Access To Urban Space Research Articles

Accessibility in disaster-resilient cities

According to the World Health Organization, disasters are the unexpected consequences of occurrences that cause a level of suffering that exceeds the capacity of adjustment of the affected community. Available records indicate that natural, technological and man-made disasters -by causing loss of lives and property- affected more than 4 billion people worldwide in the last 20 years. People with disabilities are among those who are highly fragile and physically vulnerable to the dangers and risks posed by disasters. The actual reason behind why people with disabilities are rather vulnerable to the adverse effects of natural and man-made disasters is the fact that they have no access to social, spatial and civil resources. According to the United Nations Inclusive Disaster Risk Management Report, in the event of disasters and emergencies, individuals with disabilities are affected disproportionately due to the inaccessibility of the evacuation, response, and rescue efforts. The 7th Millennium Development Goal (1990-2015) emphasizes that improvements in humans’ lives and in the environment are critical to ensure environmental sustainability, and it highlights the need to ‘build a disaster-resilient community.’ Resilience to urban disasters shows a community’s ability to adapt to natural and man-made disasters and hazards, to keep any potential threats away, and to evaluate the consequences and modify existing conditions. This study focuses on accessibility in disaster-resilient cities, and it aims to evaluate the components of urban resilience, which helps to eliminate the damages of disasters and to recover, with a particular focus on the accessibility of individuals with disabilities. Based on the available literature, the study evaluates the outcomes of a workshop that was conducted with 40 participants in August-September 2021 as one of the events in preparation for MARUF21. The participants were local officials who are in charge of and accountable for disaster and emergency management, and individuals who are vulnerable to disasters and emergencies. The findings and results of the study are presented under four headings: (i) Accessibility of Urban Spaces in Disaster and Emergency Management, (ii) Risk Management and Accessibility in Cultural Heritage Areas, (iii) Social Policies and Accessibility in Disaster and Emergency Management, and (iv) Accessibility to Communication, Technology and Innovations. The study highlights that accessibility in disaster and emergency management extends beyond spatial organization, and it is a prerequisite for social harmony and disaster resilience.

¿Ilegales, irregulares, informales ... ?. Aportes para un debate sobre el suelo

El debate latinoamericano en torno a la configuración de diversos mercados de tierras para el hábitat popular (Clichevsky; 1975, Smolka; 1981, Jaramillo; 1982) o los planteos sobre la necesidad de una reforma urbana (Hardoy y Moreno; 1972) se remonta a las décadas de 1970 y 1980, como parte de las reflexiones emergentes sobre el proceso de urbanización. Sin embargo, el meollo de las discusiones en relación al acceso al suelo en conflicto con el orden legal producido por el Estado se promueve recién - y sobre todo - a partir de la década de 1990, tanto a nivel académico como de políticas nacionales e internacionales de intervención en asentamientos precarios. En ese marco, las controversias sobre las aparentes antinomias legalidad-ilegalidad, formalidad-informalidad y/o regularidad-irregularidad en el acceso al espacio urbano constituyen un debate en sí mismo. Aquí nos proponemos rastrearlo, planteando diversos ejes de lectura y poniendo en cuestión algunas de las tesis centrales. Esta discusión pone en evidencia la complejidad del conflicto y remite al necesario diálogo entre las múltiples perspectivas - jurídica, económica y política- , que lo abordan, ya sea de manera conjunta como separada. En tal sentido, la revisión de dichas categorías y, con ello, la posibilidad de construir sentidos propositivos que superen las miradas fragmentarias y viabilicen el acceso a derechos fundamentales, constituye el desafío en el que aquí nos embarcamos.

“Sold out!” Women's practices of resistance against prostitution related sexual harassment

Synopsis Sexual harassment on the street is a form of ‘non-criminal street violence’ that has a remarkable impact on women's access to urban space. In red-light districts harassment is often aggravated but, nevertheless, research on these areas has rarely focused specifically on it. This article is based on a survey conducted in a red-light district in Helsinki, Finland. The survey was undertaken in the form of a postal questionnaire to women in two areas: the studied area where prostitution occurred and control area which consisted of the rest of inner Helsinki. The aim was to discuss how harassment is experienced and how women respond to the offences they face. Women work as active agents in public and have various practices of resistance . The article discusses the non-verbal, gestured and verbal strategies of resistance–from civic activism to evasive and operative individual strategies–that show how women reclaim space . While sexual harassment contributes to the ‘gendering’ of urban space, so do the practices of resistance.