1. |
- Brouder, Patrick, et al.
(author)
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Urban Tourism and Evolutionary Economic Geography : Complexity and Co-evolution in Contested Spaces
- 2014
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In: Urban Forum. - Dordrecht : Springer. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 25:4, s. 419-430
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Urban tourism is an important research topic whether in mass tourism resortareas where tourism is the economic staple or in metropolitan areas where it is one (ormore) development path(s) among many. Urban areas are dynamic and fast-pacedenvironments but are also places where social and economic inequalities are moststark. Economic geography is one theoretical perspective through which researchersaddress urban tourism. The recent“evolutionary turn”in economic geography isfinding its way to tourism studies but has only been applied to a few urban tourismcases. This paper sets out the potential of evolutionary economic geography (EEG) as aconceptual framework for urban tourism studies. The analysis draws on recent studiesof urban tourism from an evolutionary perspective to highlight the strengths of takingsuch an approach and a number of avenues yet to be explored are put forward. Urbantourism affects large numbers of residents and businesses as well as influencing labourflows, and so understanding the dynamic nature of its development paths is vital.Tourism development does not occur in a vacuum, and urban tourism is one area wherethe complexity of the tourism economy and its place within broader regional develop-ment strategies is most obvious. Under recent neoliberal policies of urban development,tourism has become closely associated with place-based competition and large capitalinvestments. Urban tourism also enters the fray in matters of contested urban spaceswith issues of local governance, such as privatisation of public space, moving increas-ingly to the fore. The paper concludes with a list of future approaches to evolutionarystudies of urban tourism to broaden the scope beyond the dominant financial metrics oftourism success.
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2. |
- Dabaieh, Marwa, et al.
(author)
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The Practice and Politics of Urban Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Efforts : The Case of Cairo
- 2022
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 33, s. 83-106
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Research on climate change mitigation and adaptation is pressing in order to understand its implications and risks in different urban areas. It is especially critical for those who face high degrees of urban inequality in the context of an uneven state presence. This paper is an explorative and investigative study which uses Cairo as a case. The focus of the study is on mapping state and private sector efforts in mitigating climate change issues, specifically for vulnerable groups who have limited access to public services. The study adopted an investigative approach where a literature search and bibliometric mapping were used to identify the gap in knowledge in the field of architecture and urban climate change mitigation and adaptation, followed by a field survey which included conducting interviews and questionnaires with different stakeholders from the public and private sector to investigate the link between the efforts for climate change mitigation. The explorative part of the study concluded that there is a huge knowledge gap in the Middle East and in Egypt when it comes to research efforts related to climate change with a focus on the built environment. The results of the investigative part of this study revealed that-apart from already limited efforts on ground-there is no synchronization in efforts between the public and private sector. Climate change issues are still not a priority when poverty, economy, and health are still a prime concern and take precedence over climate change. There is uneven presence of public efforts for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The efforts that do exist in the public sphere are self-help unorganized work (efforts) conducted by the civil society.
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3. |
- Ejigu, Alazar Gedamu
(author)
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History, Modernity, and the Making of an African Spatiality : Addis Ababa in Perspective
- 2014
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 25:3, s. 267-293
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A body of scholarship in urban theory of global South over the last two decades has begun to present counterhegemonic notions of modernity and urbanism thereby charting new ways to conceptualize and study African cities. While the need for fuller, richer, and more textured accounts of ordinariness of African cities is often emphasized, the usefulness of differentiated accounts of cities to understanding their spatiality is also highlighted. This article attempts to supplement the ongoing discussion by exploring Addis Ababa as an African city with particular cultural and political historical contexts that gave it distinct experiences of modernity. Data is primarily drawn from historical study of modernizations of the city, supplemented with an ethnographic study that documents contemporary changes and lived experiences in the city and its emerging modern residential places. The study shows that the local experience of modernity is primarily situated in the isolated and noncolonial history of the nation, which on the one hand helps preserve indigenous qualities and on the other becomes a source of envy contributing to the consciousness of belatedness compared to other colonized and Western countries. This consciousness coordinates political intentions with people’s everyday practices in the co-making of a new, modern Addis Ababa and the reassertion of its unofficial identity as “the Diplomatic Capital of Africa.” Potentials and challenges of place-based conceptions of urbanism are implicated.
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4. |
- Farrell, Kyle
(author)
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An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Nigeria’s Rapid Urban Transition
- 2018
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer Netherlands. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 29:3, s. 277-298
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Owing to the dramatic pace and scale of its transformation, Nigeria is considered Africa’s next urban giant. Between 1960 and 2010, Nigeria added approximately 62.5 million inhabitants to its urban population, with forecasts to 2050 projecting an additional 226 million. As Nigeria forges ahead into the next chapter of its urban transition, there is an unmet need to take stock of past experiences, identify trends, and speculate on future growth trajectories. Taking advantage of recently available datasets from the United Nations and the Africapolis Project, this paper launches an inquiry into the nature and causes of Nigeria’s rapid urban transition between 1960 and 2010. It disaggregates urbanization into its individual components of urban growth and calculates their contributions to the overall urban increment. Several notable findings are highlighted. Nigeria, which is considered a late urbanizer, is currently in the accelerated stage of its urban transition and is projected to enter the terminal stage by 2030. Urban natural population increase has been the dominant component of urban growth in the post-colonial period and will likely continue to be so in the immediate future. Despite this, policies aimed at stemming rural to urban migration appear to have been the preferred mechanism for lessening the pressures posed by the contemporary urban transition, suggesting a potential policy mismatch.
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5. |
- Fält, Lena
(author)
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From Shacks to Skyscrapers : Multiple Spatial Rationalities and Urban Transformation in Accra, Ghana
- 2016
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 27:4, s. 465-486
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent studies indicate that market-driven logics increasingly inform the governing of African cities. This paper explores this claim by analysing the spatial rationalities at work in the struggle over urban space in Accra, Ghana. Based on an in-depth case study of a state-led displacement of a marginalised informal settlement in central Accra that took place in September 2014, the paper demonstrates that the on-going urban transformation of this city must be understood as an outcome of multiple spatial rationalities rooted in the local urban history but also influenced by globally circulating urban ideals. While a market-driven rationality is clearly present in the state’s justification of the eviction, also ‘generative’ and ‘dispositional’ rationalities are used to legitimise this urban intervention. The paper further illustrates the conflicting rationalities between the state and the urban poor, emphasising how the former residents of the displaced settlement perceive of their former home as a place of opportunities in terms of livelihood strategies, sociability and affordable housing in contrast to the state’s problematisation of the area.
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6. |
- Ingwani, Emmaculate, et al.
(author)
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The Impacts of Peri-Urban Expansion on Municipal and Ecosystem Services : Experiences from Makhado Biaba Town, South Africa
- 2024
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 35:2, s. 297-327
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The sub-Saharan cities are growing and changing due to immigration and modernization.One of the consequences of the current urbanization is that an increasingnumber of families residing in peri-urban areas of small rural towns lack access tobasic municipal and ecosystem services. The purpose of the paper is to demonstratethe impacts of peri-urban expansion on municipal services provided by the governmentsand on ecosystems services through a case study of a small rural town calledMakhado Biaba in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Makhado Biaba has beenexperiencing incessant rapid physical expansion over the years. Such spatial expansioninto the peri-urban zone impacts the provision of municipal services such aswater, electricity, sewerage, and refuse collection. In 2020, an exploratory mixedmethodsstudy of some anthropocentric and ecosystem changes in Makhado BiabaLocal Municipality in northeast South Africa was executed. Land use was mappedfor the time period of 1990–2020, data were gathered through a household questionnairein six villages, and interviews were held with municipal officials. Among others,the study showed that several municipal services are available in the peri-urbanvillages of Makhado Biaba Town despite the distant locations outside the urbancore. However, services are not uniformly distributed due to that new peri-urbandevelopments that are leapfrogging into vacant land without supporting infrastructure.The pace of the municipality in providing the necessary municipal servicessuch as water and energy supply, as well as sanitation and refuse removal, is laggingbehind the development of new and unplanned housing areas. The findings bringabout information about the suburban livelihoods and how the administration of theperi-urban areas can respond to the needs of the inhabitants as well as to future challenges.For instance, to facilitate local development, recurrent and well-structuredcitizen dialogs with local groups to identify delivery failures are strongly recommended.In addition, the impact on ecosystem services by the city development andland use change stresses the need for guided urban development and expansion and also settlement upgrading programs in peri-urban zones to limit the bad effect onecosystem services.
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7. |
- Jennische, Ulrik
(author)
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Traders, Drivers and the National Health Insurance Scheme in Small Town Ghana
- 2012
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 23:4, s. 467-481
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Based on anthropological fieldwork in the central market and taxi station of Koforidua, Ghana, this paper aims to improve our understanding of the social dynamics in the informal economy of a Ghanaian small town in relation to state policies. It strives to describe the way processes of formalization and informalization may coexist and interact during the implementation of the recent National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The ethnographic approach helps us to better understand how attitudes on NHIS are formed and the way information and values are disseminated.Closely examining the social infrastructure of this setting contributes further to this understanding. In the marketplace, it is important to develop networks of personal relations with fellow traders, customers, and suppliers. At the taxi station, on the other hand, the most important strategy is to join the powerful local union. These strategies are ways for actors to gain security and protection against economic vulnerability in a competitive liberalized economy. In this regard, the NHIS has also provided opportunities for actors. While the NHIS is a way for the state to increase control over the informal economy, and gradually formalizing it, it simultaneously indirectly reinforces and confirms the existing informal strategies of networking.
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8. |
- Jongh, Lennert
(author)
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The “Gray Spacing” of Market Vendors and Their Associations and Vendors’ Collective Agency in the Zambian City of Kitwe
- 2021
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 32:3, s. 245-260
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Market vendors are often marginalized in urban spaces—they may be harassed, face threats to their workplace security, or lack opportunities to influence urban policy-making. Associations of market vendors have been identified as a potential means to represent vendors’ interests, offering vendors possibilities to improve their working conditions. Fieldwork has been conducted in 2013, 2016, and 2018 to understand the struggles of market vendors and those of their associations in the Zambian city of Kitwe. The paper explores how both market vendors and their associations are positioned in a “gray space” between legality and illegality, unaware if their existence will be approved or sanctioned by the (local) government. The paper argues that the “gray space” in which many market vendors are positioned is a consequence of a lack of suitable alternative and more secure marketspaces. Associations are considered in relation to the political environment in which they operate and their future existence is particularly threatened by a regulation criminalizing them. Not only has this led to the abolishment of a well-known association, but it has also protected some associations whereas others are sidelined. Findings indicate that “gray spacing” and the accompanied changes in the associations jeopardize market vendors’ efforts to organize more autonomously and have isolated their struggles from attempts to organize all informal economy workers under a Zambian umbrella association.
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9. |
- Mususa, Patience, et al.
(author)
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Comparing Climate Politics and Adaptation Strategies in African Cities : Challenges and Opportunities in the State-Community Divide
- 2022
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 33:1, s. 1-12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Residents of African municipalities exhibit a lengthy and varied history of coping with conditions of pervasive precarity and uncertainty in the context of an unevenly present state. The climate crisis compounds these challenges. Based on case studies from across the continent, this introduction to the Special Issue on the Politics of Climate Action in Africa's Cities presents research oriented around questions of "do-it-yourself" urbanism, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts undertaken by socio-economically vulnerable citizens. It offers insight into how the urban poor respond to ongoing urban climate crises, the variable roles of an absent, ineffectual, or inattentive state, and the unequal power relations undergirding sustainability discourse and practice. It draws on a cross-regional comparative perspective that centres conversations about urban theory and development in a (urban) world succumbing to mounting pressures from climate change, environmental precarity, and pervasive inequities.
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10. |
- Nuhu, Said
(author)
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Peri-Urban Land Governance in Developing Countries: Understanding the Role, Interaction and Power Relation Among Actors in Tanzania
- 2019
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In: Urban Forum. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1015-3802 .- 1874-6330. ; 30
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Peri-urban land governance in Tanzania and other developing countries is shaped by divergent or complimentary roles of actors emanating from their authority, power and interest which create a complex relationship affecting land governance process. This paper is built on a call for more research on governance and urban land use by scholars. The focus of this paper is to identify governance gaps arising from the roles of different actors, interaction and power relations. The paper is based on the critical review of published and unpublished literature, as well as government reports. Overlapping and complementary roles influenced by varying power relations and interests among actors is revealed. This is witnessed in the Ministry of Lands and Local Government Authorities (LGAs) and between the private sector and land occupiers. The former is associated with the ministry’s reluctance to share power with LGAs, perpetuated by conflicting laws and regulations, while the latter is attributed to economic power of investors versus the vulnerable groups. Recognising the implication of the participation of various actors is not only critical in improving the interactions and harmony among actors, but also enacting appropriate legal and institutional frameworks to regularise both formal and informal actors in order to improve peri-urban land governance henceforth. © 2018, The Author(s).
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