Population mobility and sustainable development in the Mamminasata Metropolitan South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Economic growth and urban agglomeration have triggered an increase in the size and mobility of the Metropolitan Mamminasata urban population. This study aims to analyse spatial interactions working as a determinant of connectivity of the transportation system and the growth of suburban areas toward smart and sustainable cities in the Mamminasata Metropolitan urban system and the effects that spatial expansion, spatial integration, urban agglomeration, spatial use, and the transportation system have on population mobility. The research method used is a sequential explanatory design that combines quantitative and qualitative research methods. The results show that the coefficients of determination are as follows: spatial expansion to population mobility – 4.90%, spatial integration to population mobility – 2.99%, spatial interaction to population mobility – 4.87%, urban agglomeration to population mobility – 2.09%, space use to population mobility – 2.64%, and transportation system to population mobility – 5.15%. The results of this study will assist in the formulation of development policies, management of the urban transportation system, and allocation of space utilisation going forward.

Exploring unbalanced urban spatial expansion in sprawling cities. Case study of Kimara Matangini, Kibululu and Dovya settlements in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

Unbalanced urban expansion characterize urban growth in rapidly urbanizing cities in the global south. This pattern of growth has resulted into difficulties in provision of services which leads to challenges of livability within settlements. Services such as education, health, water supply and road network are not easily accessible because of unbalanced growth. Balanced urban growth is concerned with three key themes: place, people and planning. The aim of this study is to help policy makers, local governments, developers and service providers to analyze and visualize different options and scenarios to achieve balanced urban expansion. The overall goal of balanced urban spatial expansion is to achieve livable, sustainable, resilient and affordable cities. This paper adopted both qualitative and quantitative approaches for data collection and subsequent analysis and captured empirical evidence from primary and secondary data sources. The key methods included; literature review, interviews and observations. The research was conducted in three settlements with a sub-ward status namely; Kimara Matangini, Kibululu and Dovya. Finding indicates that the drivers of urban spatial growth are related to economic and social factors, people’s choice and satisfaction of residential areas, modalities in land acquisition, provision or non-provision of services, mobility and proximity to services and at times, planning intervention. Yet the emerging development pattern pose some challenges to residents settling in these areas because of unavailability of longer distances to basic services. This pattern of growth has culminated into unbalanced urban growth. This study recommends that the government in collaboration with key stakeholders should strengthen development control even in unplanned settlements so as to monitor development and potential service requirements, acquire parcels of land for future service provision, strengthen regularization activities to provide for land reserves for infrastructure and conduct a city wide analysis on the unbalance pattern especially in rapidly urbanizing peri-urban areas.

Queerly, Hopelessly, Precariously

This paper reimagines a queer politics of globalization through three contemporary Taiwanese films. Lesbian Factory (2010) and Rainbow Popcorn (2013) were made by labor activists and focused on a landmark labor protest organized by Filipina migrant workers in Taiwan. However, during the filming process, the documentaries inadvertently turn into productions about migration, workers' protests, and new forms of queer intimacy and relationality forged among people who are on the move. Thanatos, Drunk (2015) is a feature film that centers on those who are forced to move, those without mobility, and those who have failed to move even when doing so is necessary for one's survival. Whether queer or straight in the film, everyone is on a downward spiral in life due to the neoliberal restructuring of the global economy. Drawing from queer theories of negativity, affect, and relationality, this paper rethinks queerness in regard to migration by establishing connections between queers' and migrants' negative relation to space and movement. Further, it cautions against the rhetoric of occupation in the Occupy Wall Street movement. It critiques the tendency to valorize mobility, capacity, and the logic of spatial expansion embedded in that of “occupy,” as well as the same logic that underlines contemporary Chinese nationalist and triumphalist thinking dominating large parts of Chinese and Sinophone locations. Ultimately, this paper is a critical intervention from the position of geopolitical and academic marginality. It reimagines the global politics of resistance against neoliberal economic order, the resurgence of nationalism, and imperialist ambition by placing subjects of resistance on the other side of mobility, spatial expansion, hope, and capacity—where new forms of intimacy and relationality also emerge.