Mobile GIS occupancy audit of Ulana informal settlement in Ekurhuleni municipality,South Africa

ABSTRACT

Relocating people in informal settlements and upgrading the lives of those people require consistent commitment, good strategies, and supporting systems. In South Africa, in order to allocate subsidized housing to beneficiaries of an informal settlement, beneficiary administration needs to determine the number of people who qualify for subsidized houses. Without geo-spatial data-based technical verification, conventional methods of occupancy audits are often cumbersome, are unreliable, and do not promote smart and evidence-based decision making. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to propose and develop an Oracle-based mobile GIS tool to conduct an occupancy audit for Ulana, an informal settlement in Ekurhuleni Municipality in South Africa. Android-based tablets were used to collect the geographic and socio-economic attributes of the informal dwelling units (DU). Spatial analysis (in ArcGIS software and geo-spatial modeling environment) and statistical analysis were conducted to produce the occupancy audit. The results indicated that the use of mobile GIS provides up-to-date, accurate, comprehensive, and real-time data so as to facilitate the development of smart and integrated human settlements. The results of this audit also indicated that only 57% of the households residing in Ulana could potentially benefit from receiving a subsidized house. Accordingly, the occupancy audit enables planners to plan appropriate upgrading and housing development strategies for informal settlement. This study demonstrates that successful planning of housing delivery for post independent integrated neighborhoods is not a mere political rhetoric but is viable when it is based on reasonable geo-spatial techniques and information. The use of mobile GIS therefore needs to be extended to other informal settlement upgrading projects in South Africa as well as other cities in the global south. However, proper professional training is required to ensure the successful usage of smart mobile GIS tools.     

Characterizing urban area dynamics in historic city of Kurukshetra,India, using remote sensing and spatial metric tools

Abstract

Developing countries like India are an urbanization hotspot with many upcoming towns and cities. Growth in small and medium sized towns and cities have been unnoticed and growing without appropriate urban planning. Utilizing the available medium resolution satellite data and geospatial platforms, the growth dynamics of Kurukshetra city was analysed over a period of 24 years. The study employed a combination of change detection technique and spatial metrics (six each of class and landscape levels) analysis to delineate the growth track of the city and its environs. A significant increase in urban built up (dense 237%; open 1038%) is seen majorly at the cost of open area (70%) and tree clad (58%). Phases of city’s aggregation and diffusion are observed using class and landscape level spatial metrics. Understanding and monitoring of land use changes in and around city limits using integrated spatial tools provide better decision making capability.     

Southern urbanism or a world of cities? Modes of enacting a more global urban geography in textbooks,teaching and research

Despite growing attentiveness to cities in the global south, questions remain as to how to enact a more global urban studies. We analyze five contemporary textbooks as a lens into how southern cities ought to be incorporated in teaching as well as the field of urban geography. We find both separate chapters for southern cities (southern urbanism), and southern cities integrated into existing thematic chapters (a world of cities). We further show that i) the global south is 2–33% of the content; ii) information about the south is typically more general than the north, but never as universal trends iii) representations differ not just in content but in style and iv) the south is exemplar or exception rather than as a source of theory. We suggest that geographers must continue their efforts in thinking about how southern cities should be incorporated in urban geography in and outside the classroom.     

Revisiting gateway cities: connecting hubs in global networks to their hinterlands

Gateway cities have received much attention from urban geographers. In spite of outstanding contributions being made, we think that the concept needs to be revisited with regard to regional development implications. Bringing together research on global production networks (GPNs) and world cities, this article shows that gateway cities are critical for development in networks, generating impulses for peripheral locations by engaging them in processes of “strategic coupling.” Yet, gateway cities also concentrate segments of GPNs to the detriment of their hinterlands. We conceptualize gateway cities with the aid of five features: logistics and transport, industrial processing, corporate control, service provision and knowledge generation. Our concept allows for an understanding of cities in global and regional economic processes beyond corporate headquarters, corporate services and governance – that is, beyond the boundaries of existing research. It unsettles traditional understandings of strategic coupling and world cities, filling a lacuna on city–hinterland connections.     

Assembling/Worlding Cities

This article explores the assembling and worlding of cities as both aspirational and evaluative processes in which cities are assembled, compared, and “positioned.” These practices involve the global circulation of expertise, best practices, models, and technologies related to how best to develop and govern cities. From specific examples from the authors' research, it is argued that the two distinct but overlapping notions of assembling and worlding help us conceptualize the contemporary urban–global condition. Building on the article's insights, we end this Urban Pulse with some questions for future global urban studies.     

Explosive City Growth in the Modern World-System: An Initial Inventory Derived from Urban Demographic Changes

This is an empirical quantitative study that uses urban demographic data to identify economic change in cities. Unlike previous demographic studies, a strong theoretical framework is provided for the analysis. The research is designed and interpreted through Jacobs's theory of the city as economic process within the framework of Wallerstein's modern world-system. This is the first time Jacobs's theory has been subject to systematic inquiry over big time and big space. We create an inventory of 184 examples of Jacobs's "explosive growth" from 1500 to 2005 within the modern world-system. These results are interpreted in terms of systemic hegemonic cycles with first Dutch, and then British, and finally U.S. cities dominating the inventory lists. It is found that Dutch, British and U.S. city growth spurts are front-loaded in their respective hegemonic cycles: this is strong evidence of hegemony being created and initially sustained through and by these dynamic cities. This study makes a direct contribution to developing world-systems analysis, and in a short conclusion future research on ways of contributing to Jacobs's theory of the city are discussed.     

Making Space: Residential Trajectories in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a city with very high densities and low per capita space standards, given its wealth. Most people live in very small apartments in high-rise buildings. Drawing on a survey of more than 2,000 interviewees, this study explores household mobility and changes in consumption of residential space in Hong Kong. Space standards have increased for most households, although increases are small in absolute terms. Distinct from much of the international experience, changes in space consumption of movers appear to be driven mostly by the fundamental limits of household living arrangements under the tight space standards of Hong Kong. Household circumstances and the life-cycle effect also play a role. However, the aggregate level of space consumption is influenced by economic, social, and ecological factors more than the immediate circumstances of individual households.     

Localized Effects of Globalization: The Case of Ciudad Juárez,Chihuahua, Mexico

This paper explores how the rise of global industrialization has altered the internal complexion of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, the largest and fastest growing of Mexico's northern border cities. First, we trace the political-economic history of Ciudad Juárez and other northern Mexican border cities in order to understand the context of rapid industrialization. Second, we document the dimensions of industrialization by tracing historic trends in population growth, industrial employment, and land-use change. Third, a deprivation index is developed to evaluate the effects of industrialization on quality-of-life at the neighborhood scale in Ciudad Juárez. Deprivation indices are calculated for 266 AGEBs (Mexican geostatistical districts) for the years 1990 and 1995, and changes in levels of deprivation are monitored over time. The analyses show that Ciudad Juárez has experienced unprecedented growth that altered the form, function, and social complexion of the city.     

中国主要沿海城市旅游竞争力定量研究

基②国内外对城市旅游竞争力研究的回顾和梳理,建立契合本研究的指标体系：以城市旅游基础设施、发展现状和生态环境竞争力作为二级指标,以25个与城市旅游竞争力相关指标作为三级指标。在此基础上,利用主成分分析与系统聚类分析方法测算各城市因子得分及排名,并对城市间、等级间、区域间优势和劣势做出比较分析。结果表明：①上海、杭州、广州旅游竞争力相对较强,南通、中山、东莞竞争力相对较弱,其中,城市经济体规模、环境污染程度及城市绿化水平对城市旅游综合竞争力影响较突出;②城市间旅游竞争力水平梯度化明显,抱团式合作发展、阶梯状搭配发展前景看好;③同一区域内城市合作优势大②竞争优势,可建立旅游合作试点区域。