scholarly journals What Sparkles Does Not Always Shine

2021 ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
Simon Topp
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Property Tax ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Customer Base ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Average Household Income ◽  
Housing Costs ◽  
The City

This paper is an ethnographic and sociological study of the neighborhood of Runnymede-Bloor West Village, identifying trends and drawing conclusions based on statistical data, academic theory, and notes taken during research trips. It is also worth noting that this study was conducted in January of 2020 before the Global pandemic was declared. Focusing on gentrification, segregation, and inequality, I identify that this neighborhood is part of a growing trend in Toronto of the increasing severity of all three of these issues. Runnymede-Bloor West Village is quickly becoming one of Toronto’s wealthiest neighborhoods, with the average household income increasing substantially. While this will certainly make real estate agents happy and will probably provide the city with more property tax, it also has the effect of pushing less affluent people out, as increasing living costs make their continued residence in Runnymede-Bloor West Village unaffordable. It also influences the local businesses, as businesses that do not cater to the new influx of affluent residents go out of business, either because their customer base has left or because they can no longer afford to pay their rent. I also identify the increased segregation of the neighborhood, as the racialized character of income inequality in Toronto results in people of color being priced out. Finally, I recommend that the solution to much of this increased inequality is the building of more affordable housing and restrictions of the building of unaffordable housing. Much of this will require the actions of a progressive, engaged local government. Hopefully, these steps will be able to halt or even reverse the trend of an ever-increasing cost of living, provide the local businesses with customers who do not have to spend most of their income on housing costs, and provide a short term solution to the issue of income and ethnicity-based segregation in Toronto.

Emplacing Berlin: Digital Itineraries and Short-term Study Abroad in the City

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Apgar
Keyword(s):  
Study Abroad ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Study Abroad Programs ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Short Term Study ◽  
The City

As destination of choice for many short-term study abroad programs, Berlin offers students of German language, culture and history a number of sites richly layered with significance. The complexities of these sites and the competing narratives that surround them are difficult for students to grasp in a condensed period of time. Using approaches from the spatial humanities, this article offers a case study for enhancing student learning through the creation of digital maps and itineraries in a campus-based course for subsequent use during a three-week program in Berlin. In particular, the concept of deep mapping is discussed as a means of augmenting understanding of the city and its history from a narrative across time to a narrative across the physical space of the city. As itineraries, these course-based projects were replicated on site. In moving from the digital environment to the urban landscape, this article concludes by noting meanings uncovered and narratives formed as we moved through the physical space of the city.

scholarly journals Staying Home, Staying Alive: Campus Food Pantry Student Clients’ Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 193672442110356
Author(s):  
Elmira Jangjou
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Postsecondary Students ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Food Pantry ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Seeking Help

In response to students’ food insecurity, a number of colleges and universities have taken action and established campus food pantries as part of their intervention plans. However, many of these pantries ceased operation due to COVID-19 campus shutdowns. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the short-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on postsecondary students, who use a university-provided food pantry. Drawing from semi-structured interviews with 12 participants, the thematic analysis explored the initial coping strategies these students used to endure the pandemic. Findings revealed that many students experienced the immediate effects of the pandemic in the form of income loss, self-isolation, anxiety, and appetite change. Although the pandemic interrupted these students’ journeys to continue their studies and become independent in various ways, the affected students implemented various coping strategies, including seeking help from family or friends, using available resources, cooking at home, and even trying to save money. However, considering that the targeted population in this study was already at risk because of their basic needs insecurity, these postsecondary students require extra attention from their higher education institutions in the case of emergencies, such as a global pandemic. In addition to its timely and relevant findings, this study provides important avenues for future research and intervention efforts.

scholarly journals The Interlocking Processes Constraining the Struggle for Sanctuary in the Trump Era: The Case of La Puente, CA

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Gilda L. Ochoa
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
City Council ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Transformative Change ◽  
Cautionary Tale ◽  
Community Members ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
The Status ◽  
The City

By 10 January 2017, activists in the predominately Latina/o working class city of La Puente, California had lobbied the council to declare the city a sanctuary supporting immigrants, people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. The same community members urged the school district to declare itself a sanctuary. While community members rejoiced in pushing elected officials to pass these inclusive resolutions, there were multiple roadblocks reducing the potential for more substantive change. Drawing on city council and school board meetings, resolutions and my own involvement in this sanctuary struggle, I focus on a continuum of three overlapping and interlocking manifestations of white supremacist heteronormative patriarchy: neoliberal diversity discourses, institutionalized policies, and a re-emergence of high-profiled white supremacist activities. Together, these dynamics minimized, contained and absorbed community activism and possibilities of change. They reinforced the status quo by maintaining limits on who belongs and sustaining intersecting hierarchies of race, immigration status, gender, and sexuality. This extended case adds to the scant scholarship on the current sanctuary struggles, including among immigration scholars. It also illustrates how the state co-opts and marginalizes movement language, ideas, and people, providing a cautionary tale about the forces that restrict more transformative change.

Favelas, Affordable Housing, and Authoritarian Urbanism in the Era of Mass Eradication in Rio de Janeiro, 1960s–1970s

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leandro Benmergui
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Military Regimes ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Right ◽  
The City

As the number of favelas and poor residents of Rio de Janeiro grew quickly by the mid-20th century, they became the object of policymaking, social science research, real estate speculation, and grassroots mobilization. After a decade in which local authorities recognized the de facto presence of favelas but without legally ascertaining the right of permanence, the 1960s and early 1970s witnessed the era of mass eradication. Seemingly contradictory—but complementary—policies also included the development of massive low-income housing complexes and innovative community development and favela urbanization experiences empowered by community organizations with the assistance of experts committed to improving the lives of poor Cariocas (residents of Rio). Favelas in Rio were at the crossroads of a particular interplay of forces: the urgent need to modernize Rio’s obsolete and inadequate urban infrastructure; the new administrative status of the city after the inauguration of Brasilia; and the redefinition of the balance of power between local, municipal, and federal forces in a time of radical politics and authoritarian and technocratic military regimes, Cold War diplomacy, and the transnational flows of expertise and capital.

Socio-political problems of residents of Вishkek residential areas

2021 ◽  
pp. 346-356
Author(s):  
Rita Bobuevna Salmorbekova ◽  
Dilshat Karimova
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
The State ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Sociological Study ◽  
Expert Survey ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Rational Distribution ◽  
Internal Migrants ◽  
The City

The article examines the problems of the population of the residential areas of the city of Bishkek based on the sociological study. An expert survey carried out in four districts of Bishkek is presented. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, more than 50 new residential areas appeared in the city. Naturally, new residential areas do not have sufficient infrastructure for the population to this day. The current situation with internal migrants in Kyrgyzstan violates the regional demographic balance and the rational distribution of the population across the country. The population is moving actively at the interdistrict and interregional levels. As a result, the main influx of internal migrants moves to Bishkek and Chui Region. The problem of researching the state of the new residential areas in Bishkek is relevant for modern Kyrgyzstan. However, the official statistical base does not cover all citizens living in new buildings, since most residents do not have a residence registration in the area. 75–80 % of the population does not have education and health services. In many residential areas, social facilities, roads, and communications have not been built yet, and the infrastructure as a whole is not developed. Ignoring the issue on the part of the state can lead to a social explosion, expressed by protest actions, exacerbation of social and interregional conflicts among residents of the given area. Based on this, it was necessary to conduct an expert survey among the representatives of the municipal territorial authorities of each district. The main problems of residents of the new residential areas were studied as much as possible.

scholarly journals The ‘community' in community land trusts: the role of community control in pursuing community land trust activism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Le
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Community Control ◽  
Success Factor ◽  
Land Trusts ◽  
Land Trust ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Housing Costs ◽  
Community Land Trust

Housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is increasingly unaffordable due to rising housing costs. Community land trusts (CLTs) have recently emerged as a tool for providing affordable housing in the GTHA. This paper investigated the form that CLTs should take to ensure its long-term success for providing affordable housing. Through an analysis of academic and grey literature, the element of community control was identified as being a critical success factor. This paper explored four CLTs operating in American and European contexts to understand whether and how community control was manifested and the resulting implications it had on the CLT and residents. The findings of the paper confirm the importance of community control in the long-term functioning of CLTs, and that community control can be manifested in various forms. Planners operating in the GTHA must therefore be mindful of ensuring that community control is expressed in CLTs. Keywords: Community land trust; affordable housing; community control; Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

scholarly journals Movable Possessions: alternative housing through adaptable design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Adaptable Design ◽  
Alternative Housing ◽  
The World

Poor communities around the world have developed architecture without architects. Subsidized low-income housing has been built as if to provide only a shortterm solution. Poverty and lack of affordable housing is not a short-term problem but an ongoing issue that demands creative adaptable solutions for a changing world. Adaptable architecture is essential for the redesign of affordable housing that is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable. In order to mend the broken bond between lower-incomes and the architectural quality of space, this design research strives to both defend and produce affordable architectural alternatives to housing through the use of adaptable design principles and strategies found within Barbados’ Vernacular Architecture, the Chattel house.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document