Sponge City Policy and Sustainable City Development: The Case of Shenzhen

The massive construction of buildings has changed the city’s aquatic ecological environment. The aquatic ecological condition of the city has been deteriorated with serious water issues. To coordinate various departments to jointly build the sponge city and improve the water environment, the Shenzhen government formulated the policy note on “Interim Measures for the Construction Management of Shenzhen Sponge City”. This article discusses the impact of the policy note on Shenzhen’s construction of sponge cities. The result shows that the policy is effective from the perspective of the environment. However, in the face of a complex water ecological environment, there are still some deficiencies in the policy. We therefore put forward policy suggestions for the Shenzhen municipal government to better manage its construction of sponge city in the future.

Donald Trump y Jimmy Morales

En el otoño de 2015, un año antes de que Donald Trump se convirtiera en el presidente de Estados Unidos, Jimmy Morales, un cristiano evangélico, ganó las elecciones presidenciales en Guatemala. Este artículo examina el activismo político-religioso, las redes transnacionalmente activas y el impacto de la derecha cristiana entre los dos países. Además, se analiza la influencia del sionismo cristiano dentro de este activismo y estas redes. Tres ejemplos sirven para ilustrar las complejidades en juego. Primero, se analiza el impacto de la “Mexico City Policy” en Guatemala, una directiva estadounidense también llamada por sus críticos “ley Mordaza Global”. El segundo ejemplo aborda la Iniciativa 5272, que busca aprobar la “Ley Para la Protección de la Vida y la Familia”. El tercer ejemplo abarca la decisión de Morales de trasladar la embajada guatemalteca de Tel Aviv a Jerusalén, poco después de que los Estados Unidos lo hiciera. El artículo concluye que con las administraciones Trump y Morales la separación Iglesia-Estado se disuelve y la llamada “guerra cultural” es introducida en el ámbito político y legislativo a través de actores evangélicos en ambos países, un fenómeno que significa graves retrocesos para los derechos humanos, especialmente para las mujeres y las personas LGTBQIA+.

Experiences of Older People and Social Inclusion in Relation to Smart “Age-Friendly” Cities: A Case Study of Chongqing, China

Whilst cities can be sites of creativity, innovation, and change, they can also reproduce the conditions for the exclusion of vulnerable groups. Older people report experiencing specific barriers to accessing the city and are often excluded from the resources for ageing well. The smart city agenda has attempted to bring about technological change whilst also delivering improved quality of life for urban citizens. Smart technologies are a key element of the smart city and are viewed as having the potential to support the independence, autonomy, and well-being of older people. Yet, there has been little research exploring the role of the smart city in supporting the social inclusion of older people, nor any attempt to link this with key policy drivers on ageing e.g., age-friendly cities and communities. In response, the aim of this paper is to explore the experiences of older people living in a smart city in China and discuss how the smart city and age-friendly can be brought together to support positive social outcomes for older people. The paper presents qualitative findings from a multi-methods approach, including semi-structured interviews, walking interviews and focus groups. A total of 64 older people participated in the research across three diverse neighbourhoods in the case study smart city of Chongqing, China. The findings identified opportunities in the development and deployment of smart cities, including the potential for improved health and well-being and social connectedness. Yet in delivering on these benefits, a number of challenges were identified which may widen social inequalities, including inequities in access, issues of safety and security, and exclusion from the co-production of smart city policy and practise. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for future smart city policy and practise, specifically in delivering interventions that support older adults' social inclusion and the delivery of age-friendly cities and communities.

Race, homelessness and inner-city policy in 1980s Britain

This article utilizes an organizational history of the Birmingham-based Handsworth Single Homeless Action Group (HSHAG) to explore black youth homelessness and inner-city policy in 1980s Britain. It draws upon under-used charity archives to intervene in recent debates, considering the part played by the voluntary sector within the Thatcher administrations’ inner-city policies and what targeted funding of this kind reveals about the remaking of the welfare state in these years. First, it introduces HSHAG, setting out the context of inner-city funding programmes, before questioning how sustainable this might have been for voluntary organizations engaged in supporting the homeless population. Secondly, it examines the effects of housing privatization and unemployment on HSHAG's attempts to advise homeless black individuals and assert their rights as citizens to state support. Together, it exposes the role of the voluntary sector in welfare state restructuring and considers how this change made the task of homelessness organizations Herculean.