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- Convenor:
-
Andrea Rigon
(University College London)
- Stream:
- K: Uneven urban and sub-national development
- Location:
- G2
- Start time:
- 27 June, 2018 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
This panel discusses case studies exploring how diversity of gender, class, race and ethnicity, citizenship status, age, ability, and sexuality is taken (or not) into account in the planning and implementation of development interventions.
Long Abstract:
This panel discusses case studies exploring how diversity of gender, class, race and ethnicity, citizenship status, age, ability, and sexuality is taken (or not) into account in the planning and implementation of development interventions. Poor urban residents are very diverse and live in very unequal settlements. Development interventions in these neighbourhoods (e.g. slum-upgrading, infrastructure improvements, housing, tenure regulations) differ greatly in their capacity to address the diversity of residents' interests and needs. Local governance structures often reflect unequal power relations at settlement level, making it difficult to ensure that they adequately represent the diversity of interests, particularly of the most marginal women and men. Moreover, interventions in these settlements can activate market forces and if the diverse conditions of residents are not taken into account, it can generate market-based displacement.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Andrea Rigon (University College London)
Paper short abstract:
Through some examples, this paper demonstrates the importance of taking into account diversity in planning urban interventions in poor neighbourhoods and argues for an intersectional approach focusing on the relations between residents and between different groups of residents.
Paper long abstract:
Many urban interventions in poor urban neighbourhoods in the global south assume all residents have similar aspirations and needs. However, these neighbourhoods are some of the most unequal settlements and interventions in these contexts create winner and losers. Different dimensions of diversity have to be taken into consideration in the planning of these intervention. Community participation approaches tend to portray an image of homogeneous community, leading to specific elite interest to be portrayed as community interests. Through some examples, this paper provides the framework for the panel and argue for an intersectional approach, focusing on the relations between residents and between different groups of residents. As these unequal relationships are deeply entrenched, rebalancing them means taking power away from local elites, often the very same elites used by implementers to provide community legitimacy to the intervention. Understanding local complex constellations of power and having power become prerequisites for interventions which do not adversely affected the most marginalised residents.
Sylvia Chant (London School of Economics and Political Science) Jordana Ramalho (University College London)
Paper short abstract:
This paper identifies a critical need for prioritising research on, and action for, early adolescent females in urban slums; a group whose prospects of exiting poverty frequently come up against massive constraints at menarche, and for whom dedicated research or policy interventions remain limited.
Paper long abstract:
If analysis of the interrelations between urbanisation, gender and poverty in developing country contexts has only recently come onto the radar of scholarship and policy interventions, then it could be levelled that the situation of adolescent girls has taken even more of a backseat. Despite recent 'Smart Economics' discourse on the need to invest in younger generations of women to maximise the returns to development and gender equality, in actuality little importance has been accorded to dedicated research on, or policy interventions for, early adolescent females in urban slums whose prospects of exiting poverty frequently come up against massive constraints at menarche. This paper, which draws on recent work by the authors for the DfID-funded Gender and Global Evidence consortium project managed by the Overseas Development Institute, identifies the critical need for prioritising research on, and action for, an hitherto marginalised group in order to create more gender-equitable urban futures.
Philipp Horn (University of Sheffield)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the role of indigeneity in urban development interventions in La Paz, Bolivia and Quito, Ecuador. It compares the practices of a variety of different actors and uncovers a set of tensions between indigeneity as (1) lived experience and as (2) category of urban development.
Paper long abstract:
Bolivia's and Ecuador's governments confront patterns of discrimination and exclusion against indigenous peoples through legislative reforms. Both countries recognise indigenous rights to the city within new constitutions which promote an intercultural, plurinational, and decolonial development model. But what happens when urban indigeneity enters national political and legal discourse? How is urban indigeneity addressed in urban policies and development interventions? This paper addresses these questions through a critical examination of the practices of policy makers, planners, and ordinary indigenous communities in two cities: La Paz and Quito. By comparing the practices of these different actors, it uncovers a set of conflicting realities: First, in everyday life, urban residents who self-identify as indigenous express multiple and sometimes contradictory understandings of indigeneity, leading them to articulate different interests and rights-based claims. This makes it difficult for policy makers and planners to come up with one coherent political agenda on urban indigenous development. Second, the paper also reveals that government officials, policy makers, and planners often fail to implement legislation on urban indigeneity for a variety of other reasons, including: conflicting political priorities and ongoing perceptions of the urban as historically 'white' and modern place. The paper concludes with some suggestions for more inclusive and pro-indigenous urban policy and development practice. The findings presented in this paper will be published in a forthcoming book with Routledge and draw on previous and ongoing ethnographic research in La Paz and Quito.
Barbara Chibvamushure (University of Zimbabwe) Julius Musevenzi (University of Zimbabwe)
Paper short abstract:
Peri-urban slum settlement upgrading has seen the political exclusion of former farm workers based on citizenship status and ethnicity. Descendants of migrant workers are not considered Zimbabweans, their exclusion from urban land leads to their displacement.
Paper long abstract:
The paper brings out the politics of exclusion of former farm labourers of foreign origin in the upgrading of slum settlements from accessing urban land for housing purposes. The study shows that citizenship status and ethnicity have become tools of exclusion for the poor in accessing basic services such as housing. The former farm workers most of whom remained in farms acquired by the government at the periphery of urban areas are of Mozambican and Malawian origin and were reduced to slum dwellers during the height of the Fast Track land Reform Programme. During the fast Track land Reform programme they were excluded from benefiting from agricultural land just like other ordinary Zimbabweans. Urban expansion through regularisation of slum settlements has seen urban planners excluding these poor former farm workers. The former farm workers live in poor conditions that makes them vulnerable to displacement as their interests as people born in Zimbabwe but from former migrant worker. The objective of this paper is to show how the diversity of poor residents in peri-urban slum settlements is ignored as people of foreign origin are excluded and denied their rights based on the origins of their parents. It shows that the state and local government planners perpetuates inequalities among its own citizens based on citizenship status and ethnicity. The excluded become socially dislocated and remain in a poverty cycle that makes their recovery very difficult.
Nivedita Jayaram (Aajeevika Bureau) Sangeeth Sugathan (Aajeevika Bureau)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the living conditions of migrant labour in Ahmedabad, India. Through secondary and primary investigations, it finds that policy should address the link between growing rural-urban migration, casualization of work and poor living conditions to resolve India's urbanization crisis.
Paper long abstract:
Ahmedabad, India's growth engine, relies on a large and growing number of labour migrants to power its expanding industrial activity. However, the city fails to provide dignified housing to this section of its population. Without official count or identity, this large floating community provides flexible and cheap labour, stripped of rights or claims that is required to flourish the city's economics of unequal agglomeration. Already faced with a high level of precarity in the city, due to the informal, insecure and temporary nature of their jobs, sub-optimal living arrangements become an extension of the exploitation and marginalization that they face in the labour market. A review of urban policy suggests that they remain focused on the broad category of urban poor. Seasonal labour migrants form a dominant cross section within this category, marked by complex webs of informality, seasonality and mobility patterns that are overlooked by broad-stroke policies. Furthermore, they remain exclusionary policies with a sedentary bias, which do not take into account the unique caste, class, and gender based vulnerabilities of 'un-sedentary' migrant communities. This study identifies and examines the different typologies of migrant settlements and lived experiences of labour migrants, in order to highlight the relationships, processes and systems that shape their living arrangements in the city. In doing so, this paper articulates the factors that policy needs to be cognizant of, in order to effectively address the question of housing and access to basic amenities for labour migrants, as a pre-condition for resolving India's urbanization crisis.
Manish Thakre (Save the Children) Manabendra Nath Ray (Save the Children )
Paper short abstract:
Disparities in access to basic amenities are noted by caste and class affiliation of urban dwellers and across migrant and non-migrant households in India (Kundu,D.,2018). Lack of awareness of child rights exacerbates spatial, economic and social deprivation of poor children in Varanasi.
Paper long abstract:
By 2030, more than 400 million people will be living in cities in India. Today, 1 in every 6 of India's urban households (HHs) live in slums and this number will rise exponentially over the coming years. Disparities in access to basic amenities are noted by caste and class affiliation of urban dwellers and across migrant and non-migrant HHs. It is also noted that the access of the bottom 40% of the population to basic amenities has been low (Kundu, D. et al, 2018). An Urban Situation Analysis using mixed-method approach helps understand deprivation of children in Varanasi. Poor living conditions, lack of access to education and other basic amenities topped with low awareness of basic rights among slum HHs is causing poor development of their children. And, this has critical impact on children's future development and foundational skills to sustain their life in this knowledge/technology driven competitive world. India is a signatory to UNCRC and it has been noticed that the awareness about child rights (CRs) among various stakeholders (duty bearers, development partner, community, children etc.) leaves a lot to be desired. In Varanasi, Central and State Governments have launched various schemes, missions and programmes to address the issue and challenges of urban development including urban poor. But the fruit of development efforts are depriving those located in slums esp. boys and girls of different caste, ethnic groups and economic status. Thus, the awareness of CRs is of utmost importance to help reduce deprivation of poor children.