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Urban Households (urban + household)
Selected AbstractsUrban Form and Household Activity-Travel BehaviorGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2006RON N. BULIUNG ABSTRACT Cities and metropolitan regions face several challenges including urban sprawl, auto dependence and congestion, and related environmental and human health effects. Examining the spatial characteristics of daily household activity-travel behavior holds important implications for understanding and addressing urban transportation issues. Research of this sort can inform development of urban land use policy that encourages the use of local opportunities, potentially leading to reduced motorized travel. This article examines the potential household activity-travel response to a planned metropolitan polycentric hierarchy of activity centers. Behavioral observations have been drawn from an activity-travel survey conducted in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area during the mid-1990s. Evidence presented from exploratory analysis indicates an urban/suburban differential, with less daily travel and smaller activity spaces for urban households. Investigation of the travel reduction potential of the proposed land-use strategy suggests that location effects could be offset by adjustments to household sociodemographic and mobility characteristics. [source] Urban ecological footprints in AfricaAFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 4 2008Joy S. Clancy Abstract Africa's rate of urbanization is the highest in the world. This is relevant to ecologists working in Africa because urban growth is strongly associated with habitat destruction, and also creates new fields of study. The ecological footprint concept is used to illustrate how urban settlements in Africa impact on rural ecosystems. At an aggregate level, African countries have the lowest ecological footprints in the world. However, there is little available data for individual cities, so evidence is fragmented making concerted policy initiatives difficult. Wood fuel continues to be a major source of energy for urban households and there is a long running debate as to what extent providing wood fuel for urban use damages forest ecosystems. Growing evidence contests the assertion that urban wood fuel markets are responsible for forest degradation. Although there are other options available, the social consequences of switching energy sources need to be taken into account. Outright bans, for example on charcoal, would lead to a loss of livelihoods in rural and urban households, and may not solve deforestation as well as increasing fossil fuel use would increase the ecological footprint. Résumé Le taux d'urbanisation de l'Afrique est le plus élevé du monde. Cela concerne les écologistes qui travaillent sur ce continent parce que la croissance urbaine est étroitement liée à la destruction des habitats, et cela ouvre aussi de nouveaux champs d'étude. Le concept d'empreinte écologique est utilisé pour illustrer comment les installations urbaines en Afrique ont un impact sur les écosystèmes ruraux. Pris tous ensemble, ce sont les pays africains qui ont la plus légère empreinte écologique du monde. Cependant, nous disposons de peu de données pour des villes individuelles, de sorte que les renseignements sont fragmentés et qu'il est difficile de prendre des initiatives politiques concertées. Le bois de feu continue àêtre une des principales sources d'énergie pour les ménages urbains, et il existe un débat de longue haleine quant à savoir dans quelle mesure l'approvisionnement en bois pour la consommation urbaine endommage les écosystèmes forestiers. Des preuves de plus en plus évidentes remettent en question l'assertion selon laquelle les marchés urbains de bois de feu seraient responsables de la dégradation des forêts. Bien qu'il y ait d'autres options possibles, il faut prendre en compte les conséquences sociales du passage à d'autres sources d'énergie. Les interdictions totales, par exemple du charbon de bois, entraîneraient la perte des moyens de subsistance de ménages ruraux et urbains, et pourraient ne pas résoudre le problème de déforestation, tout comme l'utilisation accrue des combustibles fossiles augmenterait l'empreinte écologique. [source] Household vegetable demand in the Philippines: Is there an urban-rural divide?AGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 4 2007Maria Erlinda M. Mutuc A Nonlinear Quadratic Almost Ideal Demand System (NQAIDS) that accounts for censoring and endogeneity problems is used to assess the vegetable demand behavior of rural and urban households in the Philippines. Detailed household consumption data for a number of vegetable commodities are utilized in the analysis. The results show that most of the expenditure and own-price elasticities of the vegetables analyzed are near or larger than unitary in both rural and urban areas. For majority of the vegetable commodities examined, only the expenditure elasticity is significantly different between rural and urban households. On the other hand, own-price and cross-price elasticities of most vegetables do not significantly differ between rural and urban households. The disaggregate vegetable demand elasticities in this study, as well as the insights from the rural/urban comparisons, provide valuable information that can be utilized for the analysis and design of various food-related policies in the Philippines. [JEL Classification: R21; Q11] © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 23: 511,527, 2007. [source] Goat milk acceptance and promotion methods in Japan: The questionnaire survey to middle class householdsANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009Takeyuki OZAWA ABSTRACT A consumer questionnaire conducted with the purpose of ascertaining the acceptability of goat milk and related products in Japan was carried out on 345 guarantees of Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University in December 2006. 275 effective responses (79%) representing middle class urban households were returned. The results revealed that (1) 30% of respondents have experienced drinking goat milk and only 10% are aware of the current retail situation of goat milk and related products; (2) over 70% of goat milk drinkers raised goats by hand at some point in their past and their first experience drinking goat milk was in infancy; (3) those with experience in drinking goat milk expressed a vague evaluation and minimal understanding of drinking goat milk; (4) respondents who were inexperienced goat milk drinkers expressed a strong desire to taste and a weak desire to purchase goat milk; (5) respondents expressed low recognition regarding retailed goat milk products, but those who had already purchased goat milk products expressed a high evaluation and strong desire to purchase these products again; and (6) recognition of goat milk characteristics is low, but those with high recognition also rate goat milk highly. Goats are perceived as being ,mild and familiar.' It is necessary for those who manage goat husbandry to present goat milk and related product tasting opportunities to consumers. The key point is to make the functional differences between cow and goat milk clear and present the advantages of goat milk at the fore of this promotion. Goat milk should not be promoted merely as a drink that is similar to cow milk, but must be positioned as a functional drink or health food in order to expand the Japanese goat milk market. [source] The Emergence of a Working Poor: Labour Markets, Neoliberalisation and Diverse Economies in Post-Socialist CitiesANTIPODE, Issue 2 2008Adrian Smith Abstract:, This paper examines the transformations of urban labour markets in two central European cities: Bratislava, Slovakia and Kraków, Poland. It highlights the emergence of in-work poverty and labour market segmentation, which together are leading to a reconfiguration of the livelihoods and economic practices of urban households. The focus of the paper is on the growing phenomenon of insecure, poor-quality, contingent labour. It examines the ways in which those who find themselves in, or on the margins of, contingent and insecure labour markets sustain their livelihoods. We ask how such workers and their households negotiate the segmentation of the labour market, the erosion of employment security and the emergence of in-work poverty and explore the diverse economic practices of those who cannot rely solely on formal employment to ensure social reproduction. Further, we assess the articulations between labour market participation and exclusion, and other spheres of economic life, including informal and illegal labour, household social networks, state benefits and the use of material assets. We argue that post-socialist cities are seeing a reconfiguration of class processes, as the materialities and subjectivities of class are remade and as the meaning of work and the livelihoods different forms of labour can sustain are changing. [source] | |||||||||||||