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Rural Settlements (rural + settlement)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	60%

Selected Abstracts

Pigs, presses and pastoralism: farming in the fifth to sixth centuries AD

EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2009
Tamara Lewit
The fifth to sixth centuries were a time of significant change in rural settlement, land use, production levels and productive technology in many regions. Archaeological and related discoveries suggest that in western Europe, specialized market- and state-oriented production gave way to mixed animal husbandry and diversified farming more suited to local terrains. This was accompanied by a widespread transformation of rural settlement. In contrast, the eastern Mediterranean experienced rural settlement expansion, intensification of land use, increased market-oriented agricultural production, and a significant change in oil and wine press technology. These changes seem to reflect the socio-political context in both east and west during this pivotal period. [source]

Remote sensing and GIS-based flood vulnerability assessment of human settlements: a case study of Gangetic West Bengal, India

HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 18 2005
Joy Sanyal
Abstract Flooding due to excessive rainfall in a short period of time is a frequent hazard in the flood plains of monsoon Asia. In late September 2000, a devastating flood stuck Gangetic West Bengal, India. This particular event has been selected for this study. Instead of following the conventional approach of flooded area delineation and overall damage estimation, this paper seeks to identify the rural settlements that are vulnerable to floods of a given magnitude. Vulnerability of a rural settlement is perceived as a function of two factors: the presence of deep flood water in and around the settlement and its proximity to an elevated area for temporary shelter during an extreme hydrological event. Landsat ETM+ images acquired on 30 September 2000 have been used to identify the non-flooded areas within the flooded zone. Particular effort has been made to differentiate land from water under cloud shadow. ASTER digital elevation data have been used to assess accuracy and rectify the classified image. The presence of large numbers of trees around rural settlements made it particularly difficult to extract the flooded areas from their spectral signatures in the visible and infrared bands. ERS-1 synthetic aperture radar data are found particularly useful for extracting the settlement areas surrounded by trees. Finally, all information extracted from satellite imageries are imported into ArcGIS, and spatial analysis is carried out to identify the settlements vulnerable to river inundation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Rapid humanitarian assessments and rationality: a value-of-information study from Iraq, 2003-04

DISASTERS, Issue 1 2007
Aldo Benini
Rapid assessments are one of the standard informational tools in humanitarian response and are supposed to contribute to rational decision-making.1 The extent to which the assessment organisation itself behaves rationally, however, is an open question. This can be evaluated against multiple criteria, such as the cost and value of the information it collects and its ability to adapt flexibly design or samples when the survey environment changes unforeseeably. An unusual data constellation from two concurrent recent (2003,04) rapid assessments in northern Iraq permits us to model part of the actual assessment behaviour in terms of geographical, community and prior substantive information attributes. The model correctly predicts the decisions, in 79 per cent of the 2,425 local communities in focus, that data collector teams in the Emergency Mine Action Survey made to visit or not to visit. The analysis demonstrates variably rational behaviour under conditions of insecurity, repeated regrouping and incomplete sampling frames. A pronounced bias towards very small rural settlements is irrational for the overall results, but may be a rational strategy of individual survey workers seeking to prolong their employment. Implications for future assessments are sketched in the areas of tools for urban surveys, greater adaptability, including early feedback from users, and sensibility to value-of-information concepts. [source]

THEIR SPACE: SECURITY AND SERVICE WORKERS IN A BRAZILIAN GATED COMMUNITY,

GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Issue 4 2008
JACQUELYN CHASE
ABSTRACT. This study examines the role of service workers in creating a secure landscape in a zone of gated communities near Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Most research on gated communities emphasizes their segregation and formal security apparatuses. In fact, gated communities interact with surrounding rural settlements because they draw their service employees from them. Security emerges from informal relationships of trust that property owners establish with service workers. Gardeners, especially, enable homeowners to project their property investment to others through landscaping. Equally of importance, a manicured garden conveys the message that a home is receiving daily attention,and is secure,even if the owner is not present. The study probes this interdependence from the point of view of gardeners in the context of one gated community in an area south of Belo Horizonte and the attempts by members of its homeowners association to minimize the sense of fear they associate with the Brazilian city. [source]

Remote sensing and GIS-based flood vulnerability assessment of human settlements: a case study of Gangetic West Bengal, India

The multidimensional nature of biodiversity and social dynamics and implications for contemporary rural livelihoods in remote Kalahari settlements, Botswana

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 2009
S. M. Sallu
Abstract Despite rapid socio-economic development in Kalahari drylands, contemporary research suggests that biodiversity remains important as a component of the complex portfolio of livelihood strategies, as a real and perceived safety net in times of stress, and a key factor of cultural identity. The degree to which the spatially and temporally dynamic nature of biodiversity in drylands influences livelihoods is, however, little studied, particularly in socially complex contemporary rural settlements. Greater understanding in this area is required to allow better-informed design and implementation of rural development, poverty alleviation and conservation initiatives. This is particularly true in the light of predicted increases in environmental dynamism with climate change. An interdisciplinary approach was used in two environmentally and socially distinct dryland settlements in Botswana, to investigate the extent to which the dynamic biodiverse setting influences contemporary rural livelihoods. Results illustrate that biodiversity, particularly its dynamics, is of critical contemporary importance to rural settlement livelihoods, particularly in times of inner settlement scarcity. Entitlements to biodiversity dynamics were, however, bound up by complex settlement-specific social, economic and political factors. Unless such contextual within-settlement dynamics are understood, the relative importance of biodiversity in rural development and poverty alleviation strategies in contemporary Kalahari drylands may be undermined. [source]

Exploring social capital in rural settlements of an islander region in Greece

JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2010
Anastasia Zissi
Abstract This paper reports on a large scale cross-sectional study examining subjective perceptions of community social life held by a randomly selected sample of residents (n,=,428) in all small rural settings (n,=,89) of the region of North Aegean Sea. The notion of social capital was used as a conceptual tool in order to explore different aspects of the relational life of contemporary rural communities. This study has two aims: First to provide an account of rural residents' perceptions of village life in terms of interpersonal support, mutual aid, trust, social cohesion and community competence, and second to examine the suitability of the social capital notion within the specific cultural context. A combination of data collection procedures and a range of sources were employed, such as key informants, rural residents and researchers' field observations. The findings indicate that small farming communities of high devotion with deep roots and strong sense of belonging face severe demographic imbalance and experience low civic power given the limited links with external agents. The mainstream notion of social capital as an unconditionally beneficial factor is thus questioned. The findings call for revisiting its relevance across communities with varying capacities and needs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

The agricultural basis of Umm an-Nar society in the northern Oman peninsula (2500,2000 BC)

ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, Issue 2 2009
Nasser Said Al-Jahwari
This paper argues that the agricultural aspect of the Umm an-Nar economy has been largely ignored by researchers, due to an overemphasis on copper production and trade. This is true at the level of the smallest rural settlements, villages and settlements whose primary focus was agricultural production. The key social developments of this period have often been explained by linking them to the exploitation of copper ore and its trade with surrounding regions such as Mesopotamia and the Indus. However, this paper will argue , based on quantified pottery analysis , that it is during this time that we see the development, for the first time in the Oman peninsula, of widespread sedentary occupation that was based on small agricultural villages where there is no evidence of copper ore exploitation, thus suggesting that the economic basis of Umm an-Nar society was essentially agricultural. Furthermore, it will be argued that, through the use of a new survey methodology, it is possible to locate such settlements, even where they have left no traces of monuments, such as tombs or round towers. The methodology allows preliminary comparisons to be made between the intensity of occupation in different periods. The paper also argues that the Umm an-Nar period was one of the most intensive periods of occupation in pre-Islamic history. [source]

Managing risk and vulnerability in Asia: A (re)study from Thailand, 1982,83 and 2008

ASIA PACIFIC VIEWPOINT, Issue 3 2009
Jonathan Rigg
Abstract In the 1980s, rural settlements in the Northeast of Thailand were farming focused, and strategies of living were structured around the need to secure subsistence in the face of a capricious environment and a weak developmental state. More than half of households in the region lived below the poverty line, and the immediate prospects for ,development' were not bright. Drawing on a 25-year longitudinal study of two villages in Mahasarakham, the paper describes and reflects on how risk and vulnerability have been re-shaped during a quarter of a century of profound economic and social change. From largely environmental and local, the pattern of risk and opportunity have become increasingly economic and non-local as external events wash across the shores of rural settlements like Ban Non Tae and Ban Tha Song Korn. [source]

Intraregional Migration, Direct Action Land Reform, and New Land Settlements in the Brazilian Amazon

BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 4 2010
STEPHEN G. PERZ
This article analyses migration histories of residents in rural settlements of the Brazilian Amazon that resulted from direct action land reform (DALR), which involves organised land occupations. Our analysis evaluates two hypotheses. The ,urban migration' expectation asserts that urban experience is important for DALR participation, which links rural and urban areas via migration for land occupations. The ,DALR efficacy' hypothesis argues that migration and DALR are complementary livelihood strategies, such that participation in DALR obviates the need for further migration. Our findings support both hypotheses and bear implications for regional development and environmental change in the Amazon. [source]