Rural Revitalisation Process of Nation-Building in Nepal

Government of Nepal has been trying to revitalize rural areas after 1950s as a strategy of nation-building. The demands of ethnic groups are basically inclined with quest for ethnic identity, equality, and greater representation in the political structure. Among the ethnic groups, the largest groups are Janajati, Madhesi and Dalits. In this stance, this library based study tried to look at problems and prospects of balance development as an outcomes of revitalization process of nation-building. At the same time the study also tried to identify essential driver of rural revitalization in Nepali context. The study found that equal distribution of development is difficult in terms of its social, regional and cultural diversity. Poverty, unemployment, landlessness, rapid population is major push factor in Nepal to overcome from this problem. Besides these problems there are some prospects through which rural setting can be revitalized economically, socially, politically such as agriculture. One essential driver of rural revitalization is rurbanomics, an approach that emphasizes the linkages between rural and urban economies. Growing urbanization in most countries enhances the importance of rural areas—by boosting demand for food, diverse diets, and goods and services that the rural economy can meet. Rurbanomics, therefore, frames rural and urban economies as equal partners.Ending hunger and malnutrition to achieve both the Sustainable Development Goals and climate goals requires us to initiate a range of evidence-based actions to advance rural revitalization in all regions of the world. Rural revitalization represents the most realistic way to achieve such a dramatic transformation to ensure that rural people and rural areas can thrive for generations to come.

Creative capital of Siberian cities

The article considers sociological theoretical approaches to the understanding of creative capital as a resource for the development of urban economies. It features methodological approaches to sociological research. The data of comparative analysis of the creative capital of Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk are presented. The comparative analysis was carried out on the materials of real sociological research conducted in 2020 according to a common methodology for determining a quota sample. The study was carried out on the basis of a quota sample of the city population aged 18 and over. The reliability of the data obtained was ± 3,5 %. The authors make a conclusion that there are differences in the nature of creative capital in Krasnoyarsk and Novosibirsk. This fact should condition different strategies for the development of creative industries for these cities.

The Pandemic City: Urban Issues in the Time of COVID-19

Pandemics have shaped the way cities are planned and configured. Throughout history, cities have evolved to solve problems of sanitation, hygiene, and health access while providing space and opportunities for the urban dwellers. COVID-19 will have significant implications in the way cities are planned. This recent crisis highlights a number of issues. This paper looks at the context for the pandemic and then reviews studies and debates in four areas: transformations in the configuration of public spaces, transportation, urban connectivities, and urban economies. This pandemic, like other similar episodes in the past, is forcing us to rethink the nature of urban space and may be an opportunity to plan for safer, more sustainable cities.

Being a Deliveroo Rider: Practices of Platform Labor in Nijmegen and Berlin

On-demand delivery platforms have become a common feature of urban economies across the globe. Noted for their hyper-outsourced, “lean” business models and reliance on independent contractors, these companies evade traditional employer obligations while still controlling workers through complex algorithmic management techniques. Using food delivery platform Deliveroo as a case-study, this paper investigates the diverse array of practices that on-demand workers carry out in order to enact this new platform labor arrangement in different spatial contexts. One of us conducted an auto-ethnographic project, working as a Deliveroo Rider in Nijmegen and Berlin for a period of nine months. Additionally, we interviewed 13 fellow platform workers. The findings reveal the motley, contingent, and conditional ways in which on-demand labor comes together on the ground. The paper concludes with discussing the uneven distribution of these practices across locations and social groups, and the sometimes contradictory impacts they have on the structure of platform labor.

Promoting inclusive urban economies in a world of changing technology and patterns of trade

This paper is a shortened version of a ‘think-piece’ prepared as a contribution to the dialogue at the 2018 Kigali meeting of the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Network. Its purpose is to highlight both challenges and emerging practices in mobilising local governments, and other stakeholders, including those in other spheres of government and the private sector, towards advancing the scale and scope of local economic development outcomes around critical dimensions of inclusion. The paper is not intended to be an exhaustive report covering all the aspects of contemporary local economic development approaches, but rather to offer selective insights that might contribute to deepening relevant policy and implementation processes in an increasingly urban world.

How Informal Transport Systems Drive African Cities

Africa's informal transport sector is likely to continue to drive mass mobility well into the future and remain central to urban economies and the production of new city forms.