scholarly journals Restored Nature, Familiar Culture: Contesting Visions for Preferred Environments in Australian Cities

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 231-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Trigger ◽  
Lesley Head
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Introduced Species ◽  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Ecological Sustainability ◽  
Cultural Preferences ◽  
Ethnographic Observation ◽  
Settler Society ◽  
The City ◽  
Urban Ecological Restoration

How are preferences for “native” and “introduced” species of plants and animals given expression in Australian cities? Given the nation's predominantly European cultural heritage, how do urban Australians articulate multiple desires for living environments encountered in everyday life? In examining the cases of inner city parks, backyards, and more general views about flora and fauna appropriate for the city, the paper considers a range of deeply enculturated attachments to familiar landscapes. While residents have considerable interest in the possibilities of urban ecological restoration, our interviews, ethnographic observation, and textual analysis also reveal cultural preferences for introduced species and emplaced attachments to historically modified landscapes. These preferences and attachments are linked to senses of identity developed during formative life experiences. In the relatively young post-settler society of Australia, such drivers of environmental desires can sit uneasily alongside science-driven propositions about what is good for biodiversity and ecological sustainability.

scholarly journals Scenario Analyses of Exhaust Emissions Reduction through the Introduction of Electric Vehicles into the City

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 2030
Author(s):  
Marianna Jacyna ◽  
Renata Żochowska ◽  
Aleksander Sobota ◽  
Mariusz Wasiak
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Exhaust Emissions ◽  
Scenario Analyses ◽  
High Emission ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

In recent years, policymakers of urban agglomerations in various regions of the world have been striving to reduce environmental pollution from harmful exhaust and noise emissions. Restrictions on conventional vehicles entering the inner city are being introduced and the introduction of low-emission measures, including electric ones, is being promoted. This paper presents a method for scenario analysis applied to study the reduction of exhaust emissions by introducing electric vehicles in a selected city. The original scenario analyses relating to real problems faced by contemporary metropolitan areas are based on the VISUM tool (PTV Headquarters for Europe: PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany). For the case study, the transport model of the city of Bielsko-Biala (Poland) was used to conduct experiments with different forms of participation of electric vehicles on the one hand and traffic restrictions for high emission vehicles on the other hand. Scenario analyses were conducted for various constraint options including inbound, outbound, and through traffic. Travel time for specific transport relations and the volume of harmful emissions were used as criteria for evaluating scenarios of limited accessibility to city zones for selected types of vehicles. The comparative analyses carried out showed that the introduction of electric vehicles in the inner city resulted in a significant reduction in the emission of harmful exhaust compounds and, consequently, in an increase in the area of clean air in the city. The case study and its results provide some valuable insights and may guide decision-makers in their actions to introduce both driving ban restrictions for high-emission vehicles and incentives for the use of electric vehicles for city residents.

scholarly journals Urban Ecological Restoration

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul H. Gobster
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Indigenous Species ◽  
Reference Sites ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Fixed Set ◽  
Natural Diversity ◽  
Urban Ecological Restoration

What does ecological restoration mean in an urban context? More than half of the world’s population now lives in cities, and in response to the dynamic patterns of urbanization, a growing number of ecologists, land managers, and volunteers are focusing their efforts in and around cities to restore remnants of natural diversity (Ingram 2008). Ecological restoration is still a quite youthful field, yet many scientists and practitioners hold a relatively fixed set of criteria for what defines a successful restoration project, irrespective of where sites are located. Among the criteria commonly stated, sites should be composed of indigenous species, have a structure and diversity characteristic of currently undisturbed or historically documented “reference” sites, and be maintained through ecological processes such as fire that ensure long-term sustainability with minimal human assistance (Ruiz-Jaén and Aide 2005; SER International 2004). Application of these criteria has led to many ecologically successful restorations, but some ecologists in the field have begun to question whether the same standards can be realistically applied to sites such as those within urban areas that have been radically altered by past human activity (e.g., Martínez and López-Barerra 2008) or are being influenced by novel conditions that result in unpredictable trajectories (Choi 2007). Perhaps more significantly, it is becoming increasingly recognized that the broader viability of restoration projects, especially those in urban areas, hinges on how socially successful they are in gaining public acceptance for restoration activities and practices, building constituencies to assist with implementation and maintenance, and addressing a broader set of sustainability goals that reach beyond the protection of native biodiversity (e.g., Choi et al. 2008; Hobbs 2007; Rosenzweig 2003).

scholarly journals The Political Stakes of Academic Research: Perspectives on Johannesburg

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivor Chipkin
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Shift Analysis ◽  
Demographic Shifts ◽  
The City ◽  
Political Question

Abstract:This article considers a burgeoning literature on Johannesburg from the perspective of the sorts of questions it asks about the city. There is a substantial and lively literature on questions of poverty and equality, class and race. These studies are strongly informed by the idea that the mechanisms that produce such inequalities are key to understanding the nature of Johannesburg as a city: in terms of how its economy works and how political institutions function, but also in terms of what sort of city Johannesburg is and can be. I consider sociological and economic studies of the inner city that try to account for demographic shifts in the inner city and for processes of social and physical degeneration. I review urban anthropologies of inner-city society, considering in particular new forms of social and economic organization among inner-city residents. Related to these, I discuss debates among scholars about the prospects for governing the city, paying special attention to the consequences for such readings on partnerships. I also discuss an emerging literature, critical of that above, which seeks to shift analysis of the city toward studies of culture and identity. These literatures do not simply approach the city through different disciplinary lenses (sociology or economy or anthropology or cultural studies) . They come to their studies from different normative perspectives. For some, the key political question of the day is one about social and political equality in its various forms. For others, it is about the degree to which Johannesburg (or Africa) is different from or the same as other places in the world. This paper has tried to bring to the fore the political (and not simply policy) consequences of these different views. It concludes not by seeking to reconcile these perspectives, but by suggesting a way of retaining a commitment to equality and justice while not reducing them simply to questions of economy. At stake, I argue, are questions of democratic culture and of sociability.

Tussen buurt en stadsregio : Anderhalf jaar stedelijk beleid in Vlaanderen

Res Publica ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Leo Peeters
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
Central Cities ◽  
Regional Context ◽  
Welfare Policies ◽  
Brick And Mortar ◽  
Urban Problems ◽  
New Policies ◽  
The City

Since several elections since 1991 were won by an extreme right political party, especially in the Flanders and in the city of Antwerp, polities has responded with an increase in attention for environmental and social policies. In a first reaction - and after a longstand period of budget cuts - more money was invested in the building ofsocial housing. Later this policy was broadened to a more comprehensive policy for the cities, trying to integrate the brick-and-mortar approaches with welfare policies. In this contribution three things are put into perspective. The first deals with the rise of the urban problems. A second part deals with the new policies who are implemented today. These are territorially targeted at poor neighbourhoods. In a final part these policies are situated in a regional context since the liveability of the central cities can not be seen without its regional context, since very often the more wealthy people are living outside the administrative boundaries while the vulnerable social groups are living in the older inner city neighbourhoods.

Wastewater-fed aquaculture systems in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam: status and trends.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pham Viet Huy Huynh
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Inner City ◽  
Seed Production ◽  
Ho Chi Minh City ◽  
Nutrient Source ◽  
Water Spinach ◽  
Status And Trends ◽  
Rice Fish ◽  
The City

Abstract There are currently eight types of wastewater-fed aquaculture (WFA) systems in Ho Chi Minh City: seed production, fish-livestock, fish-water mimosa, fish-lotus, rice-fish, fish-only, water spinach, and fish-water spinach. Some utilize wastewater efficiently as a nutrient source, while some others have to control carefully the intake of wastewater. WFA has attracted farmers on their own initiative. Although it provides a living for a significant number of urban farmers and plays important roles in farmers' livelihoods, it is now under threat from the process of economic development of the city. The impacts of urbanization on former WFA sites in inner city zone of district 6 and district 8 where it is disappearing rapidly indicate what is likely to happen to current WFA sites in the city. Urbanization has also created livelihood uncertainties for farmers. The attraction of high prices of land and the impacts of urbanization projects are the main constraints, resulting in the decline in WFA areas. Pollution from uncontrolled and dispersed industrialization is another threat for WFA.

Narrating The City: spaces Of Urban Change, South London

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Suzanne M. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
The Other ◽  
Urban Change ◽  
Spatial Transformation ◽  
Class Culture ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The City ◽  
North And South ◽  
Official Data ◽  
Over Time

This paper explores the documentation of social and spatial transformation in the Walworth area, South London. Spatial narratives are the entry point for my exploration, where official and ‘unofficial’ representations of history are aligned to capture the nature of urban change. Looking at the city from street level provides a worldly view of social encounter and spaces that are expressive of how citizens experience and shape the city. A more distanced view of the city accessed from official data reveals different constructs. In overlaying near and far views and data and experience, correlations and contestations emerge. As a method of research, the narrative is the potential palimpsest, incorporating fragments of the immediate and historic without representing a comprehensive whole. In this paper Walworth is documented as a local and Inner City context where remnants and insertions are juxtaposed, where white working class culture and diverse ethnicities experience difference and change. A primary aim is to consider the diverse experiences of groups and individuals over time, through their relationship with their street, neighbourhood and city. In relating the Walworth area to London I use three spatial narratives to articulate the contemporary and historic relationship of people to place: the other side examines the physical discrimination between north and south London, the other half looks at distinctions of class and race and other histories explores the histories displaced from official accounts.

scholarly journals The Art of Re-Industrialisation in Shanghai

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Gu
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Industrial Area ◽  
Industrial Restructuring ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Global Finance ◽  
Business Services ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

This paper deals with the development of ’art clusters’ and their relocation in the city of Shanghai. It first looks at the revival of the city’s old inner city industrial area (along banks of Suzhou River) through ’organic’ or ’alternative’ artist-led cultural production; second, it describes the impact on these activities of the industrial restructuring of the wider city, reliant on large-scale real estate development, business services and global finance; and finally, outlines the relocation of these arts (and related) cultural industries to dispersed CBD locations as a result of those spatial, industrial and policy changes.

scholarly journals Learning Communities in the City: Social Constructivism, Spaces and Connections in the New Urban Primary School

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Silverwood
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Primary School ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Educational Theory ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
School Design ◽  
Living Room ◽  
School Building ◽  
Demographic Shift ◽  
The City

<p>The main intention of the research is to develop a model for an inner city primary school building which is responsive to the urban context and reflects the educational theory of Social Constructivism. The underlying demand for an inner city primary school was identified as a result of a recent demographic shift which involves more families living in the centres of New Zealand’s cities. Schools are an important part of a city’s infrastructure, where quality schools can help to develop quality cities. There should be a close fit between current educational theory and contemporary school design. Social Constructivism views learning as the construction of knowledge through social interaction with peers, adults and the environment. The design case study proposes a vertical school that is capable of supporting strong links with the community through developing a ‘public living room’ alongside retail outlets. While the vertical nature of the school limits some contact it is possible to develop a ‘learning street’ and other meeting places within the school. The plan also provides flexible classroom spaces and workrooms to meet curriculum objectives. A variety of indoor and outdoor spaces can be provided but it is proposed that the children also access the city’s public open spaces and amenities. The city can be viewed as an extended classroom, as suggested in Strickland’s ‘City of Learning’ model. The site for the proposed school was selected to ensure easy access to amenities and resources. Overall the research suggests an inner-city primary school building is possible and even desirable for those living and working in the city.</p>

scholarly journals Housing for Aboriginal Youth in the Inner City of Winnipeg

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason Brown ◽  
Dilly Knol ◽  
Sonia Prevost-Derbecker ◽  
Kelly Andrushko
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Neglect ◽  
Homeless Youth ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Low Cost Housing ◽  
The City

Aboriginal families are highly overrepresented in child welfare caseloads. Major reasons for these high rates of involvement include poverty and housing issues, which contribute to perceptions of child neglect. In Winnipeg, the city with the highest proportion of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, low-cost housing is concentrated in core neighbourhoods. Homeless youth in these neighbourhoods, who are involved or have been involved in child welfare, were asked about their life experiences and the kind of housing that would help them. They talked about the need to be seen as resourceful, contributing members of the community, as well as their continued need of support from others, including friends and family. They wanted more than a place to sleep; they wanted a home that was safe, nurturing and long-term. The youth had school and work aspirations for themselves and wanted to help other youth reach their goals. There is a need for expansion of community-based and community-driven housing with youth who have been involved in the child welfare system.

scholarly journals Urban Ecological Restoration

2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ingram
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Restoration ◽  
Urban Ecological Restoration
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document