Urban Crisis Research Articles

The Chinampa a Response to Climate Change: A Complex Model of Ancestral Wisdom for Urban Resilience

Introduction: In the context of climate change, cities face critical challenges in water management and sustainability. One of the most ingenious and adaptive procedures that has endured throughout history is that of chinampas, which is a model of sustainable agriculture, and reflects a way of life intimately connected with nature. Objective: Evaluate the possibility of incorporating the method based on the chinampas built by the Mexica culture in current cities to generate a complex model of urban resilience. Theoretical Framework: In the theoretical framework there are theories such as ecological utopia, dystopia, stationary urbanism addressed by Fernando Gaja, smart cities by Tim Campbell and sustainability from the perspective of Francisco Javier Aceves, in addition to the agroecology of Nicholls and the socioecological systems of Towers as main axes of analysis. Method: The methodology is based on complex systems from the approach of Edgar Morin and Rolando García, with stratification, and the application of different methods to form a complex unit that is a resilient city model with the use of chinampas. Results and Discussion: The excessive construction, pollution, traffic and various problems show an urban crisis that was drying up the basin of the Valley of Mexico and there are currently few areas where bodies of water and chinampas such as Xochimilco are still conserved with socio-ecological systems and agroecology. Research Implications: Urban resilience, which aims to recover from an impact caused by climate change to current cities, health, adequate habitability conditions, and natural resources, which is why searching for a resilient urban city model is a complex task. Originality/Value: It is based on the recovery of ancestral knowledge to reestablish healthy cities of the 21st century from sustainability and bioclimatics since chinampas are used by the Mexica culture in pre-Hispanic times.

Mexico City’s pandemic urban crisis management lacked a multiscalar approach

Mexico City’s pandemic urban crisis management lacked a multiscalar approach

A study of the impact of urban spaces on social resilience in case of natural disasters: Insights from citizens affected by March 2019 flood in Aq Qala City, Iran

The number of urban crises has been notably on the rise all around the globe during the past few decades due to shifts in ecological cycles and social challenges, among other reasons. These crises have had a more pronounced impact on urban areas, which are more vulnerable. The various aspects of resilience have become the focal points in sustainable development research and other related studies, and some solutions have been proposed within the concepts and framework of sustainable development for countering these crises, among which urban resilience is more prominent owing to its inherent functional principles. Among the various aspects of resilience, social resilience is linked to the social capacities of urban regions. A review of the related literature reveals the shortage of studies about the relationship between urban spaces and social resilience. This study aims to uncover the mechanisms through which urban spaces influence social resilience following natural disasters through the perceptions of the citizens affected by the March 2019 flood in Aq Qala, Golestan Province, Iran. To achieve this, we first developed a conceptual model grounded in a review of relevant theoretical literature. Subsequently, a structured 5-point scale questionnaire was designed and distributed for data collection. The collected data was then subjected to structural equation modeling to analyze the conceptual model. The findings highlight the critical factors in forming social resilience from the perspective of Aq Qala residents, with a specific emphasis on city structure, activity, social capital, and social cohesion as integral components.

Public City as Network of Networks: A Toolkit for Healthy Neighbourhoods

The distinction between the current urban crisis and that which emerged in the latter half of the last century lies in the rise of environmental concerns linked to the climate crisis, which compound the existing socioeconomic issues. The “new urban question”, in its intersectional sense, necessitates high levels of integration, interdisciplinarity, interscalarity, and iterativity to recompose the physical and socioeconomic components of change. In this regard, the proposed contribution aims to develop a transferable methodology to guide urban regeneration actions that are sustainable from a socio-economic and environmental perspective, capable of leading to the creation of “Healthy Neighbourhoods”. This objective is pursued by the authors through the definition of a toolkit of design parameters to assess the improvement of an urban area before and after the regeneration intervention. Indeed, each proposed parameter affects one or more of the ten indicators used to evaluate the health of a neighbourhood. The proposed methodology will later be tested, in subsequent phases of the research, on the case study of Pietralata (Rome, Italy).

The Economic History & Urban Geography of Race Relations in Detroit: Movement of Capital, White Resistance and Immobility of Black Labor

Detroit's intertwined history of deindustrialization and racial segregation is often explored separately. In The Origins of the Urban Crises (1996), Thomas Sugrue examines post-WWII job losses and housing discrimination without elucidating why and how the city came to experience the abrupt flight of capital in that period. Conversely, Murray and Schwartz's Wrecked (2019) details the catalysts for Detroit's deindustrialization but neglects its impact on the African-American community. This paper aims to bridge these perspectives by utilizing various secondary sources and archival evidence to analyze how concurrent discrimination and economic decline have maintained the persistent segregation between Detroit and its suburbs.

Dancing with foxes: More‐than‐human design in ‘the chicken city’

AbstractUrban chicken‐keeping is on the rise in London, in private gardens, community gardens, allotments, schools, and urban farm projects. In welcoming chickens into the city, urban spaces are being transformed: coops are being built, runs constructed, chicken‐friendly flora introduced, and space landscaped to accommodate both chickens and humans. Underneath the design of these multispecies urban spaces, there is a desire to bring the good life into the city, through a return to nature. Chicken‐keeping is being lauded by urban keepers and commentators alike as a response to urban crises over food provenance and quality, environmental ethics, and a growing unease with industrial agriculture. However, after chickens arrive in these urban spaces, it becomes quickly apparent that the design of the urban barnyard imposed by the human is rarely practical for, or enjoyed by, chickens: perfectly laid lawns are torn up, plants are demolished, and vegetable patches are gorged on, and chickens are at the mercy of local foxes. When chickens enter these urban barnyards, they demand humans pay attention to their desires, behaviours, and territoriality by overflowing and expanding their assigned space. As such, designing the urban barnyard is an ongoing spatio‐temporal iterative process between chickens, humans, and other non‐human actors in the more‐than‐human city. In this paper, using the case of the urban chicken, I argue that more‐than‐human (urban) geographies can find generative collaborations with design thinking in theorising human–environmental relationalities.

Exploring non-linear urban vibrancy dynamics in emerging new towns: A case study of the Wuhan metropolitan area

New towns have been extensively developed in many worldwide metropolises to overcome a series of urban crisis caused by over-intensive population and economic activity, such as environmental deterioration, traffic congestion and space shortage. The successful development of new towns has been regarded as a common, international urban challenge aimed at creating vital and lively urban life. Quantifying the complex relationship between new town vibrancy and the built environment provides a theoretical basis for formulating adequate planning regulations and policies to solve the development predicaments of new towns. Taking the Wuhan metropolitan area as the case study, this study employs the gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) machine learning method to delve into the intricate non-linear relationship between urban vibrancy and built environment indicators both in both peripheric new towns (NT) and central mother cities (MC), shedding light on the differences in the characteristics and complexities of vibrancy between NT and MC. The findings reveal stark disparities in vibrancy levels between NT and MC, emphasizing the critical need for tailored revitalization strategies. It is found that the indicators with the highest contribution to the impact of vibrancy in NT and MC are respectively the point of interest (POI) density and Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) development intensity. Model comparison between NT and MC concludes that enhancing POI density to meet the basic needs of citizens is a prerequisite for fostering urban vibrancy. To successfully create similarly vital and lively urban life as that in the MC, NT should focus on the impacts of TOD development and policy factors such as government relocation on vibrancy. Finally, deriving from these findings, we propose some policy insights and practical strategies for urban practitioners and policymakers to enhance the vibrancy and sustainability of the new towns.

AI for crisis decisions

Increasingly, our cities are confronted with crises. Fuelled by climate change and a loss of biodiversity, increasing inequalities and fragmentation, challenges range from social unrest and outbursts of violence to heatwaves, torrential rainfall, or epidemics. As crises require rapid interventions that overwhelm human decision-making capacity, AI has been portrayed as a potential avenue to support or even automate decision-making. In this paper, I analyse the specific challenges of AI in urban crisis management as an example and test case for many super wicked decision problems. These super wicked problems are characterised by a coincidence of great complexity and urgency. I will argue that from this combination, specific challenges arise that are only partially covered in the current guidelines and standards around trustworthy or human-centered AI. By following a decision-centric perspective, I argue that to solve urgent crisis problems, the context, capacities, and networks need to be addressed. AI for crisis response needs to follow dedicated design principles that ensure (i) human control in complex social networks, where many humans interact with AI; (ii) principled design that considers core principles of crisis response such as solidarity and humanity; (iii) designing for the most vulnerable. As such this paper is meant to inspire researchers, AI developers and practitioners in the space of AI for (urban) crisis response – and other urgent and complex problems that urban planners are confronted with.

Sacramental Action in Response to “Urban Crisis”: An Incarnational Critique of the General Convention Special Program

In 1967, the General Convention Special Program (GCSP), led by Presiding Bishop Hines, emphasized unconditional funding and operational autonomy for black and minority-led organizations in response to the “urban crisis” of the 1960s. However, the program struggled to engage white Episcopalians in its sacramental vision and disregarded black Episcopalian voices, revealing its limitations and white establishment bias. While the GCSP showcased the potential for sacramental social action, it fell short due to constraints and failure to address the “urban crisis” as divine judgment on the very foundation of the church’s white establishment power. Instead, the program served as an incomplete penance, acknowledging the sacramental nature of the world and God’s reconciling grace, but ultimately inadequate as a sacramental response to colonial racial capitalism. Lacking the solidarity and critique required for efficacious sacramental action, the GCSP revealed the constraints of the white Episcopal Church to act sacramentally in a sacramental world.

Children's territorialities in a Brazilian right-to-housing movement

ABSTRACT This paper discusses children's experiences in the context of a social phenomenon of a Brazilian right-to-housing movement known as urban occupation. Our discussions are focused more specifically on the Rosa Leão occupation, located in the Izidora Region, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Based on a research developed between June 2019 and April 2021 with a group of about 19 children (2–14 years old), this paper sought to identify the children's territorialities in this spatial struggle, which occurs through circulation and play in a collective process of reterritorialization. Connecting critical perspectives from childhood studies, this investigation confronts the idea of hegemonic childhood, breaking with a stigmatized view of children’s experiences in poor Latin American cities. It also collaborates with contemporary discussions that assume an analysis of the relations of domination and focus on a historicized, critical, and plural perspective of children’s rights and the right to the city, based on the concreteness of the subjects’ experiences in disputed territories in the midst of urban crisis.

Drawing the Invisible: A Study of Urban Space, Informal Migration of Construction Workers, and Precarity in Simon Lamouret’s The Alcazar

This article, situated at the intersection of urban studies and comics studies, seeks to interrogate the nature of urban migration and the lives of construction workers in Simon Lamouret’s The Alcazar (2022), a comic based on and in the city of Bangalore. The article begins with a paratextual analysis of the comic, followed by a Lefebvrian analysis of the construction site, to argue that cities like Bangalore are evolving fast “beyond the plan” (Benjamin,2015) to meet the accelerating market pressure, resulting in failed urban planning, infrastructure, and urban crisis. It will further explore what Lamouret’s comic does specifically to intervene in the discourse of neoliberal urbanism and challenge that discourse. The article will also analyze the formal specificities of the comics form and the multiple visual tropes Lamouret employed to “visibilize” the migrant workers and to advance their legitimate rights to urban life in the cityscape.

Level of Awareness of Transport Externalities on Noise Pollution in Akure, Nigeria.

Transport conveys substantial socioeconomic benefits. It is a vital sector that facilitates progressive developments in economy of a nation. Advantages derived from transportation sector are vital in the integration of various regions and sectors of the economy of nations. Despite this advantage, one of the negative externalities it exhibits is noise pollution ‘an unwanted and undesirable sound’. Excessive noise in an environment is identified to constitute the most disturbing among the city pollutants and this is a serious urban crisis in Akure. This study ascertains the level of awareness of the users of transport services on the impact of transportation on the environment in Akure South LGA. and determines the effects of Noise pollution on the residents in the study area. Noise level measurement was done using a PCE-322A sound level meter and direct interview was conducted with residents and other road users. Noise data were collected at different time intervals to find out the variation of sound levels. Based on the findings, respondents reported that the most disturbing period of the day was evening (peak period) between 3 pm and 5.00 pm. The findings revealed that the level of awareness of negative effects of noise pollution is significantly low. The study recommended that pubic needs to be sensitized on the negative externalities of vehicular noise pollution and the need to curtail it.

O urbano como antinação: para entender a crise das metrópoles brasileiras

Abstract How can we resume a development project that embraces urban reform and the right to the city? We seek to outline a theoretical and analytical framework consistent with this possibility, understanding that Brazilian cities can function as vectors for the reconstruction of the nation after the recent period of successive crises, especially the urban crisis. We propose adopting broad horizons for investigating “urban issues”, arguing that they should be considered in the light of the contemporary historical form of dependency and in view of the circumstances emerging from the 2016 parliamentary coup d'état, which imposed an ultra-liberal inflection on the country. Finally, we argue that, after this coup, the “anti-nation” nature of the urban was radicalized, and the return of the debate on dependent urbanization can help its und erstanding.

Diverse geographies of urban crisis: A comparative analysis of Egypt, India and Türkiye

Diverse geographies of urban crisis: A comparative analysis of Egypt, India and Türkiye

Governing Urban Crisis Through Adaptive Urban Law: Lessons from City Responses to COVID-19 in the Netherlands and South Africa

Governing Urban Crisis Through Adaptive Urban Law: Lessons from City Responses to COVID-19 in the Netherlands and South Africa

ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES AS A DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR URBAN SYSTEM: ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

It is hard to discuss Islam without bringing up the person of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The urban crisis has become a significant issue due to society's Westernization. The experts say that the Islamic approach appears to be the most promising due to the urgent need for harmonization. Several concepts unmistakably found in this tradition's fundamental sources, the Hadith, the Qur'an, and the Sunnah, show how often attention the Islamic tradition has paid to both natural and urban growth. Traditional Islamic towns offered a range of experiences, from the intimate world of Home to the aspirations of the local population on a more global scale. This study critically assesses Islamic ethics and principles for sustainable urban development. According to Shari'a, the ancient Islamic law, this necessitates that the built environment be envisioned and governed in a way that advances morals and the growth of society. Urban zoning and land use rules should prioritize social integration and protect people's rights and needs since urban planning decisions affect social life in the built environment. A variety of basic Islamic ideals, such as human welfare and glory, justice and equality, central consideration, unanimity and kindness, economic development, security and safety, and environmental protection, must be considered when planning an Islamic metropolis. These principles could be a foundation for sustainable urban development wherever and whenever. In this research, traditional judgments support several pertinent Islamic beliefs. Eminent judges and jurists rendered these decisions in the early Muslims' customary courtroom settings. The primary sources of Shari'a, from which most were descended, are the Qur'an, Hadith, and Sunnah. This research also attempts to look into how Islamic design paradigms may be used to create urban settings that are more habitable, environmentally friendly, and culturally sensitive.

Austerity Urbanism: From Redistributive transfers to debt based finance

Austerity urbanism is an explanatory concept that alerts planners, politicians and society. The tripartite explanation of the concept of Austerity: as a result, solution, or even as a cause is part of the knowledge of this research article. Austerity embedded in the political choices of neoliberalism. Austerity rooted in the liberal thinking. Austerity Urbanism intertwined with: destructive creativity, deficit politics and devolved risk. After years of Austerity (Urbanism), governments are still ill-prepared to deal with the current urban crisis. New democratic instruments are needed to regain control over capital and to reform, modernize economic and social redistributive efficiency and effectiveness.

Sesame Street and the City: Revitalizing the City through Popular Culture

In the midst of the urban crisis, the creators of Sesame Street rejected the suburban and classroom set designs of other children’s programs and chose instead a city street. When asked why, producers explained that it would appeal to their target audience: impoverished children in urban communities. But producers chose an urban setting because they believed the city could be saved and their show could be its savior. On-screen, producers crafted a vision for cities: an amalgamation of urban idealism, colorblindness, and nostalgia. Off-screen, producers attempted to improve urban conditions by providing children with access to Sesame Street. Drawing on close readings of the set design, production documents, and viewer mail, this article reconstructs the discourse between set designers, the city street they built, and their audience, to show how Sesame Street revitalized the city, both on and off-screen.

Neoliberalism and Urban Crisis in Brazil: The Reality of Housing and the Urgency of the Right to the City

With the adoption of neoliberal policies since the 1990s in Brazil, the impacts of economic policy on the production of the Brazilian urban and housing crisis have increased. Through critical analysis of bibliographic sources, this study aims to discuss the production of urban space, the appropriation of space by the dominant class, the housing crisis, and public housing policies. In a context of inequality in access to urban land, the struggle for the right to the city is of utmost importance as a means of resistance and overcoming the neoliberal paradigm. This article contributes to the debate on the relationship between economic policy and the production of urban space, highlighting challenges and possibilities for the construction of a more just and democratic city. Palabras clave: Vivienda y Políticas Urbanas; Vivienda; Hábitat; Producción del Espacio.

Origins of the Flint Water Crisis: Uneven Development, Urban Political Ecology, and Racial Capitalism

What conditions gave rise to the Flint Water Crisis? Students of contemporary urban disasters tend to advance two claims, increasingly in tandem. First, preexisting racial and class inequalities structure both the impact of disasters on urban communities and the dynamics of resettlement. Second and similarly, neoliberalism (variously theorized as neoliberal urbanism and the growth machine) prefigures urban disasters and underpins an ensuing market-oriented process of redevelopment. While long-standing patterns of inequality and neoliberalization are important contextual factors, by themselves they tend to undertheorize the timing and ecological content of urban crises. In this article, we synthesize the literature on uneven development, urban political ecology, and racial capitalism to advance an alternative hypothesis. Drawing on interviews with Flint residents and Michigan officials, the archival correspondence of government agencies, and ethnographic data, we argue that the Flint Water Crisis was the consequence of an extractivist project of White state and suburban actors to “regionalize” and thereby expropriate the assets and natural resources controlled by the predominantly Black working-class city of Detroit. Specifically, the formation of two regional water authorities required that Flint leave the Detroit Water and Sewer Department for an interim water source, the Flint River, which had been contaminated by decades of automotive toxins.