Heritage Crafting Communities And Urban Transformation

This book emphasises the need to empower marginalised communities to contribute to decision-making processes within policy realms. It contributes to ongoing debates in the social sciences about infrastructure rights and citizenship, and it throws insight on human-infrastructure interactions in the informal neighbourhoods of the global South. The book delves into the complexities of caste, gender, class, and political identities and affiliations associated with the multiple factors of inclusion and exclusion particularly in the case of access to infrastructure in informal settlements in urban areas with an added productive function. This book is about how this historic inner-city, situated, religious idol-crafting community is transforming due to factors including access to physical and social infrastructure, local governance policies, socio-political hierarchies, and complexities of informal tenure. Drawing on sociocultural norms, and values of idol-crafting practices, it documents, analyses and presents the networks and relations of the neighbourhood through a spatial and material lens. Findings contribute to understanding how traditional practices of a crafting community are adapting, appropriating, producing, and reshaping informal spaces in Kumartuli. 'The book is aimed at academic audiences across the world researching creative industries, Kolkata’s regeneration agenda, and cultural tourism. It will be of interest to the wide disciplines of Urban Studies, Development Studies, Architecture and Planning, and Culture and Tourism Studies.

"This book emphasises the need to empower marginalised communities to contribute to decision-making processes within policy realms. It contributes to ongoing debates in the social sciences about infrastructure rights and citizenship, and it throws insight on human-infrastructure interactions in the informal neighbourhoods of the global South. The book delves into the complexities of caste, gender, class, and political identities and affiliations associated with the multiple factors of inclusion and exclusion particularly in the case of access to infrastructure in informal settlements in urban areas with an added productive function. This book is about how this historic inner-city, situated, religious idol-crafting community is transforming due to factors including access to physical and social infrastructure, local governance policies, socio-political hierarchies, and complexities of informal tenure. Drawing on sociocultural norms, and values of idol-crafting practices, it documents, analyses and presents the networks and relations of the neighbourhood through a spatial and material lens. Findings contribute to understanding how traditional practices of a crafting community are adapting, appropriating, producing, and reshaping informal spaces in Kumartuli. The book is aimed at academic audiences across the world researching cultural tourism, the city's regeneration agenda and cultural tourism. It will be of interest to the wide disciplines of Urban Studies, Development Studies, Architecture and Planning, and Culture and Tourism Studies"--

This book examines the progression of real estate development within the deindustrialization-financialization nexus. It explores the roles it has in semi-peripheral contexts such as Romania, where it overlaps with the process of the transformation of state socialism into neoliberal capitalism, viewed at the intersection of global, national, and local forces. The book focuses on real estate development in Romania as a product and a driver of capitalism. It contributes to ongoing debates in critical urban theories and Marxist perspectives in urban sociology. Focusing on the under-researched East European region, it decenters social research and fine-tunes the political economy theory about state and economic restructuring. The book contains methodological and theoretical insights that are useful in other contexts beyond Romania and Central and Eastern Europe, especially in other (semi)peripheral emerging markets. The focus of critical inquiry into capitalist transformations adopted in this book can also support political activism. It uncovers the varieties of the deindustrialization-financialization nexus in real estate built on the dismantled pre-1990 socialist industrial plants. The chapters describe the advancement of real estate investments across second and third-tier cities, displaying uneven development and subordinate financialization at the intersection of local and global processes and political and economic actors. It will be of interest to researchers and students of urban sociology, economic sociology, political economy, human geography, and political geography.

This book maps the interactions between informal workers and the law within the urban and spatial environment. It focuses on access to physical space, revealing the punitive ways in which globally law regulates space and informal work which relies on space. Across various cities worldwide, the chapters in this book uncover how informal workers remain at the policy and legal margins of urban society and reveal their ongoing endeavour for social and legal protection within local jurisdictional contexts. It spans multiple themes, ranging from street vending to informal work in the gig economy. They shed light on the collective influence of the law and the pursuit of a modern city in contributing to the marginalisation of informal workers. Despite this, the chapters illuminate the strategies employed by informal workers to leverage the law in acknowledging their contributions and asserting their presence in the city. The book is targeted towards an academic audience and practitioners specialising in law, urban studies, and the informal economy. The reader will gain an in-depth and cross-jurisdictional understanding of the indispensable role played by informal workers in providing services to a broader urban population, ranging from street vendors to sanitation workers and sex workers.

Public participation and local community involvement have taken centre stage in heritage practice in recent decades. In contrast with this established position in wider heritage work, public engagement with conservation practice is less well developed. The focus here is on conservation as the practical care of material cultural heritage, with all its associated significance for local people. How can we be more successful in building capacity for local ownership and leadership of heritage conservation projects, as well as improving participative involvement in decisions and in practice? This book presents current research and practice in community-led conservation. It illustrates that outcomes of locally-led, active participation show demonstrable social, educational and personal benefits for participants. Bringing together UK and international case studies, the book combines analysis of theoretical and applied approaches, exploring the lived experiences of conservation projects in and with different communities. Responding to the need for deeper understanding of the outcomes of heritage conservation, it examines the engagement of local people and communities beyond the expert and specialist domain. Highlighting the advances in this important aspect of contemporary heritage practice, this book is a key resource for practitioners in heritage studies, conservation and heritage management. It is also relevant for the practising professional, student or university researcher in an emerging field that overarches professional and academic practice.

This book is a collection of essays, articles, and blog posts that have helped to influence hundreds of cities, towns, and regions to develop strategies for creating smarter and more intelligent communities, which can also help your community to develop strategies from a people-first perspective. Highlighted are in-depth examples of communities from around the world that have developed strategies following these key principles: connectivity and smart city data and analytics; knowledge creation, attraction, and retention; developing an innovation ecosystem and culture that is equitable, inclusive, and engaging; and ensuring sustainability, resiliency, and continuous revitalization. This book will appeal to mayors as well as urban planners, urban designers, economic developers, architects, land economists, geographers, developers, and all types of students interested in city-building. This collection of works written by the author tells the story of the smart city and intelligent community movement from its origins to today.

This book investigates urban tourism development in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting the challenges and risks involved, but also showcasing the potential benefits. Whilst much is written on Africa’s rural environments, little has been written about the tourism potential of the vast natural, cultural and historical resources in the continent’s urban areas. Yet these opportunities also come with considerable environmental, social and political challenges. This book interrogates the interactions between urban risks, tourism and sustainable development in Sub-Saharan African urban spaces. It addresses the underlying issues of governance, power, ownership, collaboration, justice, community empowerment and policies that influence tourism decision-making at local, national and regional levels. Interrogating the intricate relationships between tourism stakeholders, this book ultimately reflects on how urban risk can be mitigated, and how sustainable urban tourism can be harnessed for development. The important insights in this book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners across Tourism, Geography, Urban Development, and African Studies.

In tracing community, and how art and craft can be harnessed to express and manifest communities, this book raises fundamental questions and issues about the nature of literacy in everyday lives. Threaded throughout the contributions is an abiding belief in the expansive and flexible nature of literacy, which might one moment involve photography; in the next, drama; and in the next, invite song coupled with movement. Something happens to literacy when it is seen through multiple modalities of meaning and communication: it moves from a thing to a thought and a feeling. Pedagogically, the book offers readers a carousel of places and people to witness literacy with, from young children all the way to grandparents. This opens up a sense of geography and age, proving that literacy really does reside in the centre and corners of our lives. With nine chapters by scholars in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, all researching under the umbrella of the same research study, the collection provides a unique perspective on human and aesthetic communication and shows differences between social groups. This book was originally published as a special issue of Pedagogies: An International Journal.