biblio IIED

sélection d’articles de la revue "Environment et Urbanisation" de l’ International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)



2004


Anatomy of the Bombay NGO sector

Author(s) : Vandana Desai
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 1 Page : 247 — 265

Abstract : This paper presents the findings of research on the activities, target groups, funding base and linkages of a sample of 67 grassroots NGOs working with the urban poor and on the extent to which their work is subject to internal or external evaluation. The paper demonstrates the diversity of NGO characteristics within one particular Indian city, Bombay. The paper highlights certain concerns for the future role of the non-governmental sector, especially in the context of the changing role of the state. As NGOs move in to fill the gap left by the public sector, encouraging rapid growth of expectations, complicating objectives and necessitating trade-offs between the competing demands made on them by other actors, they may be ill-equipped to respond effectively to an expanding role in the urban centre.

Anatomie du secteur ONG à Bombay par
Vandana Desai qui décrit les activités, les
groupes cibles, la base de fonds et les liens
de 67 ONGs travaillant avec les pauvres
urbains et examine jusqu’à quel point leur
travail est soumis à une évaluation interne
ou extérieure. L’article discute aussi du rôle
futur du secteur non-gouvernemental dans
le contexte du rôle changeant de l ’Etat.


Beyond tools and methods : reviewing developments in participatory learning and action
Author(s) : Jo Abbot
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 1 Page : 231 — 234

Abstract : This paper reviews recent innovations in the use of participatory tools and methods that are relevant to urban areas. This includes the use of participatory approaches for understanding poverty, involving children, identifying livelihood opportunities, and monitoring and evaluating projects. It also highlights recent literature which discusses how participatory and conventional research and planning methodologies can be combined, and how institutional and policy contexts can be changed in order to be more supportive of participatory learning and action.

Au delà des outils et des méthodes:bilan
des développements dans l’action et
l’étude de participation par Jo Abbot exami
ne les innovations récentes dans
l ’utilisation des outil s et méthodes de participation qui ont rapport aux régions
urbaines. Ceci inclut l ’utilisation
d’approches de participation pour comprendre
la pauvreté, pour engager les enfants, pour
identifier des perspectives de moyens
d’existence et pour le contrôle et l ’évaluation
de projets.


Cities, sewers and poverty : India’s politics of sanitation
Author(s) : Susan E. Chaplin
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 1 Page : 145 — 158

Abstract : This paper discusses the political circumstances which help explain why the insanitary living conditions of such a large section of India’s urban population have been ignored, and contrasts these with the circumstances which explain successful sanitary reform in Britain in the second half of the 19th century. In India, there is little middle class pressure for sanitary reform, in part because of the ability of the middle classes to monopolize what basic urban services the state provides, in part because modern medicine and civil engineering have lowered the health risks that they might face from the sanitation-related diseases that lower income groups suffer. In addition, the ’threat from below’ including organized trade union pressure was more influential in mid 19th century Britain than in India today. The paper ends by reflecting on what factors might change this.
Reference Links : 5 (View Links)


Micro-finance of housing : a key to housing the low or moderate-income majority ?
Author(s) : Bruce Ferguson
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 1 Page : 185 — 199

Abstract : This paper considers why most households in Latin America and the Caribbean remain unserved by traditional housing finance systems and how micro-finance potentially offers a key to help the low/moderate-income majority meet their shelter needs. The characteristics of micro-finance include small loan size for incremental upgrading of an existing dwelling or a new core unit, short repayment period, small or no subsidy, creative underwriting adapted to the conditions and prospects faced by low/moderate-income, technical assistance in documentation and building, and - sometimes - alternate forms of title as collateral. The article presents the work of the Bolivian NGO PROA as a successful case of micro-finance and draws lessons about the possible expansion of micro-finance in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Le micro-financement du logement:une
clé pour loger la majorité
économiquement faible ou à revenus
moyens ?par Bruce Ferguson examine
pourquoi la plupart des ménages en Amérique Latine et des Caraïbes n’ont toujours pas accès aux systèmes de financement
traditionnels et comment le micro -financement pourrait offrir la clé pour aider
la majorité économiquement faible à
revenus moyens à satisfaire leurs besoins
d’abri. L’article discute des caractéristiques
du micro-financement qui conviendrait aux
ménages économiquement faibles puis
décrit le programme de financement du
logement de l ’ONG bolivienne PROA et tire
des leçons sur la possibilité d’agrandir l e
micro-financement en Afrique, en Asie et en
Amérique Latine.


Sustainability is not enough
Author(s) : Peter Marcuse
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 10 Number : 2 Page : 103 — 111

Abstract : This paper critically reviews the concept of sustainability, especially as it has come to be applied outside of environmental goals. It suggests "sustainability" should not be considered as a goal for a housing or urban programme - many bad programmes are sustainable - but as a constraint whose absence may limit the usefulness of a good programme. It also discusses how the promotion of "sustainability" may simply encourage the sustaining of the unjust status quo and how the attempt to suggest that everyone has common interests in "sustainable urban development" masks very real conflicts of interest. "To think that their present circumstances and their present societal arrangements might be sustained - that is an unsustainable thought for the majority of the world’s people."
Reference Links : 2 (View Links)

La durabilité ne suffit pas examine le concept
de durabilité, surtout son application en
dehors de buts écologiques. L’article suggère
que l a “durabilité”ne devrai t pas être
considérée comme but d’un programme
urbain ou de logement -car beaucoup de
mauvais programmes sont durables -mais
plutôt comme une contrainte dont l’absence
pourrait limiter l’utilité d’un bon programme.
L’article discute aussi du fait que promouvoir
la durabilité pourrait simplement encourager
le maintien d’un statu quo injuste et que
suggérer que tout le monde a un intérêt
général à un “développement urbain durable”
cache de véritables conflits d’intérêts.


One David and three Goliaths : avoiding anti-poor solutions to Mumbai’s transport problems
Author(s) : Sheela Patel ; Kalpana Sharma
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 10 Number : 2 Page : 149 — 159

Abstract : The paper describes how community organizations representing the inhabitants of "slum" communities living along Mumbai’s railway tracks and supportive Indian NGOs demonstrated effective and pro-poor solutions to the need to move people to increase the speed of Mumbai’s overloaded commuter rail system. In so doing, it discusses the slow and often difficult negotiations they had in seeking such solutions with the three Goliaths - the state government, the railways board and the World Bank.
Reference Links : 1 (View Links)

Un David et trois Goliaths :éviter des solutions
anti-pauvres aux problèmes de
transport à Mumbai décrit comment des
organisations communautaires représentant
les habitants des quartiers pauvres vivant le
long des voies ferrées de Mumbai (et les ONG
indiennes qui les appuient ) ont démontré des
solutions efficaces et pro-pauvres au besoin
de déplacer les habitants grâce à une augmentation
de la vitesse des trains. L’article
discute les négociations longues et souvent
difficiles pour arriver à ces solutions avec les
trois Goliaths -le gouvernement de l’Etat, le
conseil d’administration des voies ferrées et
la Banque Mondiale.


User initiated extension activity in Bangladesh : "building slums" or area improvement ?
Author(s) : A. Graham Tipple ; Md. Shahidul Ameen
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 1 Page : 165 — 183

Abstract : This paper presents the findings of research into the house extensions or alterations undertaken by the occupants of a government ’core-housing’ estate in Dhaka. It shows that these extensions or alterations did not ’help to create slums’, even though government officials often assume they will do so - and have policies which are meant to stop such changes. In fact, these changes brought more rooms as well as more room per person, increased house size and improved service levels and physical conditions. They also increased the value of the housing and helped contribute to an increased supply of cheap and relatively good quality rental accommodation. The paper ends with some recommendations on the need for changes in official attitudes and more ’enabling’ government regulations on such house extensions.
Reference Links : 3 (View Links)

Activités d’agrandissements mises en
action par les usagers au Bangladesh :“la
construction de bidonvilles”ou une
amélioration de la région ?par A .Graham
Tipple et Md.Shahidul Ameen décrit les
agrandissements ou la transformation des
maisons entrepris par les occupants d’un
lotissement de “logement commun” officiel
à Dhaka. L’article explique comment ce processus
n’a pas “aidé à créer des bidonvilles”
mais plutôt a fourni plus de pièces, plus
d’espace par personne, a augmenté les dimensions des maisons et a amélioré l e
niveau des services et les conditions physiques.
L’article finit avec des recommandations sur le besoin de changer les attitudes
officielles et d’avoir plus de règlements “habilitant ”officiels en ce qui concerne ces
agrandissements.


Sustainable cities revisited
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 10 Number : 2 Page : 3 — 8

Links : 3 (View Links)


A shelter of their own : informal settlement expansion in Greater Cairo and government responses
Author(s) : Manal El-Batran ; Christian Arandel
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 10 Number : 1 Page : 217 — 232

Abstract : This paper describes why there has been a rapid growth of informal settlements in Cairo when there was an oversupply of formal housing, and why most new informal settlements develop on scarce agricultural land while large stretches of desert nearby remain mostly undeveloped. The paper also reviews the changes in the Egyptian government’s housing and land policies over the last 40 years, including attempts to upgrade informal settlement and to combine upgrading with the development of settlements for middle-income households.
Reference Links : 1 (View Links)

Un abri à eux:l’expansion des quartiers
d’habitation officieux dans le grand Caire
et les réactions du gouvernement décrit
pourquoi il y a eu une croissance rapide des
quartiers d’habitation officieux au Caire et
pourquoi la plupart des nouveaux d’entre eux
se développent sur des terres agricoles peu
abondant es pendant que de grande s
étendues proches de désert demeurent pour
la plupart non-exploitées. L’article examine
aussi les changements qui ont pris place dans
la politique du logement et des terres du
gouvernement égyptien dans les 40 dernières
années, y compris leur tentatives
d’amélioration des quartiers d’habitation
officieux et leur tentatives de joindre cette
amélioration au développement de quartiers
d’habitation pour les ménages à revenus
moyen.


Reducing urban poverty ; some lessons from experience
Author(s) : Jorge Anzorena ; Joel Bolnick ; Somsook Boonyabancha ; Yves Cabannes ; Ana Hardoy ; Arif Hasan ; Caren Levy ; Diana Mitlin ; Denis Murphy ; Sheela Patel ; Marisol Saborido ; David Satterthwaite ; Alfredo Stein
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 10 Number : 1 Page : 167 — 186

Abstract : Many donor agencies are recognizing the need to address the growing levels of urban poverty in Africa, Latin America and much of Asia. Many also acknowledge that they had under-estimated the scale of urban poverty. As they develop or expand programmes on poverty reduction in urban areas, there are many remarkable initiatives on whose experience they can draw.
This paper reflects on the lessons from seven of these : three from Asia, three from Latin America and one from Africa. All these initiatives combined direct action by low-income groups themselves, working with local NGOs, with some support negotiated from one or more external agency in order to improve housing and living conditions, basic services and livelihoods. Each initiative sought to make limited funding go as far as possible- and most achieved partial or total cost recovery for some (or all) of their interventions. All used credit to allow low-income groups to spread the cost of capital investment over a number of years.
These initiatives also changed the relationship between poor urban groups and local authorities, bringing about major benefits. However, official donors may find it difficult to fund initiatives such as these, especially through conventional project-cycle oriented funding for capital projects that is channelled through recipient governments. They may also find it difficult to fund initiatives that aim to change the policies and practices of local (or national) governments ; also to support initiatives that are multisectoral, relatively cheap and require long-term support because they are long-term processes rather than discrete projects. Initiatives that generate cost recovery may also present them with difficulties. Most official donors will need to develop new channels to support such initiatives - for instance through support for intermediary funds for community projects located within these cities.

Réduire la pauvreté urbaine ;quelques
leçons d’expérience discute de la façon dont
beaucoup de bailleurs de fonds reconnaissent
l e besoin de s’adresser aux niveaux
croissants de la pauvreté urbaine en Afrique,
en Amérique Latine et en Asie. Dans le
développement ou l’élargissement de leurs
programmes pour réduire la pauvreté dans
l es régi o ns urbaines, il y a beaucoup
d’initiatives remarquables sur lesquels ils
peuvent tirer. Cet article réfléchit sur les
expériences de sept d’entre elles:trois venant
de l’Asie, trois de l’Amérique Latine et une
de l’Afrique, soutirant les traits communs de
ces initiatives.


From tenants to owners : experiences with a revolving fund for social housing
Author(s) : Pattie Richmond
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 9 Number : 2 Page : 119 — 139

Abstract : This paper begins by describing the situation of tenants at national and municipal level within Bolivia, drawing on the limited data and information available and highlighting relevant legislation and policy. The paper then describes the circumstances leading to the setting up and implementation of FROVIS (an NGO revolving fund for low-cost housing) and examines its achievements and the difficulties encountered. Finally, the paper discusses how private tenants might be better included within the policies and activities of both the state and the nongovernment sector.


Improving the quality of life in low-income neighbourhoods occupied by tenants
Author(s) : Silvia de los Ríos Bernardini
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 9 Number : 2 Page : 81 — 99

Abstract : This paper begins by describing conditions for tenants renting accommodation in the centre of Lima. The paper then focuses on the activities of one NGO, CIDAP, which has been working with tenants to ensure equitable development within urban renewal and has been promoting alternative and participatory planning to secure decent housing for all.


Tenants : addressing needs, increasing options
Author(s) : Diana Mitlin
Source : Environment and Urbanization,Volume : 9 Number : 2 Page : 3 — 15

Abstract : In virtually all cities in the South, a significant proportion of low-income individuals or households rent their accommodation. In many cities, especially those of Africa and Asia, more than half the population are tenants and this proportion may be even higher for low-income groups. This issue of Environment and Urbanization includes papers on the programmes and strategies of NGOs and governments working with low-income tenants.
Reference Links : 4 (View Links)


The struggle for shelter (and livelihoods)
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 9 Number : 1 Page : 3 — 8

Reference Links : 17 (View Links)


● Title : A decision support system for architects based on participatory tools for community design _ Author(s) : Shubhagato Dasgupta
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 8 Number : 2 Page : 201 — 212

Abstract : Many participatory tools and methods have focused on rural development but few have considered aspects of settlement in rural areas. This paper explores a number of such tools designed for Indian professionals working in the field of housing. The author first discusses a number of elements related to the effective participation of local residents and then describes the tools themselves.

Un système de soutien pour les décisions
d’architectes basé sur les outils de participation
pour une conception communautaire discute du
fait que beaucoup de méthodes et d’outils de participation
se sont concentrés sur le développement
rural mais peu sur les quartiers d’habitation dans
les régions rurales. Cet article explore certains de
ces outils à l’intention des professionnels indiens qui
travaillent sur le logement. L’auteur
discute de questions concernant la participation
efficace des résidents du quartier puis décrit les
outils.


Habitat II : some reflections
Author(s) : Patrick Hunsley Magebhula ; R. Padmini ; Micky Hordijk ; John F.C. Turner ; Gaston Urquiza
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 8 Number : 2 Page : 195 — 200


Partners in development - the urban poor of Ahmedabad
Author(s) : VIKAS
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 8 Number : 1 Page : 223 — 233

Abstract : This paper describes a series of participatory research and training workshops that enabled the p oor in Ahmedabad to identify their problems and priorities and develop their capacity to address them and to work with other groups in so-doing. Each "workshop" consisted of a six-month process of research, training and discussion, and information dissemination. As the paper describes, VIKAS began as the organizer but increasingly became the facilitator as representatives from lowincome groups became more active in organizing and managing the workshops.


Legitimizing informal housing : accommodating low-income groups in Alexandria, Egypt
Author(s) : Ahmed M Soliman
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 8 Number : 1 Page : 183 — 194

Abstract : This paper describes the different residential areas within the city of Alexandria and how those with low incomes have to compromise on the size and quality of housing and on the possibility of secure tenure and of improved basic services if they need to be in a relatively central location. It also shows how "semi-formal" housing developments account for much of the increase in the housing stock and the explicit and implicit role of the state in their development and commercialization.
Reference Links : 7 (View Links)


Participatory methodologies for rapid urban environmental diagnoses
Author(s) : Sergio A. Mazzucchelli
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 2 Page : 219 — 226

Abstract : There is an increasing interest in participatory environmental assessment and this paper describes such an exercise in two cities in Argentina, San Fernando and San Nicolas. The author discusses the process and outcome of these initiatives.


Urban poverty - from understanding to action
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 2 Page : 3 — 10


Orangi Pilot Project
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 2 Page : 227 — 236

Abstract : The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) has become one of the best known NGO projects in the provision of sanitation. In the 16 years since its inception, the Project has directly and indirectly assisted about one million people in Orangi (Karachi) to improved sanitation. Their intervention has been developed through research into household resources and aspirations in Orangi. From the beginning, OPP staff have sought to minimise external support in order to assist households to achieve their objectives for local development. From their first activities, their work has been extended in two directions. The Project has started to work with the people of Orangi and the surrounding area in the provision of a number of additional services including housing, health, credit for entrepreneurs, education and rural development. More recently, staff have been assisting both government and non-government agencies to initiate a number of new projects in other cities in Pakistan drawing on the experience of the Orangi Pilot Project.


Conceptualizing urban poverty
Author(s) : Ellen Wratten
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 11 — 33

Abstract : This paper explores three issues. First it examines how, and by whom, poverty has been defined and measured, contrasting conventional economic and participatory anthropological approaches. Second, it questions the extent to which "urban poverty" differs conceptually from poverty in general, and considers the utility of an analysis of the urban-rural divide in understanding the underlying causes of poverty. Finally, it reviews the principal ways in which urban poverty has been understood in the South and the North, and what these imply for the different policy prescriptions for addressing urban poverty. It concludes by identifying the linkages between alternative definitions of poverty, different antipoverty policy approaches and the choice of measurement techniques. Reference Links : 11 (View Links)


Aspects of urban poverty in Bombay
Author(s) : Madhura Swaminathan
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 133 — 143

Abstract : The paper considers poverty and deprivation among two groups of low-income communities in Bombay : pavement dwellers and households living in a designated "slum" area. The author uses longitudinal data to examine relations between changes in income and changes in living conditions and concludes that poverty can be neither understood nor tackled through a simple focus on income but a more comprehensive approach including a consideration of housing and living conditions is required.


● Title : Making sense of urban poverty
Author(s) : Philip Amis
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 145 — 157

Abstract : This paper synthesizes recent work on urban poverty with an emphasis being placed on the relationship between urban poverty and the labour market. The themes considered include the distinction between permanent and temporary poverty and between trends and shocks. A number of distinctive features of urban poverty are discussed including the informal labour market, female headed households, the individualized nature of urban poverty and the greater exposure of urban residents to environmental risks. A final section considers policy implications, differentiating between promotive and protective strategies.
Reference Links : 2 (View Links)


Urban social policy and poverty reduction
Author(s) : Caroline O.N. Moser
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 159 — 171

Abstract : The paper describes the differences in the ways that social and economic policy perceive poverty and its underlying causes, and thus differences in how they define it, measure it and institute mechanisms to reduce it. It also highlights the many dimensions of poverty that economic policy ignores and considers the constraints that limit the effectiveness of current poverty reduction strategies.


Poverty and livelihoods : whose reality counts ?
Author(s) : Robert Chambers
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 173 — 204

Abstract : This paper explores how professionals’ universal, reductionist and standardized views of poverty differ from those of the poor themselves. Poverty line thinking concerned with income-poverty and employment thinking concerned with jobs, project Northern concerns on the South, where the realities of the poor are local, diverse, often complex and dynamic. Examples illustrate how poor people’s criteria differ from those assumed for them by professionals. The paper also discusses neglected dimensions of deprivation including vulnerability, seasonality, powerlessness and humiliation. In the new understandings of poverty, wealth as an objective is replaced by wellbeing and "employment" in jobs by livelihood. The final sections argue for altruism and reversals to enable poor people to analyze and articulate their own needs, and they conclude with the implications for policy and practice of putting first the priorities of the poor.
Reference Links : 11 (View Links)


Participatory approaches in urban areas : strengthening civil society or reinforcing the status quo ?
Author(s) : Diana Mitlin ; John Thompson
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 231 — 250

Abstract : The paper examines current experiences with the use of participatory methodologies in low-income urban communities. It outlines the nature and development of participatory approaches and describes experiences, prospects and problems related to their use in an urban context. Three case examples from the UK, Sri Lanka, and India and South Africa demonstrate how innovative approaches are being used by different agencies to strengthen and support the activities of community based organizations. Finally, the paper concludes with a number of broad questions about the future application of participatory approaches in low-income urban communities.
Reference Links : 6 (View Links)


The under-estimation and misrepresentation of urban poverty
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 1 Page : 3 — 10

Reference Links : 1 (View Links)


Urban poverty - from understanding to action
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 2 Page : 3 — 10

Reference Links : 27 (View Links)


Options for municipal interventions in urban poverty alleviation
Author(s) : Emiel A. Wegelin ; Karin M. Borgman
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 7 Number : 2 Page : 131 — 151

Abstract : This paper reviews the wide range of options available to municipalities in the South to alleviate or reduce poverty. This includes options for employment creation and improving low income groups’ access to justice and protection from crime as well as improvements to urban services such as water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, public transport, health care and education. The paper also outlines how municipal action must encourage and support the activities of community based organizations, NGOs and the private sector in contributing to such improvements and describes how changes in the regulatory framework for land management, urban agriculture and housing can also contribute to poverty alleviation.


Waste management in Madras revisited
Author(s) : P.B. Anand
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 2 Page : 161 - 176

Abstract : This paper examines how households in Madras (official name - Chennai) view garbage problems, what their preferences are for improved services and the extent to which they would pay for them. It includes a comparison between areas served and not served by Civic Exnora units where neighbourhoods organize their own primary collection ; such units now provide services for close to half a million people. The findings are drawn from focus group discussions, household interviews from across a range of income levels and spatial locations (within Madras City, within the nine towns around the city and other settlements within the metropolitan area) and in-depth interviews with those who manage the Civic Exnora units. The findings highlight how people are willing to cooperate and pay substantial sums for waste collection - but not for other waste management costs (such as transport and final disposal). They also show how the financial viability of neighbourhood collection schemes such as the Civic Exnora units depends on having transfer stations close by, to which the collected wastes can be taken.
Reference Links : 1 (View Links)


Partnerships for urban environmental management : the roles of urban authorities, researchers and civil society
Author(s) : Corinne Wacker ; Alain Viaro ; Markus Wolf
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 11 Number : 2 Page : 113 — 125

Abstract : This paper discusses the different roles of researchers, urban authorities and civil society groups in developing partnerships that address both environmental management and development. It draws on discussions at a workshop which brought together teams from six countries involved in research on this theme. It begins by describing the Local Agenda 21 and stakeholder partnerships developed in Jinja, Uganda and then discusses the experiences of the different teams in developing partnerships. The paper highlights how much the local context and broader political settings influence the set of roles the research teams take on, and ends with recommendations directed at urban authorities, researchers and civil society leaders.


Indicators for urban environmental services in Lucknow - process and methods
Author(s) : Aromar Revi ; Manish Dube
Source : Environment and Urbanization,Volume : 11 Number : 2 Page : 227 — 245

Abstract : This paper describes how community indicators were used in Lucknow to support a dialogue between representatives from communities lacking basic services and service providers. This led to agreement on the indicators needed to benchmark existing environmental conditions, monitor and evaluate the quality of urban services and set priorities for environmental improvements. The paper describes how four neighbourhoods were chosen to develop an initial indicator set, how the local organizations were approached and the scope of the primary research - including community meetings and interviews with households and with officials from service providers. It then describes how this draft indicator set was presented at a workshop that brought together service providers and community representatives and how they agreed on an indicator set. The paper ends with an analysis of what the collection of data for this indicator set showed and a discussion of lessons for future work in this area.


Towards more pro-poor local governments in urban areas
Source : Environment and Urbanization,Volume : 12 Number : 1 Page : 3 — 11

Reference Links : 10 (View Links)


Partnerships in urban development : a review of Ahmedabad’s experience
Author(s) : Shyam S. Dutta
Source : Environment and Urbanization,Volume : 12 Number : 1 Page : 13 — 26

Abstract : This paper describes the experiences in Ahmedabad of urban partnerships recently formed by the municipal corporation, the private sector (especially one of the most successful textiles groups), local NGOs and community organizations. The Slum Networking Project is the most interesting of these experiences. The paper describes the organization, financing and implementation of this project’s pilot phase and its later extension to other areas. It also discusses the difficulties faced in developing the Slum Networking Project and the institutional challenges to successfully scaling it up. The scope of the municipal corporation’s work was supported by a major improvement in the generation and management of its finances and by the national reforms (under the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act 1992) which sought to strengthen democratic government at city level.


Governance, economic settings and poverty in Bangalore
Author(s) : Solomon Benjamin
Source : Environment and Urbanization, Volume : 12 Number : 1 Page : 35 — 56

Abstract : This paper suggests that an understanding of poverty in cities such as Bangalore (often referred to as India’s Silicon Valley) requires more attention to the governance processes in which different groups compete for public investments and support. It describes the differences between the "local" and the "corporate" economies within Bangalore and their links with government. The local economies provide most of the population (including virtually all poor groups) with their livelihoods. They mostly develop outside the "master plan" areas, with diverse and complex economies and land tenure forms within which poor groups find accommodation and work. Their links with government are through local government - the City Corporation and its councillors and lower level bureaucracy. The corporate economies include the information technology industries for which Bangalore is well-known. Most of their links with government are with state and national parastatal agencies that control most of Bangalore’s development functions and have access to most government funding. But there is little local representation in these agencies. This profoundly disadvantages poor groups and the local economies in the competition for land, infrastructure and services. Rigid land use controls in the expanding corporate enclave areas exclude most pro-poor economic activity and threaten poorer groups’ fragile claims to land. Poor groups suffer demolition, resettlement, increased land prices and a governance system in which their local representative structure has little power. Meanwhile, the publicly sponsored "mega-projects" in Bangalore do little to support the local economies that are so important for the city’s prosperity ; indeed, as this paper describes, many serve to disrupt them.
Reference Links : 3 (View Links)


Urban economic growth, infrastructure and poverty in India : lessons from Visakhapatnam
Author(s) : Philip Amis ; Sashi Kumar
Source : Environment and Urbanization,Volume : 12 Number : 1 Page : 185 — 196

Abstract : This paper describes the rapid economic growth in the city of Visakhapatnam which is now one of India’s largest ports and an important industrial town and seaside resort/retirement centre. It highlights how the city’s further growth is constrained by inadequate investment in infrastructure - especially for water and electricity - and discusses the political and institutional reasons for this. It then presents the findings of participatory research on poverty, and the many dimensions of poverty which are emphasized by urban poor groups, including inadequate incomes, lack of assets ("no shelter, no property, no gold"), lack of support (especially for widows, deserted women and the handicapped), illness and debt. It discusses the direct and indirect impacts on poverty of a DFID slum improvement project, showing which improvements low-income groups particularly appreciated. This demonstrated the importance of infrastructure and service provision to poverty reduction within a wider recognition that this is but one important aspect.
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