19 research outputs found
The perils of premature globalisation and the birth of megacities: social exclusion and spatial injustice in Dhaka.
Get PDFMegacities and globalisation are two global, connubial phenomena. Asian and Latin American cities dealt with globalisation prematurely, hastily transforming into mass producers to serve global consumers. Since the late 20th century, these cities emerged as the powerhouse of mass production, attracting low to medium skilled labour. This influx of migration to capital cities and other key cities has given birth to many new megacities. This paper presents a contentious debate on the birth of premature globalisation and its relation to the hasty formation of megacities, taking Asian and Latin American perspectives. The objective of this paper is not to undermine the formation of megacities, but rather to examine how globalisation could be used as a strategic tool to tackle social exclusion and spatial injustice. The debate begins with a reflection on one Asian city, Dhaka, and this city's radical shift into a complex, compact and congested formation of urban land use in the 1980s - the result of two significant economic changes. One is the global production-led economy, and the other is the arrival of an emerging real-estate culture catering to the international trade community
Stitching urban vision (SUV): psychogeographic and visual content analysis in co-creating collaborative capacity among children. [Case study]
Get PDFThis case study explores the "Stitching Urban Vision" (SUV) method, which aims to help children develop negotiation skills with a view to achieving successful outcomes, rather than the delayed, unresolved or fragmented outcomes that can result from other negotiation methods. Studies in the use of SUV have demonstrated how disparate and self-drawn ideas can be stitched into an intelligible shared vision
Introduction: transdisciplinary urbanism and culture.
Get PDFThis book originates from the contemporary research approach and ideology centred on inter-disciplinarity to examine issues in urbanism and culture. The crux of that research lies at the heart of academic institutions, in particular the way in which various disciplinary discourses are available and the manner in which researchers are currently trying to address issues in urbanism and culture with inter-disciplinary research methods and approaches. This introductory chapter opens up different aspects and dynamics in urban research. It shows how established and early-career researchers are conceptualising and attempting to address various urban research strands, which were discussed at the 9th Annual AHRA (Architectural Humanities Research Association) Research Student Symposium.
Detecting encroachment within wetlands using UAV techniques: the case of Sakumo Ramsar Site, Ghana.
Get PDFWetlands have provided many benefits to mankind all over the world. Wetlands are a rich source of food and water security hence a crucial source of subsistence for communities. Apart from serving humanity, wetlands provide unique habitats for various types of fauna and flora. Consequently, wetlands have gained importance worldwide for conservation purposes and are designated as Ramsar Sites. However, urbanisation and subsequent population explosion has left some of our urban wetlands in deplorable and degraded conditions. The Sakumo Wetland and its catchment is one of such areas which has not been spared. This paper sought to access the level of encroachment within the Sakumo Ramsar Site, in the Accra and Tema Metropolis (Ghana) by using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). A descriptive research design strategy was adopted supported by a mixed method approach. UAV survey was conducted to obtain orthophotos from a carefully and systematically planned aerial survey of the Ramsar Site. The UAV survey was supplemented with qualitative field data obtained from participants who live in the Sakumo community, which is the catchment of the Sakumo Wetlands. The study revealed a loss of substantial area of the wetland to encroachment. The settlement areas have compromised the natural flood control potential of the wetland as well as portions of the 100 m buffer zone have been encroached upon. The effect is the loss of about 38.3% of the wetland to encroachment. The encroachment has also resulted in loss of livelihood for fishermen and farmers within the community creating a rippling effect on sustenance of families. This paper recommends the collaboration of stakeholders and relevant city authorities to restore the degraded wetlands and adopt strategies to secure the buffer zone around the lagoon. The custodians of the Sakumo lagoon, that is the Chiefs and Traditional Priest or 'Wulomo', should be actively engaged in sustainable Community Education, Participation and Awareness (CEPA) to ensure that, the Sakumo lagoon which is believed to be a goddess with a strong religious and cultural presence in the community, continues to enjoy the historical, traditional authority she is accorded within the community while yielding benefits to the inhabitants both far and near
Sustainable approach to regenerating residential form and density: case in Dhaka.
Get PDFThis paper presents principles and praxis of sustainable approach to maintaining targeted residential regeneration by density yet achieving innovations in urban form in a contextual scenario of Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh. It is evident from the context that Dhaka is experiencing a dramatic transformation in residential density due to demographic changes during the past two decades due the concentration of social, administrative, institutional, recreational, small-scale industries, and associated housing facilities. The transformation is visible in residential built footprint, significantly due to the demand-driven and density-led market, originated from low rise and low density and transforming to high density high rise. This transformation has been consistently threatening social and environmental realm indicated by depletion of garden houses; reduction of public parks; shrinking walkways; deletion of setback for ventilation and sun shade from trees; slowing down mobility; and obstruction of physical and visual permeability. The paper discussed a pragmatic approach that professionals have adopted to control the density and to introduce scopes for innovative urban forms by way of applying floor area ratio (FAR) methods and further discusses the merits of the methodological process of exercising morphology with a set of new building rules without undermining the market demand
Explorations of an urban intervention management system: a reflection on how to deal with urban complex systems and deliver dynamic change.
Get PDFConcerns over how we plan and manage urban development have grown as a result of unpredictable and rapid conditional changes in postmodern cities. This chapter explores the shifting contexts of urban environments which change in an increasingly frequent and dynamic manner. These changes can be understood through the lens of real-time interactions between citizens, planning processes and designers, supported through the use of ICT. We argue for the recognition that urban change will happen in an unpredictable way, and that such interactions can be regarded as extremely valuable information to any urban manager. The approach suggested by the research concerns the scale of interventions in the building environment and the exploration of tools to facilitate public engagement and awareness of urban complexity
Theorizing social fear and contested urbanism of displacement, alienation and contemporary processes of political, economic and religious-induced mobility: a cross cultural study.
Get PDFFear is an intrinsic human response to social insecurity and epitomises the perceived disparity in anticipation and engagement with the 'other'. Fear of other ethnic minority groups and their involvement or not in the city's social and labour markets can manifest spatial insecurity through territoriality, boundary definition, ghettoization and access to communal public space. The cost of land and property, the incoming wealth and the ability of a migrant or refugee to generate income (or not)? to buy or rent or live illegally' are major contributing factors in social inclusion. Many metropolitan cities are challenged and pressured by economic, political, religious, and racial class divisions. Here we argue that contested urban settlements of migrant and low-paid workers need to be studied through the matrix of social fear using new methodologies of communication that map fear and displacement within the city and public space
Global injury morbidity and mortality from 1990 to 2017 : results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017
Get PDFCorrection:Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. Methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Findings In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). Interpretation Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.Peer reviewe
Border urbanism: a critical discourse.
No full textThis opening chapter overviews the purpose of the book. A global initiative on border urbanism research and interdisciplinary collaboration began in 2016, bringing researchers from 28 countries together to discuss various border-related issues at an international conference, which was titled "Urbanism at Borders" and held in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 2018. This book is undoubtedly not the first attempt to discuss border issues. However, what it brings to the literature is an opportunity for a "less-explored" subject treatment of border discourse - from architecture, urbanism and other allied disciplines. The chapters in this book collated and demonstrated a renewed interest in borders as a conceptual issue within studies of the built environment. In this chapter, the overview explains the editors' ambition of examining this critical problem - which traditionally has been examined to an advanced degree within various sociopolitical and related disciplines - from a new perspective. The conventional claim that architecture and urbanism do not necessarily cover the issue of "borders" originated from the notion that this issue belongs to the distinct and well-defined realms of political science and its allied disciplines. The editors argue that humanity today finds itself positioned in a globalised world, which is increasingly interconnected both physically and digitally. Yet we are also in more unstable conditions than was the case many centuries ago; we are subject to the fragility of conflicting ideologies, religions and economies, and the didactic relationship of power and politics that manifests in the perceived fragility of our habitat - and in the new challenges of restoring social and environmental sustainability. This book is a snapshot of the vast border issues yet to be researched from architecture and urbanism perspectives
Berlin: a city awaits: the interplay between political ideology, architecture and identity.
No full textThis book is a companion to an earlier book ("Potsdamerplatz: the reshaping of Berlin") also by Quazi Mahtab Zaman. Political meaning in architecture has been a subject of interest to many critics and writers. The most notable of these include Charles T. Goodsell and Kenneth Frampton. In Goodsell's (1988) statement, "Political places are not randomly or casually brought into existence" (ibid, p. 8), the stipulation is that architecture has been used very deliberately in the past to bolster connotations of power and strength, in cities representative of larger nations and political movements. The question central to this book relates to how this can be achieved. Goodsell argues that any study of the interplay between political ideology, architecture and identity demands a place imbued with political ideas, opposed to "cold concepts and lifeless abstractions" (Goodsell 1988, p. 1). As a means through which to examine and evaluate the ways in which the development of cities can be influenced by political and ideological tendencies, this brief book focuses on Berlin as a political discourse, given its significant destruction and reorganisation to reinstate its identity, in the context of geopolitics and the advent of globalisation. The file accompanying this book is just a representative extract from the entire work, which can be purchased from the publisher's website: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51449-
