scholarly journals Deprivations and Inequities in Cities Viewed Through a Pandemic Lens

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benigna Boza-Kiss ◽  
Shonali Pachauri ◽  
Caroline Zimm
Keyword(s):  
Education For All ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
Safety Nets ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Digital Divides ◽  
Slum Dwellers ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Equity In Access

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to life as we knew it in our cities. It has also put a magnifying glass on existing inequalities and poverty. While everyone has been facing the pandemic's risks, the lived challenges of the lockdowns have been felt most acutely by the poor, the vulnerable, those in the informal sector, and without savings and safety nets. Here, we identify three ways that the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures have exacerbated urban inequalities and how subsequent recovery measures and policy responses have tried to redress these. First, lockdowns amplified urban energy poverty, while recovery measures and policies offer an opportunity to address entrenched inequalities in shelter and energy access. Second, preexisting digital divides even within well-connected cities have translated into inequalities in preparedness for living through the lockdown, but digitalization strategies can enhance equity in access to e-services, online work and education for all in the future. Third, slum dwellers in the world's cities have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic and lockdown measures, but the spotlight on them provides further impetus for slum upgradation efforts that through improved access to infrastructure can improve living conditions and provide more secure livelihoods.

The Politics of Urban Renewal

1971 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-280
Author(s):  
P. J. Madgwick
Keyword(s):  
Title I ◽  
Public Housing ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Urban Renewal ◽  
Residential Development ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
High Income ◽  
American Family ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Slum Dwellers

The Housing Act of 1949 established in Title I the goal of ‘a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family’. To achieve this goal the Federal Government was to support, by grants and by its legal powers to acquire land, a massive programme of public housing: ‘…it was the first and, until the Act of 1968, the only public housing measure that authorized action that bore some reasonable relation to need’. Nevertheless, the targets set by the 1949 Act for 1954 have still not been reached. Subsequent legislation shifted the emphasis of the programme from public housing to broader schemes of urban renewal, including non-residential development and middle- and high-income housing. The most serious aspect of this neglect of the needs of the poor has been the inadequate management of relocation for those displaced by renewal. For many slum-dwellers in the 1950s ‘urban renewal’ came to mean ‘Negro removal’.

‘Feels like I'm doing it on my own’: Examining the Synchronicity between Policy Responses and the Circumstances and Experiences of Mortgage Borrowers in Arrears

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Policy Framework ◽  
State Support ◽  
Safety Nets ◽  
Mortgage Debt ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The Uk ◽  
New Evidence

The previous administration introduced several measures to prevent mortgage possessions, some of which were modestly effective. However, these hastily introduced initiatives were insufficient to bridge the gap between a fragmented policy framework and borrowers’ circumstances and experiences of managing mortgage debt. The present restructuring of welfare and regulation represents a unique window to address these long-standing policy omissions in relation to sustainable homeownership in the UK. However, in the context of weakening state support, it is uncertain how or indeed whether, the opportunity to reform mortgage safety nets will be grasped. This article reflects upon the continuing misalignment of policy with borrowers’ circumstances and experiences of mortgage arrears using new evidence from this downturn.

The Politics of the Knowledge Economy and the Rise of Populism

2019 ◽  
pp. 216-255
Author(s):  
Torben Iversen ◽  
David Soskice
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Economy ◽  
Second Order ◽  
Government Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
First Order ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Political Economic

This chapter considers the “second-order” effects of the transition to the knowledge economy. This means the set of preferences, beliefs, and party allegiances that are crystallizing as a consequence of the political-economic realities brought about by the knowledge economy. Chapter 3 considered “first-order” effects—immediate policy responses reflecting existing political coalitions—and showed that these responses were relatively limited and in most countries, failed to offer much compensation for those who lost out in the collapse of the Fordist economy. This chapter argues that this failure has created the political conditions for the rise of populism. Populism refers to a set of preferences and beliefs that rejects established parties and elites, that sees established politicians as gaming the system to their own advantage, and that at the same time sees the poor as undeserving of government support.

A Short History and Thematic Overview

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-24
Author(s):  
Victor V. Ramraj ◽  
Matthew Little
Keyword(s):  
Global Scale ◽  
Complex Environment ◽  
Short History ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Emergency Powers ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Containment Measures ◽  
Sheer Size

This chapter provides a short history and epidemiological overview of the Covid-19 pandemic, from its origin in Wuhan, China, to its spread across Asia and around the world. It identifies the five law and policy themes discussed in this book—first wave containment measures; emergency powers; technology, science, and expertise; politics, religion, and governance; and economy, climate, and sustainability—and concludes with some reflections and questions on Asia’s role in formulating responses to a pandemic in particular, and global crises more generally. Although Covid-19 quickly became a global pandemic, a focus on responses in Asia is both practical and intellectually defensible for three main reasons. First, China was the epicentre of the pandemic, which spread throughout January and February to other parts of the region. Second, Asia’s legal and political diversity provides a complex environment in which to study the challenges of policy responses and inter-governmental coordination, even without shifting to the global scale. Finally, Asia’s sheer size complicates matters even further.

scholarly journals RENEWABLE ENERGY ACCESS CHALLENGE AT HOUSEHOLD LEVEL FOR THE POOR IN RURAL ZIMBABWE: IS BIOGAS ENERGY A REMEDY?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-292
Author(s):  
Tafadzwa Clementine Maramura ◽  
Eugine Tafadzwa Maziriri ◽  
Tinashe Chuchu ◽  
David Mago ◽  
Rumbidzai Mazivisa
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
Household Level ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Biogas Energy

Ghana’s energy access journey so far: a review of key strategies

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dramani Bukari ◽  
Francis Xavier Dery Tuokuu ◽  
Shafic Suleman ◽  
Ishmael Ackah ◽  
Godwin Apenu
Keyword(s):  
International Energy Agency ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽  
Energy Agency ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Content Type ◽  
World Vision ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Rich

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of the programmes being implemented with a view to ascertaining if they adequately address the energy needs of the poor more holistically and sustainably. Design/methodology/approach The content of this desktop review is based on information collected through a review of available energy policy documents from the Ghana Government and related governmental agencies, such as the Energy Commission and Ghana Statistical Services, international energy-related agencies, such as the International Energy Agency (World Vision, 2013), as well as other related web searches. Additionally, global and Sub-Saharan African energy access documents were reviewed by analysing secondary data from the World Bank and UN policy reports, statistical data, strategies, regulations, protocols and other related documents (World Vision, 2013). Furthermore, some policy documents on energy access and usage were explored mainly from Senegal and Ghana to ascertain governments’ policies, regulations and strategies in the implementation of energy access policies. Findings The paper offers all the various strategies being implemented in an attempt to establish a foothold on the problem of affording the poor with clean and affordable energies. The paper also presents the rich experiences of Senegal in its bid to see expanded access in liquefied petroleum gas usage by residential consumers. Originality/value The paper provides some policy and theoretical implications for improving Ghana’s energy access.

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