. This study raises concerns about the future of care provision for older adults living in unsupportive urban neighbourhoods, without financial resources or nearby relatives.     

变化环境对城市暴雨及排水系统影响研究进展

近年来,变化环境（气候变化和城镇化）导致城市暴雨的发生频率或强度增加,加剧了城市暴雨洪涝问题。因此,分析变化环境对城市暴雨及排水系统的影响对城市水资源规划管理、市政规划设计和城市防灾减灾有着重要意义。总结了未来高精度降雨预估技术、变化环境下排水系统设计标准等关键问题的研究进展,综述了变化环境下城市短历时暴雨演变规律及变化环境对城市排水系统影响的研究现状,探讨了变化环境对城市短历时暴雨的影响机理,并归纳了当前研究变化环境对城市暴雨及排水系统影响的主要方法。指出今后应重点加强的研究:①加强气候变化和城镇化对城市短历时暴雨影响机制的研究;②提升区域气候模式对城市区域下垫面和大气相互作用的描述能力,并加强公里尺度对流可解析模型在城市气候变化影响研究中的应用;③加强对变化环境下排水系统设计标准的研究;④综合评估气候变化和城镇化对城市排水系统超载、污染物转移和水安全等的影响。     

Developing the scientific framework for urban geochemistry

Urban geochemistry is a unique discipline that is distinguished from general geochemistry by the complex infrastructure and intense human activities associated with concentrated population centers. As stated by Thornton (1991) “This subject is concerned with the complex interactions and relationships between chemical elements and their compounds in the urban environment, the influence of past and present human and industrial activities on these, and the impacts or effects of geochemical parameters in urban areas on plant, animal and human health.” Urban areas present special challenges to geochemists attempting to understand geochemical states and fluxes. On the 5–6 of August, 2014, the first meeting of the reorganized Urban Geochemistry Working Group of the International Association of GeoChemistry (IAGC) was held in Columbus, Ohio, United States. Two goals of the meeting were to develop the overall scope, and a general definition of urban geochemistry. Five grand themes were developed: 1) recognizing the urban geochemical signature; 2) recognizing the legacy of altered hydrologic and geochemical cycles in urban environments; 3) measuring the urban geochemical signature; 4) understanding the urban influence on geochemical cycles from the continuous development and erosion of physical infrastructure and episodic perturbations; and 5) relating urban geochemistry to human and environmental health and policy. After synthesizing the discussion of these themes we offer the following perspective on the science of urban geochemistry building on the work of Thornton (1991): Urban geochemistry as a scientific discipline provides valuable information on the chemical composition of environments that support large populations and are critical to human health and well-being. Research into urban geochemistry seeks to 1) elucidate and quantify the sources, transport, transformations, and fate of chemicals in the urban environment, 2) recognize the spatial and temporal (including legacies) variability in these processes, and 3) integrate urban studies into global perspectives on climate change, biogeochemical cycles, and human and ecosystem health. We hope that this discussion will encourage other geochemists to engage in challenges unique to urban systems, as well as provide a framework for the future of urban geochemistry research.     

Is area affected by flood or stagnant water independently associated with poorer health outcomes in urban slums of Dhaka and adjacent rural areas?

This study investigated the association of flood/stagnant water (FSW) with various health outcomes among respondents living in urban slums of Dhaka and adjacent rural areas. We also assessed the differences of individual-, household- and area-level characteristics between the FSW-affected and non-affected areas. Bangladesh as a whole and slums in the megacity of Dhaka in particular are severely affected by the FSW. Data were collected from 3,207 subjects (aged 10+ years) through baseline surveys conducted in March 2008 and 2009. Twelve big slums in Dhaka and three adjacent villages were selected as study areas. Face-to-face interviews using a multidimensional pre-tested questionnaire were conducted by the trained university graduates. We performed various types of analyses ranging from the simple frequency analysis to the multivariable-adjusted logistic regression modelling. Our empirical findings suggest that slums were more affected by the FSW as compared to the rural areas. People living in the FSW-affected areas were more vulnerable in terms of individual-, household- and area-level characteristics than non-affected people. Age was also significantly associated with various health outcomes. According to multivariable analyses controlled for various factors, the FSW-affected people reported significantly higher likelihoods of health symptoms (namely fever, cold/cough, weakness), communicable diseases (namely diarrhoea and gastric disease) and poor mental well-being as compared to the non-affected people. Only the burden of non-communicable diseases was lower in the FSW-affected areas than the non-affected areas. Our findings lead us to conclude that the FSW-affected area is an independent risk factor for various physical and mental health problems. Urban slums are more affected than rural areas by the FSW. Therefore, we underscore the necessities of well-designed and comprehensive public health interventions focusing on individual, community and higher levels of interventions to reduce the FSW-related health and other consequences among the people living in the FSW-affected areas and urban slums in the rapidly growing city of Dhaka, Bangladesh.     

Turning hustlers into entrepreneurs,and social needs into market demands: Corporate–community encounters in Nairobi,Kenya

This article contributes an empirically rich account of a social enterprise project embedded in local urban economies of Nairobi, Kenya. The confluence of rapid, unplanned urbanisation and economic liberalisation has led to growing formations of informal settlements and a vibrant informal sector across post-colonial cities. These “slum” neighbourhoods, housing the majority of the urban population on a fraction of the city’s land, are often ignored and marginalized by the state and municipal authorities, particularly with regards to basic service provision. At the same time, slum economies provide entry-points for various enterprise-led development schemes seeking to commercially engage both entrepreneurial individuals and their existing customer base in order to scale access to unmet needs. The discussion is based on an ethnographic study in one of Nairobi’s largest informal settlements, which focused on the everyday practices of a local micro-franchise called “Community Cleaning Services”. The article illustrates how waste workers and self-proclaimed “hustlers” were turned into micro-franchisee entrepreneurs providing a sanitation service to residential customers, through their engagement with Community Cleaning Services. This ethnographic account raises two potentially contradictory but inter-related debates that are rarely considered alongside one another in the existing literature on corporate involvement in low-income markets. First, it reframes the critiques of enterprise-led initiatives to “poverty alleviation” by focusing on the implications of commercialising “basic” services and on the logistical and cultural challenges of turning social needs into market demands. Second, it emphasises the often-invisible role of grassroots informal economies in enabling access to vital services in the absence of an adequately resourced and responsive municipality. The article concludes with a broader reflection on the effects and limitations of corporate-led development schemes targeting the urban poor and points to the contrasting logics of grassroots entrepreneurial urbanism and corporate—albeit “socially responsible”—parameters of success.     

Multidimensional poverty in slums: an empirical study from urban India

Poverty is the most important metric for determining the nature and sense of wellbeing in a given area. Most economists consider poverty to be an economic criterion for assessing many aspects of human development as well as overall social development; yet, society is multi-faceted in its many forms. To address this pressing societal issue, the current study used the Multidimensional poverty index (MPI). To analyse urban poverty among slum communities, the researchers used the Global MPI of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and UNDP (following Alkire and Foster) techniques. Researchers attempted to create a Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) for impoverished households in Purulia's designated slums in this study. In the second phase, the multidimensional poverty of Purulia's urban poor households was assessed based on (a) location, (b) social groupings, and (c) length of stay. Finally, researchers have attempted to identify the factors that contribute to multidimensional poverty. Two indicators, the Head Count Ratio (H) and Intensity of Poverty, have been offered to better explain the nature of MPI (A). Based on slum population density and areal density, eight urban slum areas with 320 households has been taken from 8 selected slums based on Yamane’s methodology from Purulia Municipality's wards. A structured questionnaire, an oral history interview, and a focus group discussion were used as primary data sources, with secondary data acquired from several officially published sources. The study displays a decomposed multidimensional poverty picture in terms of overall condition, socioeconomic groups, and household age, with a quantitative methodology that is transparent. When the locations have been considered, a qualitative approach has been used to determine that the slums closest to the railway track are the most multidimensionally disadvantaged of the eight slums. Furthermore, the schedule caste population has been found to be more deprived across many socioeconomic groups, with Scheduled tribe (ST) households being the most deprived in terms of health on one hand (applied quantitative methodology) and multi-nominal regression (applied qualitative methodology) indicating a mix mode approach. This form of analysis, which combines quantitative and qualitative approaches, can aid stakeholders and policymakers in developing specific poverty-reduction policies at the regional level.

     

Spectacle and Suffering: The Mumbai slum as a worlded space

This paper examines the relationship between spectacle and worlding. Using Dharavi as the site (cite) of analysis, the paper considers how slum tours, art and television documentaries produce particular narratives and imaginaries of the slum. We move beyond the discussions of voyeurism and the aestheticisation of poverty and suggest that the knowledge of the slum is entangled with the motives, preconceptions and experiences of multiple actors, giving the slum a relation with the “world” that holds opportunities to disrupt hegemonic views of urbanism, while centering its own position as a locus of knowledge on urban poverty. The paper suggests that analysing the spectacle of the slum through the lens of worlding offers ways to think critically of how urban space is reordered and urban knowledge is produced and circulated.     

Floods in megacity environments: vulnerability and coping strategies of slum dwellers in Dhaka/Bangladesh

In many megacities of the global south, the combination of rapid population growth and high pressure on space for housing, results in urban growth taking place in areas particularly prone to natural hazards. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is no exception to this rule. Many marginal settlements or slums are located on low-lying land at high risk of flooding. This paper analyzes the vulnerability of slum dwellers in Dhaka and highlights the major factors behind their sensitivity to floods and their ability to adapt to the related changes. The empirical findings presented are based on a questionnaire survey covering 625 households in five slum areas of Dhaka. Our data suggests that social capital plays an important role with regard to the ability of slum dwellers to find ways to live with the floods. Regardless of how strongly people are affected, mutual help and support are dominant features in times of crises. While poorly educated and resourced slum dwellers are highly vulnerable to external shocks, they still show a surprising capacity to cope with natural calamities.     

Recent slum clearance exercise in Lagos (Nigeria): victims or beneficiaries?

Conclusion The sporadic application of ‘slum clearance’ programmes served only to exacerbate the already intransigent problem of urban housing shortage, as the example of Lagos has demonstrated. The continued application of Western assumptions in urban development (whereas they have since been modified in those countries) has inhibited a reassessment of issues in the Nigerian context. Some of the issues at stake have been considered in this paper. Conventional Western concepts have not only proved inappropriate to the realities of rapid urban growth and limited resources in Nigeria and most of tropical Africa, but have intensified the problems still further. In the context of Maroko slum clearance exercise as contained in this paper, they must be seen as an unsuccessful attempt to control rather than resolve the housing problems of the urban poor. I terms of planning five procedural steps are necessary to be followed to accomplish a desirable urban renewal exercise for the community. They are (1) to acquire land in accordance with the plan, consisting of purchase of land and the structures on it. (2) Relocation of residents from the acquired buildings into satisfactory quarters. The relocation exercise must be made not only mandatory on the government (local or state) undertaking renewal but made a legal requirement. (3) Site clearance — the razing of the structures on the land may be carried out only after the quality of such structures have been determined. This exercise also assumes that a process of data collection and analysis have been accomplished (social and physical). (4) Site improvements and supporting facilities and services are undertaken by the agency. Site improvements include streets, sewers, lightiing etc. Others may include parks, play ground, schools etc. (5) Land may be built upon by agency or sold to original owners if compensations have been paid. They may also be given back to owners with loans to rebuild either through self-help or cooperative venture. Amortization and interest on such loans should be made generous for the poor. Since demolition of housing must precede new construction in the project area, the existing stock of housing is decreased, forcing the displacees to seek shelter in the remaining housing in the city or erect squatter housing. This is especially likely at the low-quality end of the housing market, since the greatest reduction in the housing stock occurs there. The condition may remain depending on government’s degree of responsiveness. Perhaps the only way to avoid the problem of a reduced housing stock in any urban renewal project, thus curbing the incidence of the spiral process of slums among the poor, as the Maroko example has demonstrated in Lagos, is by building new dwelling units for relocatees before demolishing their present homes. Such policy would merge with general attempts to relocate the poor in suburbs, seeking a reduction in the concentrations of poverty in central cities of Nigeria.     

Social provision and service delivery: Problems of equity,health, and health care in rural Australia

A neglected area of Australian geographical research relates to the issue of how to ensure an equitable provision of services to inhabitants of rural areas. Equity, however defined, is a procedural concept, requiring the implementation of rules about how to allocate and distribute scarce resources. Equity, as a distributional principle, is an important consideration both in determining the actual amount and nature of resources available and in deciding who will get how much of what is available. Compared with other social goods, there is a particular insistence on equity with respect to health care services. This article outlines the problems characterizing health care provision in rural Australia. It evaluates fiscal equalization as one means by which the Federal Government attempts to ensure at least some equity in the provision and distribution of health care resources to areas of dispersed population. The findings reveal that fiscal equalization alone is unable to ensure equity. This is because of problems of how to assess the needs for and costs associated with providing health care services in areas of dispersed population, confusion between equality and equity, problems related to the differentiation of government functions in a federal system, and inadequacies associated with using hospital services as the basis for resource allocation. This article concludes that equity is more likely to be achieved when policy is oriented to health care rather than medical care and when provision and distribution of resources relates more to service outcomes than to service inputs.     

Spatial competition between school systems: The case of state religious education in Israel

Spatial inequality characterizes the State-Religious school system in Israel visà-vis the other two systems servicing the Jewish population. The State-Religious school system caters to a smaller but equally dispersed population as the State schools, yet it is governed by the same legislation on school size and extent of catchment. The ultraorthodox school system is not governed by such legislation. This situation leads to a spatial competition which leads to conflicts on issues of school size and accessibility, aiming at enlarging the State-Religious system and improving its spatial conditions. Such conflicts are often politicized, reaching local and national levels of government.     

Local government reform,urban crisis and development in South Africa

The article aims to interpret the proposed reorganization of local government in South Africa and to examine its development implications in relation to the metropolitan area of Cape Town. The interpretation of reorganization draws particularly on DUNCAN and GOODWIN's suggestion (Int. J. Urb. Res.,6, 157–185, 1982) that reorganization represents an attempt to reimpose the state form. The article places the reorganization of local government in South Africa in the context of the current reform strategy, and argues that it is an element of a strategy which attempts to produce new forms of social relations, ordered to an increasing extent by the market mechanism. The local government strategy reflects this and also responds in particular to the crisis of legitimacy at local government level and in urban areas. This crisis has been precipitated not so much by forms of representation in local government, as by economic and political conditions in general. However, the reform of local government does not address these conditions, nor does it set up a system of local government in which they might be addressed. In fact, the attempt to reorder society on the basis of the determinants of the market and the resulting emphasis on wealth as a criteria of access to cities, services and power is likely to exacerbate the conditions of unemployment, poverty, spatial inequality and shortages of housing. In effect, therefore, local government reform concerns itself with little more than the management of urban areas in an attempt to contain manifest political problems.     

School vulnerability to disaster: examination of school closure,demographic, and exposure factors in Hurricane Ike’s wind swath

Damage and destruction to schools from climate-related disasters can have significant and lasting impacts on curriculum and educational programs, educational attainment, and future income-earning potential of affected students. As such, assessing the potential impact of hazards is crucial to the ability of individuals, households, and communities to respond to natural disasters, extreme events, and economic crises. Yet, few studies have focused on assessing the vulnerability of schools in coastal regions of the USA. Using Hurricane Ike’s tropical storm wind swath in the State of Texas as our study area, we: (1) assessed the spatial distribution patterns of school closures and (2) tested the relationship between school closure and vulnerability factors (namely physical exposure and school demographics) using zero-inflated negative binomial regression models. The regression results show that higher probabilities of hurricane strikes, more urbanized school districts, and school districts located in coastal counties on the right side of Ike’s path have significant positive associations with an increase in the number of school closure days. Socioeconomic characteristics were not significantly associated with the number of days closed, with the exception of proportion of Hispanic youth in schools, a result which is not supported by the social vulnerability literature. At a practical level, understanding how hurricanes may adversely impact schools is important for developing appropriate preparedness, mitigation, recovery, and adaptation strategies. For example, school districts on the right side of the hurricane track can plan in advance for potential damage and destruction. The ability of a community to respond to future natural disasters, extreme events, and economic crises depends in part on mitigating these adverse effects.     

Slum dweller's daily movement pattern in a Calcutta slum

This study identifies the daily activity pattern of a city slum in Calcutta and analyzes the socio-economic correlates and proposes activity pattern models. The study area, Tangra slum is located in a low-lying poorly drained area where cheap land has led to the development of a large number of factories, and a cattle slaughter house; places of employment for unskilled labor. The ideal location of the slum in relation to entertainment, medical clinics, transportation nodes, shopping facilities has generated a diverse activity pattern. Activities were observed to be of two natures, essential and non-essential. The two types of activities differed in their frequency with the essential activities having high frequency and the non-essential having low frequencies. Typically it was also observed that high frequency activities were limited to a radii of 5 km (3 miles) from the slum whereas, the low frequency activities radiated for 100–160 km (60 to 100 miles) from the slum.     

Design methods for stopes and sill pillars with application to the Zinkgruvan Mine,central Sweden

Summary The design of pillars in cut-and-fill mining and open stoping in vertical and subvertical orebodies is of vital importance in optimizing mining operations. The primary requirement for a good and reliable design technique is the ability to represent the actual physical behaviour of the pillar. In this paper, a new methodology for stope roof and sill pillar design is proposed for the Zinkgruvan Mine in Sweden. Studies of failure modes, local geology and rock mass characteristics were carried out to correlate failure modes to different geomechanical environments. For preliminary design, crude and ready-to-use stress level criteria were extracted from simple linear elastic modelling. More detailed modelling was used to simulate observed failures in a mechanically realistic manner and, at the same time, to help identify the fundamental failure mechanisms. Once the correct models and input parameters were identified, a set of guidelines on choice of model and parameter values were produced. The models can be used for design of new mining areas at Zinkgruvan, and the methodology could also be applied to other mines with similar geomechanical conditions.     

Spatial aspects of the residential adjustments of older parents moving to low-income senior housing: A longitudinal study

The purpose of this paper is to determine the effects of changes in local behaviour settings and individual attributes on the adjustments of older parents moving to government-subsidized senior citizen apartment (SCA) projects. The data were elicited from a sample of 106 residents of 25 SCAs in Winnipeg, Manitoba, who participated in a longitudinal interview survey. The data analysis involved use of bivariate statistical inferential tests and multiple regression frameworks. The findings disclose that the moves had only a moderate impact on parent-child residential separation and interaction. However, statistically significant predictors of four personal state outcomes (self-rated health, morale, depression, self-esteem) of the moves include variables concerning change in the older parent’s personal resources, everyday travel, and subjective appraisals of service, social, and physical components of the local neighbourhood. The findings have important policy implications in relation to the provision of appropriate behaviour settings for senior housing.     

Social and environmental regulation in rural China: bringing the changing role of local government into focus

China’s rapid economic growth following the 1978 reforms has resulted in significant economic, social and environmental change. These reforms and their outcomes have been subjected to considerable scrutiny. However, relatively little research has been directed towards the relationship between the changing role of local government, which has itself been subject to substantial restructuring, and the local mediation of the social and environmental impacts of rapid economic growth. This paper investigates the local manifestation of social and environmental change in Zhejiang Province. In particular, it considers the changing role of local government in the regulatory process, and features a case study of Huzhou Municipality. A synthesis of the factual knowledge and perceptions of 48 key-informants from government and public institutions and rural industries is used as the platform for an analysis of the changing nature of local regulation with respect to the provision of key public services (health care and education) and environmental protection (water pollution control). The results reveal the ability of local government to selectively implement national and provincial policies in light of local priorities, which is taken as indicative of the emergence of local agency within local development processes. The case study suggests a need to re-evaluate conventional wisdom on the absence of autonomy at local levels of government in China, particularly as it relates to the continued devolution of administrative responsibility and the emergence of increasingly powerful economic interests.