Urban Sores

This title was first published in 2003. Most European cities have experienced problems in certain neighbourhoods that are termed deprived or excluded . Traditionally these were found in the oldest urban areas with lowest quality housing, but since the 1980s, such areas have emerged in housing estates built around the cities' edges. These neighbourhoods are marked by visible physical and social problems that disfigure the otherwise pleasant urban landscape, and can be seen as urban sores . This engaging and thought-provoking book provides a deeper understanding of why urban decay and deprived neighbourhoods appear in certain parts of cities, as well as how they affect residents and cities in general. Drawing on in-depth empirical research from Denmark, it compares this with other studies from Europe and the United States. The author combines theories and methodologies from the fields of geography (on segregation), economics (on processes of urban decay) and social research (on social exclusion and deprived neighbourhoods) to provide original, illuminating and invaluable insights.

Urban Ills: Confronting Twenty First Century Dilemmas of Urban Living in GlobalContexts brings together original research by a wide array of interdisciplinary scholars to examine contemporary dilemmas impacting urban life in global contexts, following the latest global economic downturn. Focusing extensively on vulnerable populations, economic, social, health and community dynamics are explored as they relate to human adaptation to complex environments.

This book provides new insights on cities and the nature of urban development, and the role of knowledge management in urban growth. It considers how knowledge informs policies and supports decision making, and can assist in addressing the drivers of urban change. The way that knowledge is produced and used in urban development is analysed, with examples drawn from a range of European countries. This book illustrates how the development and implementation of policies for urban areas can draw on knowledge management, even as the knowledge economy itself stimulates the evolution of the city as a place of innovation and creativity. Whilst knowledge grows in importance, so do urban issues, particularly in economic and political contexts at both European and national levels. These essays explore growth in the range of knowledge available in urban contexts, the ways to generate new knowledge from a wide range of stakeholders, and how these can make an effective contribution to decision making processes in urban development. The attractiveness of cities and surrounding areas to knowledge based forms of industry and investment and the competitiveness and performance of cities are a matter of major concern for national governments. In a sense it has become too important to leave to city politicians, and it is a topic requiring sustained reflection. This book gives the reader a detailed understanding of the issues involved and prompts further reflections.

This professional book introduces an analytical framework of urban informality perspectives in the Middle East that is aligned with the Global South. The context of Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan—in the Middle East— is the transregional focus of this book. In these contexts, the book opens a new arena of academic discussion on the theory and practice of urban informality. Urban Informality: Experiences and Urban Sustainability Transitions in Middle East Cities questions urban informality, "as a site of transitions", interrelated and interlinked with urban sustainability transitions in speedy changes in a given environment. The book presents ‘urban informality sustainability transitions’ regarding resilience and adaptability that require shifts in urban systems. Shifts from a static process to a dynamic process that eradicates the fragmentation between the tensions, anxieties, and pressures of four modes of production, reproduction, consumptions, and distribution of goods and services in the city and its practices. Finally, through eleven chapters, the concluding remarks explore to what extent and how can urban informality transitions be sustainable.

Updated with a majority of new readings, the Third Edition of Readings in Urban Theory expands its focus to present the most recent developments in urban and regional theories and policies in a globalized world. Around 75% of the readings included are new for the third edition Unifies readings by an orientation toward political economy and normative themes of social justice Expands the focus on international planning, including globalization and theories of development Addresses the full range of core urban theory so as to remain the primary text in courses

A collection of ethnographic case studies of urban planners and their practices Urban planners project the future of cities. As experts, they draft visions of places and times that do not yet exist, prescribing the tools to be used to achieve those visions. Their choices can determine how a city will merge its public transit and automobile traffic or how it will meet a demand for thousands of new dwelling units as quickly and with as little avoidable damage as possible. Life Among Urban Planners considers planning professionals in relation to the social contexts in which they operate: the planning office, the construction site, and even in the confrontations with those affected by their work. What roles do planners have in shaping the daily practices of urban life? How do they employ, manipulate, and alter their expertise to meet the demands asked of them? The essays in this volume emphasize planners' cultural values and personal assumptions and critically examine what their persistent commitment to thinking about the future means for the ways in which people live in the present and preserve the past. Life Among Urban Planners explores the practices and politics of professional city-making in a wide selection of geographical areas spanning five continents. Cases include but are not limited to Bangkok, Bogotá, Chicago, Naimey, Rome, Siem Reap, Stockholm, and Warsaw. Examining the issues raised around questions of expertise, participation, and the tension between market and state forces, contributors demonstrate how certain planning practices accentuate their specific relationship to a place while others are represented to a global audience as potentially universal solutions. In presenting detailed and intimate portraits of the everyday lives of planners, the volume offers key insights into how the city interacts with the world. Contributors: Margaret Crawford, Adèle Esposito, Trevor Goldsmith, Mark Graham, Michael Herzfeld, James Holston, Gabriella Körling, Jennifer Mack, Andrew Newman, Lissa Nordin, Bruce O'Neill, Kevin Lewis O'Neill, Federico Pérez, Monika Sznel.

Inclusion and Exclusion of the Urban Poor in Dhaka explores how the inhabitants of poor neighborhoods in Dhaka, Bangladesh, gain inclusion in the city at the face of exclusion. The book considers how the people of poor neighborhoods encounter the exclusionary behavior of city development, and how their inclusionary attempts have influenced the urban design. The book is presented in two parts: first, it explains how people in poor neighborhoods face exclusion because of the imbalance of power and politics. Second, it demonstrates how the existing exclusion of urban poor is affecting their strategies to gain access to urban services through people’s power and politics. Focusing on the transdisciplinary field of urban anthropology, the chapters uncover the urban forces, policies and actions that facilitate urban politics. It also investigates the people who live in poor neighborhoods, who in the face of exclusion, have included themselves in urban development planning and design by employing diverse strategies against those forces in the urban politics, e.g., accepting dominance, bargaining, or having control over their lives. This book will recontextualize an ethnographic inquiry into the exclusion and inclusion of the people within city development design, plans and innovations in applications of anthropological theory and methodology. This book will encourage the reader to understand the politics of state’s development projects and plans, and furthermore instigate the city government, planners and policymakers to focus on the people's political power and agency that enables them to achieve inclusion. It will therefore be of interest to researchers and students of urban planning and development, urban geography, and urban anthropology, as well as planning professionals and policymakers.

John “Lofty” Wiseman is the author of the bestselling SAS Survival Handbook, the definitive guide to survival in the wild from Britain’s Special Air Service. Now he has compiled the complete guide to surviving among crowds of people, the mazes of office buildings, the dangers of an unfeeling city—put simply, how to stay safe in the urban jungle. Thousands of preventable fatalities occur in the home every year— more than on the roads, more than in the great outdoors. Household chemicals, electricity, cooking knives, and rodent poisons—in the wrong hands and with improper usage, these day-to-day resources bring danger to your home. Add to this the risks of moving through city streets (the threat of rape, muggings, and gang violence) and the menace of natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, blizzards) that cannot be avoided. Every day serves as a constant reminder: The world is truly a frightening place. The SAS Urban Survival Guide advises readers to think practically about urban environments and offers tips and instructions on how to avoid hazards wherever one goes. From self-defense techniques to home security systems to coping with natural disasters, this book teaches readers to recognize danger, make quick decisions, and live confidently in the modern world.