Housing transformation and livelihood outcomes in Accra,Ghana

New trends in urban growth in Accra have put many poor households at a detriment, and there is a growing fragility that threatens the economic and social balance of residence in public estates resulting in many transforming their residence to cope and as a new form of urban resilience. This study examines housing transformation and livelihood outcomes in one of Ghana's largest low cost government estates, constructed in 1975 in Accra. The authors collected field data using questionnaires, interviews, observations and field pictures. The study revealed that housing transformation in public estates are a strategy to address shortfalls' associated with the physical design, structure and construction paucities, especially in living space, lifestyle and size, and for addressing pecuniary and livelihood challenges through home-based enterprises. Household needs and household assets were the significant factors affecting transformations. This study is important for policy making in developing countries because it provides a basis for policy implementation for urban and regional planners. Housing and building policies must be swotted to reflect the effort of local performance in housing supply and livelihoods. Housing design and construction must also be realistic to the current needs, lifestyle and resource availability of low-income households instead of relying on passé colonial regulations which are inappropriate for current living conditions.     

Making urban real estate markets work for the poor: Theory, policy and practice

This paper explores the relationship between theory, policy and practice, linking urban real estate markets and poverty alleviation. The paper argues that the contribution of urban real estate markets to poverty alleviation has not been optimised due, in part, to inadequate or inappropriate policy. The article attributes this to conceptual and methodological problems arising from the traditional neoclassical analysis of urban real estate markets, ambivalence to the idea that freer markets in real estate are a good thing for the urban poor and insufficient regard to lessons of experience from years of implementing urban anti-poverty land projects. Based on new analytical perspectives provided by institutional economics, this paper proposes specific policy interventions more likely to facilitate pro-poor outcomes in urban real estate markets.     

印度城市居住贫困及其贫民窟治理——以孟买为例

伴随工业化和城市化进程,以孟买为代表的印度城市,因人口集聚、生活成本高和贫富分化严重等原因而形成的城市贫民窟不断增加的居住贫困问题,严重影响了城市发展和现代化进程。印度政府在居住贫困问题的应对措施,以及孟买在解决贫民窟问题上的经验教训,对中国城市在快速发展时期保障性住房建设及城中村治理具有一定的启发和借鉴意义。     

Shelter,Location, and Livelihoods: Exploring the Linkages in Mexico City

For many low-income households in cities of the developing world, ‘self-help’ or informal housing provides not only their shelter, but also functions as a vital productive asset. The land accessible to the urban poor for informal housing, however, is often remotely located in the urban periphery. While providing access to shelter, such peripheral locations may undermine the potential of shelter to serve as a productive asset, especially for women whose mobility is constrained by their dual roles as care-givers and wage-earners. This research explores how location influences the potential of housing to serve as a productive asset in two informally settled communities in different parts of Mexico City. The paper argues that the ‘right to shelter’ associated with informal housing needs to be ‘scaled-up’ to include the ‘right to the city’ through closer consideration of the linkages among shelter, location, and livelihoods. Such a policy focus necessarily situates housing in a broader socio-spatial context and would serve to complement the prevailing emphasis on community or place-specific upgrading activities in informal or low-income settlements. Finally, the paper raises questions about the role of planning in improving the livelihood opportunities of lower-income households.     

Poverty Penalty in Urban Water Market in Ghana

Public water companies in many countries in the global south struggle to meet the water needs of their growing urban populations, especially the urban poor. Consequently, the urban poor receive the worse form of water services mostly from unregulated water vendors and pay poverty penalty. Formalising the informal water vendors has only been mentioned in pro-poor water policies, but the reality only reveals policy rhetoric. This paper investigates the persistence of poverty penalty associated with water supply to the urban poor in Ghana from unregulated water vendors. The data used in the study were gathered through interviews with 78 water vendors (i.e. 53 fixed-point vendors and 25 mobile vendors) who were selected from two water-stressed poor urban communities and one poor urban settlement with water supply from the state utility provider. The results indicate that informal water vendors play a very important role in meeting the water needs of the urban poor. However, it was observed that the urban poor households paid a high-poverty premium for relying on these unregulated water vendors for their water needs. The paper concludes that a viable pro-poor water policy must strive to practically integrate the independent small-scale water providers in the urban water market in order to make an impact. Policy tools that can be used to integrate the private vendors into the urban water market and minimise the poverty penalty have been considered in the paper.     

基于MHP-CDIO模式的城乡规划专业教学改革研究

城乡规划专业人才培养模式趋向于多学科、多层次、多领域,社会需要的规划师应是集人文素养、职业道德、工程实践能力于一体,基础理论扎实,社会责任感强,有正确的价值观,应用实践能力和创新能力强的综合型人才。文章分析了目前城乡规划专业人才培养存在的人文素质教育缺失、忽视职业道德培养、对工程实践重视不够、轻视人生观价值观教育等问题,在探讨人文素养、职业道德、工程实践教育内涵的基础上,借鉴国际工程教育改革成果,提出了城乡规划专业MHP—CDIO教学模式,并对该教学模式的目标构想、设计方案、实现途径和具体运作进行了研究。     

The Effect of Informal Settlement Upgrading on Women’s Social Networks: Layout Versus Location

Informal settlements are prevalent in the South African urban landscape. Part of the attempt by the government to meet housing and infrastructure needs has been the in situ upgrading of these informal settlements. This paper explores the effect of in situ informal settlement upgrading on women’s social networks. Social networks are important as they allow access to various livelihood assets that are crucial for building sustainable livelihoods and resilient communities. The results of the research undertaken indicate that the newly upgraded informal settlements have not been conducive to the preservation or creation of women’s social networks due to poor layout planning and inadequate infrastructure provision. There is an assumption that if the informal settlements are upgraded in situ, social networks will not be disrupted. It is anticipated that, because the residents are in the same geographical area, they will be able to maintain their social networks. The paper makes the argument that, when it comes to sustaining social networks, settlement layout and infrastructure provision are just as important and geographical location.     

Household Food Insecurity and Survival in Harare: 2008 and Beyond

In 2008, Zimbabwe was in crisis, with an economy in ruins and a volatile political environment. The country’s GDP had contracted by over 40 % since 2,000 level; the official unemployment rate was over 80 %; hyperinflation was running at over 200 million percent; and food production deficits of the staple crop, maize, hovered around 1,000,000 tons. Within this hyperinflationary environment, food shortages were acute, and over 80 % of households in the country survived on less than US$2 per day. While this deleterious environment affected the whole country, the vulnerability of the urban poor to the economic meltdown and food insecurity was especially severe given their heavy reliance on food purchases and increases in other urban expenses such as rent, electricity, and transport. This paper assesses the vulnerability of poor households to food insecurity in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, under the crisis conditions and beyond. It argues that while the ushering in of the Government of National Unity in 2009 stabilized the political and economic situation by bringing down inflation, introducing a multi-currency regime, and improving the food supply, the general livelihoods of the poor did not drastically improve. The food security challenges facing poor urban households in Harare did not immediately improve for reasons that are discussed in the paper. The analysis is based on a comparison of data from two household surveys conducted in Harare, the first at the height of the crisis in 2008 and the second in 2012.     

城市低收入住区的产生机制及其影响研究

低收入人群在某些城市住区的空间聚集导致城市低收入住区的产生,并引发城市低收入住区发展及其居民生活和发展等方面的一系列社会问题。文章对国内、外有关城市低收入住区的产生机制及其影响等方面的相关研究进行综述,并指出中国城市低收入住区未来研究需要关注的主要方向和问题。     

Urban Governance and Poverty— Addressing Needs,Asserting Claims: An Editorial Introduction

Introducing a special issue which reports on research on how governance affects the poor in nine cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, the key components of the conceptual framework are sketched, the methodological approach described and the rationale for the choice of case-study cities outlined. Drawing on concepts of governance, household livelihoods, social capital and civil society, the research reported in the subsequent four papers compares findings from the city case-studies. The papers examine how the organizations, mechanisms and institutions of urban governance have addressed poverty, deprivation and inequality, and whether, how and in what circumstances poor urban residents have been able to make claims on the system. Using a case-study approach, the research attempted to identify and explain similarities and differences between the cities and to explain the governance arrangements and policies identified and their outcomes for the poor. The cities studied were selected to illustrate contrasts in both context and characteristics and are, therefore, used mainly as illustrative examples, as well as to review and refine the conceptual starting points and, where possible, to draw general conclusions.     

Re-thinking urban planning in India: Learning from the wedge between the de jure and de facto development in Mumbai

Cities in the global south are undergoing changes in the production structure brought about by globalization and liberalization. These cities also witness significant informalities in terms of shelter and livelihoods. These phenomena are reflected in the urban land use patterns. Planning in these cities is under pressure to adapt to the dynamic urban condition but is constrained by the technical and bureaucratic process of master/development plan making. Through an empirical study of an area in the suburbs of Mumbai (India), this paper shows the wedge between planned and actual land use and discusses the reasons for this dichotomy. The paper argues that master/development plans based on technical principles with micro-level detailing are unable to foresee and hence or otherwise adapt to the economic dynamics and spatial restructuring in Mumbai; they are partly undermined by “occupancy urbanism” (Benjamin, 2008). We discuss how these factors are accommodated within and outside the scope of the development plans. The paper calls for a re-thinking of urban planning in India so that plans are better able to reflect the requirements and needs of the citizens.     

Linking Urban Research with Planning Practice

There is a poor connection between Australian urban research and metropolitan and local planning practice. This review suggests a number of principles that could be followed in conducting urban research to provide more effective points of attachment for urban policy and metropolitan and local planning practice. In the nature of the discussion, the principles identified overlap reflecting considerable resonance in the points made.     

Pro-poorness of planning policies in Bangladesh: the case of Khulna city

The numbers of urban poor are increasing in the cities of Bangladesh. Formal urban planning approaches derived from experience in the global North have largely failed to tackle the consequent poverty challenges in the global South. This study provides new policy directions for pro-poor planning in Bangladesh through a case study of Khulna city. The study analyses secondary data on urban poverty in the city and interviews representatives of the urban poor, politicians, city administrators, academics, and planning professionals to gain a deeper and more nuanced understanding about the pro-poorness of current planning policies. The Khulna case reveals a continued poverty crisis in Bangladeshi cities, manifested by the limited access to income opportunities for the poor, lack of access to decent housing and urban services for the poor and spatial exclusion of the poverty-stricken areas in cities. Existing planning policies in the city fail to tackle poverty issues. Thus, to be pro-poor, planning policies should limit the over-emphasis on economic growth, and explicitly focus upon addressing the needs of the poor rather than over-concentrating on citywide demands. At the same time, planning practice should emphasize the needs of the poor and recognize the contribution of the informal economic and housing sectors.     

我们需要怎样的城市设计

市场经济的发展、城市建设问题的复杂化决定了当今的城市设计需要从产品型的空间美学设计向过程型的空间管理工具的转变,决定了城市设计必将成为城市建设管理法制化的重要组成部分。通过对当代城市设计概念的重新梳理,提出了城市设计应注重设计的四方面内容,提出了可操作性的城市设计成果的表达形式,并介绍了近期在城市设计实践中的探索。     

Women’s mobility,neighbourhood socio-ecologies and homemaking in urban informal settlements

Abstract

The paper contributes to the growing research on relational thinking about housing and home by exploring the informal homes of rural migrants in Khulna city, Bangladesh. The concept of ‘unbounding’ is used to trace the fluidity and connections established between migrant homes and neighbourhood socio-ecologies. Walking interviews exploring women’s livelihoods reveal that different expendable agencies of the urban environment (e.g. trash, weeds and animal excreta) create conditions for labour in which migrant women hold specific competencies to secure essential resources for home. Unbounding positions home within a socio-ecology of multiple houses that women traverse to support their urban living. The approach offers opportunities to examine the unique ways urban homeless populations strategically as well as affectively engage with under-recognized agencies and actors in informal settlements. Unbounding provides a useful lens with which to raise new conceptual and empirical questions about housing and home in relation to the city that contributes to the homes and livelihoods of marginalized populations.     

Green Economy: A Strategy to Alleviate Urban Poverty and Safeguard the Environment? KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

The global failure to develop in a sustainable manner has led to attempts to adopt green economy approaches in the context of poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Given South Africa’s high carbon footprint and other negative environmental externalities, the government, in partnership with civil society and the private sector, is taking steps to green its economy. The efforts range from large-scale solar installation projects to small-scale grassroots level projects where green jobs are created for the poor, predominantly women, by paying them for environmental services. This paper addresses if and how green economy can be used to alleviate poverty and protect the environment at a grassroots level. In a project under the management of a local environmental non-governmental organisation (ENGO), poor urban women in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, are utilising the concept to generate income, improve their livelihoods and contribute to environmental sustainability. Green economy is in some ways addressing the gendered social and environmental externalities of urbanisation, wherein women are differentially poor and the environment is neglected in economic development. Left with few other options, the urban poor are using an ENGO and its green economy programme as a mechanism to lift themselves out of poverty, while indirectly managing the environment.     

浅谈城市道路设计中的人性化设计

城市的安全、舒适与便捷与城市道路的规划有着非常密切的联系。本文对城市道路设计中的人性化设计进行了研究与探讨,旨在提升城市道路设计的水平。使得规划出来的城市道路更加人性化,符合人们与时代的需求。     

试论数字城市规划

对数字城市规划的主要内容 ,数字城市规划中的规划CAD与电子报批 ,以及城市规划仿真等数字化工程进行了探讨。     

Unconventional housing provision: reflections on health aspects: a case study of Zimbabwe

When the Zimbabwean government embarked on the countrywide destruction of unconventional urban housing settlements code-named “Operation Murambatsvina”, it received international condemnation for displacing people and destroying livelihoods. While the operation negatively affected the residents, it also had some positive effects, given that most of the settlements that had sprouted up in cities did not have proper physical infrastructure. However, their destruction did not put a stop to spontaneous housing, as the displaced people relocated to peripheral locations, perpetuating some unconventional settlements already in existence and erecting new ones. The failure of states to cope with massive demand for low-income housing simply means that unconventional housing will not disappear in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, these areas lack proper physical infrastructure, which is the most important health component of human settlements. The most realistic means of dealing with these health concerns is to ensure that the settlements are equipped with proper physical infrastructure. This paper critically evaluates physical infrastructure provision in unconventional housing settlements in Harare, Zimbabwe. The argument is that developing countries need to accept unconventional housing as part of their housing options for the poor. The authors conclude that the only way to provide proper and healthy housing for the urban poor is to streamline government policies in order to address the critical issues that affect human settlements.