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Urban Problems (urban + problem)
Selected AbstractsDOES DIVERSITY IN URBAN SPACE ENHANCE INTERGROUP CONTACT AND TOLERANCE?GEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2009Terje Wessel ABSTRACT. Contemporary urban theory has started to question the elevation of diversity as a panacea for enduring urban problems , segregation, prejudice and intergroup hostility. This critique coincides with an opposite tendency within classic contact theory and research. The latter tradition has developed an increasing enthusiasm for face-to-face interaction. The contact hypothesis, which presupposes established contact, has received conclusive support independent of target groups and contact settings. Research on ,lived diversity', which includes both contact and lack of contact, offers two supplementary insights. It shows, on the one hand, that boundaries are inscribed in social spaces. Physical proximity between ethnic and social groups tends to have a minor effect on interaction. Interaction, on the other hand, is not essential to attitude formation. Both subfields within contact research have confirmed that urban space may act as a catalyst for tolerant attitudes. This observation corresponds with increasing recognition of affective states, such as empathy, anxiety and group threat. Contact research has therefore, in summary, transcended the scope of the contact hypothesis. It has expanded into the realm of urban theory, which foreshadows future collaboration between the two traditions. Some key points for such exchange are suggested at the end of the article. Future research should combine an open-ended approach to casual contact with a diversified conception of diversity and a richer conception of urban space. A move in this direction would leave substantial space for geographical research. [source] The Appreciative System of Urban ICT Policies: An Analysis of Perceptions of Urban Policy MakersGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2004GALIT COHEN-BLANKSHTAIN ABSTRACT Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an important tool to promote a variety of public goals and policies. In the past years much attention has been given to the expected social benefits from deploying ICTs in different urban fields (transportation, education, public participation in planning, etc.) and to its potential to mitigate various current or emerging urban problems. The growing importance of ICTs in daily life, business activities, and governance prompts the need to consider ICTs more explicitly in urban policies. Alongside the expectation that the private sector will play a major role in the ICT field, the expected benefits from ICTs also encourage urban authorities to formulate proper public ICT policies. Against this background, various intriguing research questions arise. What are the urban policy-makers' expectations about ICTs? And how do they assess the future implications of ICTs for their city? A thorough analysis of these questions will provide a better understanding of the extent to which urban authorities are willing to invest in and to adopt a dedicated ICT policy. This study is focusing on the way urban decision-makers perceive the opportunities of ICT policy. After a sketch of recent development and policy issues, a conceptual model is developed to map out the driving forces of urban ICT policies in cities in Europe. Next, by highlighting the importance of understanding the decision-maker's "black box," three crucial variables are identified within this box. In the remaining part of the paper these three variables will be operationalized by using a large survey comprising more than 200 European cities. By means of statistical multivariate methods (i.e., factor and cluster analysis), the decision-makers were able to be characterized according to the way they perceive their city (the concept of "imaginable city"), their opinion about ICT, and the way they assess the relevance of ICT policies to their city. Next, a solid explanatory framework will be offered by using a log-linear logit analysis to test the relationships between these three aspects. [source] The Return of the Slum: Does Language Matter?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2007ALAN GILBERT Abstract The ,cities without slums' initiative has resuscitated an old and dangerous term from the habitat vocabulary. Use of the word ,slum' will recreate many of the myths about poor people that years of careful research have discredited. The UN has employed the word in order to publicize the seriousness of urban problems and to improve its ability to attract funding with which to tackle the issue. But in using such an emotive word the UN risks opening a Pandora's box. The campaign implies that cities can actually rid themselves of slums, an idea that is wholly unachievable. The word is also dangerous because it confuses the physical problem of poor quality housing with the characteristics of the people living there. The UN knows that earlier research has rehabilitated most ,slum dwellers' but ignores the danger of conjuring up all of the old images. In the process, the campaign also offers an oblique invitation to governments to look for instant solutions to insoluble problems. Demagogic governments have always shown a willingness to demolish slums despite the fact that experience has shown that policy to be ineffective. I fear that the new campaign will encourage more to employ this foolish policy. Words need to be employed carefully. Résumé L'initiative ,Villes sans taudis' a ressuscité un terme ancien et dangereux du vocabulaire de l'habitat. Utiliser le mot ,taudis' va recréer toute une mythologie sur les pauvres que des années de recherches consciencieuses avaient réfutée. L'ONU a fait ce choix pour souligner la gravité des problèmes urbains et renforcer sa capacitéà attirer des fonds avec lesquels résoudre la question. Cependant, ce mot étant connotéémotionnellement, l'ONU risque d'ouvrir une boîte de Pandore. La campagne implique que les villes peuvent réellement se débarrasser des taudis, ce qui est totalement irréalisable. Le mot est dangereux aussi parce qu'il mélange le problème matériel de la piètre qualité des logements et les caractéristiques des populations qui y vivent. L'ONU sait que des études antérieures ont réhabilité la plupart des ,habitants de taudis', mais elle ignore le risque liéà l'évocation des vieilles images. Parallèlement, la compagne invite indirectement les gouvernements à trouver des solutions immédiates à des problèmes insolubles. Les gouvernements démagogues se sont toujours montrés disposés à démolir les taudis même si l'expérience a prouvé l'inefficacité de cette politique. Je crains que cette nouvelle campagne n'en encourage d'autres à appliquer cette stratégie insensée. Il faut employer les mots avec circonspection. [source] Disciplining Society through the City: The Genesis of City Planning in Brazil and Argentina (1894,1945)BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 2 2003Joel Outtes This paper looks at the genesis of a discourse on urbanismo (city planning) in Brazil and Argentina between 1894 and 1945 using the ideas of Michel Foucault on discipline and his concept of bio,power. The demographic pattern of the major cities in both countries from 1890 onwards and the renewals of the centres of these cities are also discussed. Other sections are dedicated to the plans proposed for the same cities in the 1920s and to urban representations, such as ideas about social reform, the role of hygiene as a point of departure for planning, and the relationship of ideas on Taylorism (scientific management) and the city. The paper also discusses the planners opposition to elections, when they claimed that they were the only ones qualified to deal with urban problems and therefore they should be employed in the state apparatus. Other concerns of the paper are the use of planning as an element of nation building and ideas defining eugenics (race ,betterment') as an important aspect of city planning. I conclude by arguing that, if implemented, city planning was a way of creating an industrial culture, disciplining society through the city, although the industrial proletariat has never made up the majority of the population in Brazil or Argentina. Even if many aspects of the plans proposed for both countries were not implemented, the discourse of planners can be seen as a will to discipline society through the city. This discipline would affect the freedom of movement of human bodies, and is therefore approached through Foucault's concepts of bio,power and discipline [source] | ||||||||||