Peripheral Neighborhoods Research Articles

Scaffolding — Aportes para a Construção e Sustentação de Projetos de Vida de Jovens em Contexto Periférico

The need to choose, define, or plan for future issues is culturally related to youth. Young people from the peripheries move between restrictions and possibilities, and these transitions should be considered part of the process of building their life projects. This work aimed to analyze the factors that contribute to the construction and realization of life projects of young people. A qualitative and ethnographic research was carried out using participant observation, walk-along interviews, and the photovoice method. Six young people between 14 and 16 years of age who were part of a social education project in a peripheral neighborhood in Salvador, Brazil, participated in the study. The data obtained were categorized and discussed based on the cultural psychology of education. The work made it possible to identify elements that operate as scaffolding and offer support for the construction of these young people’s life projects.

Minga as a placemaking tool in peripheral neighbourhoods. Co-design experience in Calderon, Quito*

ABSTRACT This article explores the role of local vernacular socio-spatial practices in co-design and placemaking in Calderon, a peripheral urban parish in Quito, Ecuador. Using a case-study method and transformative paradigm theory, the research employs a mixed-methods approach for data collection and analysis. The focus is on ‘Minga’, a collaborative community effort manifested in two forms: ‘community mingas’ organised autonomously by communities, and ‘megamingas’ coordinated by public institutions. Community mingas enhance residents’ sense of belonging and pride, empowering them in shaping public spaces through a bottom-up approach. In contrast, megamingas exhibit top-down organisation with limited community engagement, raising concerns about social impacts. The study underscores mingas’ potential for social cohesion, cultural expression, and sustainable development in urban design. It emphasises the nuanced understanding needed for fostering active participation and addresses challenges such as sustaining community ownership. Despite yielding immediate benefits in public space enhancement, sustaining long-term engagement is crucial. The study concludes that mingas offer a valuable avenue for residents to actively contribute to public space improvement, fostering shared responsibility and long-term sustainable development in low-income neighbourhoods.

Revisiting COVID-19 Maps with Bayesian Hierarchical Modelling: Socioeconomic Insights from Istanbul

Abstract Objectives This study explores the spatial disparities in COVID-19 incidence across neighborhoods in Uskudar, Istanbul, and examines the relationship between these disparities and neighborhood-level socioeconomic status. Methods This ecological study analyzed cumulative COVID-19 case data for 33 neighborhoods in Uskudar, collected up to 31 December 2020. Socioeconomic status was assessed using the Socioeconomic Development Index (SEDI) scores from Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Spatial analysis included Moran’s I statistics and Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) cluster analysis. Bayesian Hierarchical Modeling with the Besag-York-Mollie (BYM) model was employed to decompose spatially structured and unstructured variations, adjusting for SEDI scores and their sub-components. Model validation involved convergence diagnostics and Monte Carlo error assessments. Results A total of 29,834 COVID-19 cases were identified, with an incidence rate of 56.1 per 1000 residents. Spatial analysis revealed significant clustering of high incidence rates in peripheral and inner city neighborhoods. Moran’s I statistic for COVID-19 incidence was 0.331 (p = 0.003), indicating positive spatial autocorrelation. SEDI scores were also spatially autocorrelated (Moran’s I = 0.293; p = 0.005) and negatively correlated with COVID-19 incidence (r = -0.570; p = 0.001). Bayesian hierarchical models confirmed the association between lower socioeconomic status and higher COVID-19 incidence, even after adjusting for spatial autocorrelation. Conclusions The study highlights significant spatial and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 incidence in Uskudar, Istanbul. Lower socioeconomic status is associated with higher COVID-19 incidence, underscoring the need for region-specific public health strategies that consider socioeconomic factors. These findings can guide future interventions to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable populations. Key messages • Study reveals COVID-19 incidence in Uskudar is significantly influenced by socioeconomic status, highlighting need for targeted health interventions. • Positive spatial autocorrelation found in COVID-19 cases and socioeconomic index suggests clustering in specific Uskudar neighborhoods.

Household Well-Being, Environment and Health in the Peripheries of the Metropolitan Area of Oaxaca City

Objective: The economy of poor urban households is analyzed using a well-being function that also considers incomes, sociodemographic characteristics (CS), housing and the environment. Theoretical structure: The dependent variable is household well-being (BF) and the explanatory variables are all incomes obtained from the market economy, as well as government transfers (TG). The CS represent resources that facilitate obtaining income; housing provides income indicators; and the environment are the physical conditions that determine the state of health. Methodology: A probabilistic survey was applied to a sample of households in four poor peripheral neighborhoods. The equations were constructed using ordinary least squares regression and the beta coefficients measure the contribution of the variables from the four categories above to the BF. The effects of these variables on health expenditure (GS) are also measured. Discoveries: The main incomes that contribute to the BF were determined and these make a contribution equivalent to that of the set of variables of the CS, housing and family businesses. Likewise, the environment and diseases increase GS. Practical and social implications: Research shows that poor peripheral urban households participate in the market economy and that an increase in average age contracts their level of BF. Originality/value: The tested model turned out to be versatile and accurate in analyzing the economies of poor urban households and has greater explanatory power than the agricultural household models and the applied general equilibrium model.

Reclaiming Urban Space: Gordon Matta-Clark’s Artistic Approach to the Peripheral Neighborhoods

This study examines the interaction of art works and architectural interventions by Gordon Matta-Clark in the context of Tirana, analyzing through his practice the destruction of areas of the city for requalification, a relatively recent phenomenon known as gentrification in Tirana. The main question of this research is how Matta-Clark's creativity can serve as a fruitful resource for understanding urban change and advances in formal sustainability. While Tirana in recent years has experienced urban development, the city is challenging simi- lar problems that important cities like New York have experienced during the 60s and 70s. The history of the city and the social issues are different, but still there are some similarities, especially in the case of gentrification. These problems were addressed by artists who aimed to create a dialogue between community rights and public authorities. Referred to that, Matta Clark's art practice can be seen as a way for dealing with those issues. Matta-Clark's approach challenges the boundaries of the routed belief of the role of archi- tecture; he challenges the fixed rules of architecture by focusing on deconstruction and com- munity involvement. By using his works as a method to analyze urban space, this research investigates the artistic and social dimensions of architecture, urban voids, and the potential of temporary abandoned spaces to foster community engagement. The research examines the potential of Matta-Clark's methods in the context of Tirana’s urban re-qualification.

High mobility lifestyles: Unpacking travel behavior in Accra's rapidly expanding periphery

This paper explores everyday travel behavior among urbanites in Accra's periphery and unpacks how travel choices and preferences are conditioned and constrained in a context of rapid urban expansion, unregulated residential sprawl, infrastructural deficits, congestion and changing socio-economic conditions. The paper draws on qualitative interviews (n = 48) and a travel survey (n = 2107) targeting economically active adults residing in peripheral neighborhoods. Their travel behavior is characterized by a high proportion of adults who regularly travel outside their neighborhoods, over relatively long distances (10+ km) and mainly using motorized transport. The paper proposes “high mobility lifestyles” as a metaphor to capture key aspects of travel behavior in the peripheries and explores how travelers navigate the opportunities and constraints associated with living in the peripheries. As a unique feature, spatially explicit destination data are used to map the predominant destinations and long distances travelled from Accra's peripheral neighborhoods. The research illuminates how infrastructural deficits, long distances, severe congestion and rising transport costs combine to make high mobility lifestyles exceedingly strenuous, costly, and time-consuming. Ultimately, in-depth understanding of travel behavior, embedded in contextual conditions, can provide insights on how travel choices may be changed and how transport, systems may be made more sustainable and inclusive.

Peripheral resistance: geographies of occupation and policing in Tunisia

ABSTRACT This article sets out to study Tunisian protest movements and state responses by focusing on continuities in protest and policing rather than radical breaks like the 1956 independence, the 2010–2011 revolution, or more recently, Kais Saied’s July 25 self-coup. Through ethnographic fieldwork among activists in Tunis, residents of its popular neighbourhoods and with the El-Kamour movement of the southern region of Tataouine, the article develops three arguments and theoretical tools: firstly, it argues that residents of Tunis’ popular neighbourhoods and Tunisia’s inland and southern regions are racialized through consistent securitisation at the hands of urban elites as they migrated to the cities to establish what would become peripheral popular neighbourhoods. Secondly, it develops and applies a lens of internal occupation to analyze policing of these racialized populations. Through a grounded theory-approach, it articulates intimately felt indignity and humiliation in the context of an outsider-insider policing dynamic. Thirdly, it argues that racialisation is perpetuated by a state-capitalist class nexus consisting of economic benefactors of the reserve army of labour and natural resource extraction. Security forces violently enforce this socio-economic order. Lastly, it suggests that internal occupation is a useful theoretical lens through which to analyze policing of marginalised populations in general.

Дослідження процесу перевезення пасажирів з моделюванням роботи зупинок громадського транспорту

Public transport is characterized by its accessibility and sharing and is intended for a wide range of people, regardless of social status or income. The main function is to provide the ability to move people from one place to another within the city. Bus stops are a strategic place to ensure territorial accessibility from central to peripheral neighborhoods. They maintain order and organization in the operation of public transport. It is the study of the network of public transport routes and stops that is crucial for improving the quality of service, increasing the efficiency of transport systems and ensuring convenience for users. However, in each case, it is necessary to use an individual approach to organizational and planning decisions. The article describes the peculiarities of the functioning of public transport in the city of Dubno, Rivne region, in the context of research on infrastructure, route network, passenger flow, location and modeling of stops, taking into account the future development of new neighborhoods. It was found that the route network in Dubno includes 22 public transport routes with 64 stops. On average, 19544 passengers use public transport and get off at bus stops every day - 54% of all city residents. The rapid development of the city requires the arrangement of new public transport stops with changing routes, the operation of which in the overall transportation system was investigated by simulation modeling. The results obtained will make it possible to develop schedules and routes for public transport and to perform technical and economic calculations for the modern arrangement of stops. The research reported in this article was conducted at the National University of Water and Environmental Engineering with the support of the Department of Economics and Property of the Dubno City Council.

In Search of Third Space: Flâneur’s Escape from Polarization

This paper examines the flâneur in Orhan Pamuk's novel A Strangeness in My Mind and argues that flânerie can be a powerful practice for overcoming polarization and creating new forms of identity in a Third Space. We argue that flâneur has often been used in without considering its political implications. They propose that flânerie can generate resistance against hegemony by drawing on Bhabha's concept of the Third Space. In Pamuk's novel, the protagonist, Mevlut, is a flâneur who wanders the streets of Istanbul, observing the city. However, Mevlut is also a marginalized figure, caught between the wing and right groups that dominate Istanbul's peripheral neighbourhoods. Despite these challenges, Mevlut's flânerie allows him to create a Third Space, a position that is able to move beyond polarization. In this Third Space, Mevlut is able to explore his own identity and to form connections with the others who are also marginalized.

The Formation of the Urban–Rural Fringe Space in the San Cayetano Area: The Transformation of a Peripheral Urban Landscape in Ecuador

The transition between the urban and the rural in intermediate Andean cities has been consolidated, presenting a close relationship between socioeconomic dynamics and urban configuration. The peripheral neighborhood of San Cayetano, located in the city of Loja in southwestern Ecuador, presents multiple contradictory scenarios. Located on a hillside, the forms of adaptation to the challenging topography are diverse, fragile, and fragmented, especially because they present a dispersed image due to the proximity to the consolidated center. This study analyzes the spatial phenomena that have led to the integration of this neighborhood into the formal city, identifying recurrent spatial configurations that characterize the spatial fragment as a determinant in the configuration of the Andean periphery. To this end, official data are juxtaposed with on-site visits to identify the urban and architectural patterns of the neighborhood that contribute to defining this characteristic fragmentation of today’s peripheries. These patterns are then examined through mapping and graphic representation. As a consequence, the resulting urban plots are imposed on sloping land, leaving aside the natural characteristics of the terrain, which causes morphological alterations at the level of the natural, urban, and architectural landscape.

Co-Production Boundaries of Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Regeneration: The Case of a Healthy Corridor

Co-production, rooted in public collaborative management (Ostrom, 1996) or science and technology (Jasanoff, 2013) evolution, has demonstrated its innovative and transformative character within participatory processes. However, there is little empirical evidence that scrutinises these contexts of interaction. Equality of partnership in many cases is used as a discursive rhetoric that seeks to prescribe co-production above any difficulty, uncertainty, conflict, or unwanted situation. As a starting point, our proposal considers co-production as a social practice, composed of multiple layers and different participatory processes, activities, and strategies. Grounded in co-production approaches, the study draws upon the ongoing evaluation findings of the European project URBiNAT, which focuses on inclusive urban regeneration through nature-based solutions. The qualitative methods of evaluation (interviews and participant observation), applied during the co-production activities in the city of Porto (Portugal), provide evidence of how the various stakeholders—elected politicians, citizens, technicians, and researchers—participate in the co-production dynamic. The boundaries of a multi-stakeholder process are revealed with the goal of implementing healthy corridors in peripheral neighbourhoods. The intended evaluation analysis lies in the techniques, the agents, the dynamics, the knowledge, and the degrees of co-production. This analysis will contribute to the lack of explicit consideration of the impacts of nature-based solutions in urban regeneration pathways, especially those related to the social fabric underlined in Dumitru et al. (2020).

Back to the suburbs? Millennial residential locations from the Great Recession to the pandemic

In the past decade, there has been a great deal of attention paid to and speculation about the residential mobility and location decisions of millennials. Academics and practitioners alike have been trying to determine where millennials are moving and why, including whether they are leading a ‘back to the city’ movement or whether they are moving to the suburbs as previous generations did at their age. Using US Census data, this article examines the geographical population distribution of young adults in the USA in recent decades. Categorising neighbourhoods by their urban or suburban character and by their central or peripheral location, we find that millennials lived in urban areas on the heels of the Great Recession at higher rates than previous generations. However, over the decade, the millennial population gradually shifted towards suburban areas: central urban and peripheral urban neighbourhoods largely lost millennial residents from 2011 to 2021, while peripheral suburban neighbourhoods experienced substantial gains. When it comes to neighbourhood amenities (e.g. restaurants and parks), millennials largely left amenity-rich areas for neighbourhoods with fewer amenities, though these amenities grew faster in the neighbourhoods that gained millennials the most. Millennial suburbanisation seems to be associated with housing affordability and demand for larger homes, as the population shift was more pronounced in the metros that have lower housing affordability and a lower share of larger homes in their central urban neighbourhoods. The results indicate the importance of affordable and right-sized housing, complemented with neighbourhood amenities, in attracting and retaining this population group.

Proposal for the “Monte Po-Vallone Acquicella Sub Urban Territorial Park” (Catania, Italy): an experience of participatory environmental democracy

The authors present the proposal for the establishment of the Monte Po-Vallone Acquicella Sub Urban Territorial Park covering a total area of about 220 ha from the Monte Po hill (north-west of Catania, Italy) to the mouth of the Acquicella river along its course. The objective of establishing the Park is the protection of the landscape, naturalistic and cultural values being part of its territory. At the same time, the park would consolidate the function of reconnecting the urban complex of the historic part of the city with the peripheral neighborhoods that arose over time to the west of the Acquicella river, contributing to resolve its marginality. Furthermore, the Park would represent a significant green lung available for sustainable fruition for the benefit of the Catania community and not only, given its contiguity and proximity to other important urban centres. The different aspects of the proposal are then illustrated.

(In)Subordinate Planning: A Decolonial Tool for Marginalized Urban Areas

The city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) has various socially and historically marginalized areas, such as peripheral neighborhoods and favelas, which lack traditional leisure and cultural spaces. These areas are often seen as subaltern, neglected by the state, and not sufficiently contemplated in public policies. Consequently, local inhabitants frequently have to come up with improvised solutions, using their own resources to design and build sociocultural spaces. While much has been written about the practice of self-building in favelas, not enough research has been done from the urban planning/urban studies perspective pairing this practice with the decolonial theory hailing from South America. This article aims to frame the collective self-building of sociocultural spaces in favelas as a type of “insubordinate planning.” The concept of “insubordinate planning” is suggested here as part of a broader decolonial toolbox, regularly used by marginalized urban communities to persist and ensure their right to the city. To illustrate the connection between self-building, sociocultural spaces, insubordinate planning, and decolonial theory, the case study of the Sitiê Park in the Vidigal Favela is presented. This study was conducted through ethnography for a year and proves that decolonial principles are intrinsic to favela dwellers when it comes to building persistent spaces.

Violence and vulnerability: the everyday life of black youth in suburbs of two Brazilian state capitals

Violence and vulnerability: the everyday life of black youth in suburbs of two Brazilian state capitals

Violence and vulnerability: the everyday life of black youth in suburbs of two Brazilian state capitals.

Violence is a serious public health issue and constitutes a historical social phenomenon with diverse causes and consequences, and multiple manifestations. The main victims continue to be populations left vulnerable and marginalised, where dimensions including gender, class, race and social belonging intersect. Although studies to explain the phenomenon of violence do address ethnic and racial issues, they tend not to consider violence as stemming also from institutional racism. This paper examines data from a qualitative and quantitative study drawing on focus groups and semi-structured interviews to evaluate symbolic and structural violence experienced by young black people from 15 to 29 years old residing in peripheral neighbourhoods of two Brazilian state capitals - Recife and Fortaleza. The focus is on their standpoints that situate the intersectionality, especially among race/skin colour, territorial belonging and class, in the very definition of identity. In both capitals, the young black people revealed a common reality: life projects constrained by economic limitations and by the concrete or symbolic demarcation of social spaces to which they are denied access.

Bodies Holding up Communities Uncaring Infrastructures in Santiago, Chile and Beyond

In this article, we explore the role of bodies, housing, and mobility as infrastructures of care for low-income women living in peripheral neighbourhoods in Santiago, Chile. Drawing on feminist political economists and urbanists, we describe the way that bodies act as infrastructures, often compensating for inadequate built and social environments. Even as the caring of these women sustains life, livelihoods, and communities, they suff er slow infrastructural violence ampli fied by immobility, isolation, and insuffi cient support. This reinforces and occurs within a broader context of gendered inequality and gendered violence, in a city where socioeconomic segregation is very pronounced. While there are geographic particularities to this case, the lack of infrastructure for care persists in cities and communities across the Global North and South. We provide policy recommendations oriented toward transforming material and social urban infrastructures, simultaneously addressing gendered and intersectional power relations.

Batida and the politics of sonic agency in Afro-Lisboa

ABSTRACT This article examines the politics of sonic agency in batida, the most successful recent electronic musical style emerging from Lisbon’s outskirts in Portugal. The genealogies of batida are closely linked to the emergence of a young generation of Djs do Gueto [Ghetto Djs] who unabashedly claim their right of belonging as major players within the Portuguese acoustic and cultural fields. We analyse batida as a space for agency and affirmative mobilisation of Afro-Portuguese populations. Two elements are of special interest: the digital recombination to celebrate the irreducibility of Afro-Portuguese experience, and the way in which racial exclusion, urban segregation, and racism are problematised through the act of inscribing the neighbouring sounds of peripheral neighbourhoods in their music. Through the examination of these two elements, we aim to position sonic agency as a central space in the configuration of racial politics and processes of nation building in the Portuguese case.

A Methodological Approach for Data Collection and Geospatial Information of Healthy Public Spaces in Peripheral Neighborhoods—Case Studies: La Bota and Toctiuco, Quito, Ecuador

Adequate public spaces and urban green areas are key criteria for urban development and infrastructure implementation in healthy cities. Latterly, there have been an increasing number of research methods using artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor, quantify, and control the state of these spaces with an aim toward pioneering research in urban studies. However, in informal areas, open-data access tends to lack adequate and updated information, making it difficult to use AI methods. Hence, we propose a methodology for restricted open data collection and preparation for future use in machine learning or spatial data science models for similar areas. To that extent, we examine two peripheral and low-income neighborhoods in Quito, Ecuador—La Bota and Toctiuco—to analyze their public spaces, urban green areas, points of interest, and road networks, and how they address healthy cities criteria. We develop an original methodological approach that combines an index of proximity, accessibility, quantity, and quality for these spaces with geospatial and network analysis techniques. Results indicate that the connectivity and structure of these spaces are centralized and nodal, representing exclusion and segregation. This work provides insights into potential healthy spaces and information to urban planners and policymakers in decision-making for healthy urban infrastructure.

Analyzing the Impact of Public Housing Privatization on Immigrant Micro-Segregation in Milan

In several Western European countries, a significant share of social rental housing stock has been sold since the 1980s as part of government policies aimed at promoting homeownership societies. Research has shown that tenure conversion has contributed to increasing socio-spatial segregation of lower-income groups, with diverging spatial patterns of homeownership among immigrants. This paper examines the impact of recent public housing privatization schemes in Milan in relation to micro-segregation and peripheralization processes of foreign populations, which represent distinctive features of immigrant residential distribution in this city. By employing name analysis, an unconventional approach in segregation studies, I inferred the geographical origins of homebuyers and mapped their distribution across the city. The findings reveal divergent purchasing behaviors, whereby Italians predominantly acquire properties in semi-central areas currently undergoing urban regeneration. In contrast, immigrants tend to concentrate their acquisitions in peripheral post-war public housing neighborhoods or in areas predominantly inhabited by residents with similar geographical origins. This paper contributes to the existing literature on ethnic residential segregation in Southern European cities by shedding light on the underexplored role of public housing privatization policies in shaping specific residential patterns and housing outcomes among different groups.