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2. Urban Resilience: A 21ˢᵗ Century Challenge
- Author:
- S. Nanthini
- Publication Date:
- 08-2022
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Cities are now home to more than half the global population. As the urban population continues to increase amid the intensification of the effects of climate change, urban disasters are set to affect more people than ever before. As such, strategies to build urban resilience are quickly becoming an urgent matter of global concern.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Urban, Population Growth, and Resilience
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
3. Resilience and Urban Governance: Securing Cities
- Author:
- Katarína Svitková
- Publication Date:
- 07-2021
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Europeum Institute for European Policy
- Abstract:
- Associate Research Fellow Katarína Svitková writes about challenges facing cities today, tracing the concept of urban resilience throughout the last decade, explored in her recently published book (Resilience and Urban Governance).
- Topic:
- Governance, Urban, Cities, and Resilience
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Czech Republic
4. New Findings on Links between Urban Expansion and Viral Disease in Vietnam Offer Lessons for COVID-19
- Author:
- James H. Spencer, Sumeet Saksena, and Jefferson Fox
- Publication Date:
- 04-2020
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- The current COVID-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, underscores what the public health community has warned about for more than two decades—the risk of viral diseases capable of spreading from animal to human hosts. The first outbreaks of “bird flu” (highly pathogenic avian influenza—HPAI, subtype H5N1)—raised similar concerns 20 years ago, concerns that have persisted with the outbreak of SARS in 2002–2004 and COVID-19 today. A recent study compared information on infrastructure and other aspects of economic development in Vietnam with outbreaks of avian influenza. While this research focuses on avian influenza in Vietnam, the study of links between infrastructure characteristics and new and reemerging health risks has broad applicability, especially given the global importance of today’s rapidly expanding urban landscapes.
- Topic:
- Infectious Diseases, Urban, and COVID-19
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, and Vietnam
5. Is there a right way to accommodate rapid urban growth in developing countries?
- Author:
- Matthew Eldridge
- Publication Date:
- 02-2019
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- The United Nations projects that by 2050, urban areas will swell in size by 2.5 billion people, with 90 percent of that growth occurring in Asia and Africa. Urbanization presents significant development benefits—boosting innovation, human capital accumulation, and access to opportunities—but it also strains existing physical infrastructure, social services, and public health systems. To manage the challenges and maximize the benefits of rapid growth, national and municipal governments, civil society, and development partners (among others) must weigh interrelated financial, political, cultural, economic, and technical considerations. For many, the big question is whether cities should build anew in urban peripheries or retrofit and reinvest in urban cores. At a recent event hosted by the Urban Institute, in partnership with the World Bank, experts considered this question through the lens of one rapidly growing city: Dhaka, Bangladesh, examined in a new World Bank report, Toward Greater Dhaka.
- Topic:
- Development, Economic Growth, and Urban
- Political Geography:
- Bangladesh and Global Focus
6. Rural-Urban Disparities in the Utilization of Mental Health Inpatient Services in China: The Role of Health Insurance
- Author:
- Junfang Xu, Jian Wang, Madeleine King, Ruiyun Liu, Fenghua Yu, Jinshui Xing, Lei Su, and Mingshan Lu
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center
- Abstract:
- Reducing rural-urban disparities in health and health care has been a key policy goal for the Chinese government. With mental health becoming an increasingly significant public health issue in China, empirical evidence of disparities in the use of mental health services can guide steps to reduce them. We conducted this study to inform China’s on-going health-care reform through examining how health insurance might reduce rural-urban disparities in the utilization of mental health inpatient services in China.
- Topic:
- Health, Health Care Policy, Mental Health, Urban, and Rural
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
7. Singapore’s Nascent Urban Farming: Potential Future Regional Centre?
- Author:
- Jose Montesclaros and Paul Teng
- Publication Date:
- 11-2018
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
- Abstract:
- Singapore signalled strong support for its urban farming industry by tendering 24 hectares of land for high-productivity vegetable farms in 2017. Foresighted action is now needed to reduce risk to leafy vegetable producers and to fulfil the sector’s commercial potential. Can it be a future regional centre for urban food production?
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Food Security, Urban, and Farming
- Political Geography:
- Singapore and Southeast Asia
8. Using technology to improve women’s safety in Pakistan’s urban transit systems
- Author:
- Ammar A. Malik, Yasemin Irvin-Erickson, and Faisal Kamiran
- Publication Date:
- 12-2017
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- As cities around the world invest billions in new mass transit systems, people’s experiences and fears of victimization in public spaces cause gender disparities in accessibility. Gendered social norms regarding women’s traditional role in society and control over income further limits women’s access to mass transit systems. Although fear of crime affects all transit users, sexual harassment and victimization is a larger concern for women and girls, and it restricts their mobility and hampers access to economic opportunity. As we learn more about this problem, we are looking for solutions, including technology, that can lower the risk of victimization and help women feel more safe on public transit.
- Topic:
- Crime, Science and Technology, Women, Gender Based Violence, and Urban
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan and South Asia
9. Will the cities of the future work for everyone?
- Author:
- Solomon Greene and Sarah Rosen Wartell
- Publication Date:
- 10-2016
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- A century ago, 1 in 10 people lived in urban areas; today, it’s more than half. By 2050, that fraction will rise to two thirds of the world’s population as cities of all sizes swell to accommodate an estimated 2.5 billion more urban dwellers. What will cities look like in the future? Next week, researchers from the Urban Institute will join global leaders at the United Nations’ historic Habitat III conference to take stock of our progress in creating sustainable cities that meet the needs of all residents, and to get ahead of anticipated changes that will create both opportunities and challenges for city dwellers, our nations, and our planet.
- Topic:
- Development, Urban, and Cities
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
10. How can we better serve urban refugees?
- Author:
- Benjamin Edwards and Loren Landau
- Publication Date:
- 09-2016
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- The world is in the midst of a historic refugee crisis. In 2015, over 65 million people were forcibly displaced—19.5 million of them international refugees living outside their home countries. While the United States hopes to welcome up to 110,000 refugees next year, the scale of the crisis demands a larger and more creative response. Formal humanitarian approaches have focused on refugee camps and direct humanitarian aid, but cities and urban areas play a central role in hosting and protecting displaced persons. Today, only one-third of the world's refugees live in camps. Of the approximately 2.7 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, nearly 90 percent live in urban environments. Given the nature of the current crisis, what can humanitarian organizations do differently to address refugee concerns in urban areas? And what unique opportunities might arise by focusing on cities in addition to camps?
- Topic:
- Refugees, Displacement, and Urban
- Political Geography:
- Turkey and Global Focus
11. Three top priorities for the White House Summit on Global Development
- Author:
- Benjamin Edwards and Jonah Lefkoe
- Publication Date:
- 07-2016
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- At tomorrow’s White House Summit on Global Development, President Obama will convene stakeholders in international development to celebrate the administration’s successes and plan for its legacy. The Obama administration has reformed the development goals and how we implement development activities. Revisions to the goals include sector initiatives like Power Africa, Feed the Future, the President’s Global Climate Change Initiative, and Let Girls Learn—results-focused projects that have filled gaps in our development policies. Changes to implementation include President Obama’s landmark 2010 Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, the USAID (US Agency for International Development) Forward reforms derived from that directive, and his recent signature on the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016. These initiatives are changing the way US development efforts are conducted, reimagining development with a focus on process and adaptability. The White House has laid out two goals for the summit: institutionalize the administration’s reforms, and recommit to expanding dignity and opportunity for all. To go beyond a well-earned celebration of progress already made, the event’s agenda should include three things.
- Topic:
- Development, Urban, Barack Obama, and USAID
- Political Geography:
- North America
12. How do urban migrants access land and services in African cities?
- Author:
- Luke Fuller
- Publication Date:
- 06-2015
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- Africa is on the move. Cities across the continent are continuing to grow, shrink, and transform in response to the demographic and economic pressures that drive urban migration. By conservative estimates, every hour Dar es Salaam, Tanzania is growing by 47 people; Kinshasa, DR Congo by 53 people; and Lagos, Nigeria by 58. Today about 40 percent of Africans are city dwellers, and that number will rise to nearly 60 percent by 2050 as sub-Saharan cities swell with 800 million new residents. This tremendous shift in where people live represents a major opportunity to guide development, but it also raises important questions. In places where land is scarce and expensive, how do urban migrants find a foothold? What opportunities or anchors do people use to establish themselves in the city? How do they buy or rent land for their own use and welfare? And what does this mean for governments?
- Topic:
- Demographics, Urban, Cities, and Migrant Workers
- Political Geography:
- Africa