Urban Market Research Articles

Food for thought: Urban market planning and entangled governance in Accra, Ghana

The Konkomba Yam Market in Accra, Ghana, is one of West Africa's largest agricultural markets. This article undertakes a multi-dimensional analysis focusing on contests between unsuccessful government efforts to relocate the market, and local efforts to remain in place, culminating in indeterminacy. Publicly, the relocation debate pivots around competing rationales: those of government driven ‘market’ and ‘formal’ logics versus locally-based ‘rights’ and ‘informal’ urban governance. Conceptually, the article highlights how the imbroglio around the failed relocation is driven and perpetuated by both antagonistic and productive relationships between different formal and informal actors and institutions. Empirically, the case draws attention to how urban policy omissions of contextual socio-political and economic interests and power relations result in the informalisation of urban governance.

Youth Rural-Urban Migration and Change in Livelihoods A Case of Informal Traders in Njombe Town, Tanzania

This study investigated youth rural-urban migration and change in livelihoods in Njombe Town. Specifically the study aimed at identifying the factors causing the migration of youths from rural to urban areas and investigated the livelihoods of the youths after migrating to Njombe Town. Furthermore, the study employed snowball sampling technique which enabled to get a sample size of 99 respondents. Purposive sampling technique was used to get the key informants who provided the important information about youth rural- urban migration and change in livelihoods. The study collected its data through interviews, focus group discussion, observation, documentary sources and questionnaires. The study observed that lack of social services; employment opportunities and poor per capita income in rural areas were the major factors that pushed the youths out of rural areas while the possibilities of getting employment and conducive environment for business activities were the pull factors of Youths to Njombe Town. Th e study fi ndings further showed that although most of the youths had an idea of getting jobs in Njombe Town, only few managed to get formal employment due to lack of education and important skills necessary for urban labour market. Th erefore, this forced the youths to be employed in marginal jobs like being barmaids, domestic servants, security guards services, assistant’s hostesses and most of them were self-employed in informal trading activities whereby few of them improved their livelihoods compared to when they were in rural areas. The study recommended that Youths rural - urban migration can be reduced by improvements in the agricultural sector which it was observed to discourage the youth to remain in rural areas. The study further recommended that Youth should have access to financial capital and credits at reasonable interest rates

Planning and Markets at Work: Seattle under Growth Management and Economic Pressure

This paper presents an analysis of Seattle’s redevelopment under Washington State’s urban containment policy and the city’s own urban village plan, with a particular focus on outcomes that arise via a combination of urban planning and land market activity. By comparing the city’s parcel layer between 2010 and 2020, the analysis tracks changes in the form of land consolidation and subdivision, which indicate the intensity of redevelopment activities motivated by the market. It reveals that much redevelopment has happened in single- and multifamily areas, but multifamily areas are more likely to have changed. By implementing an exploratory discrete choice model, the analysis also reveals that urban village policy may reduce redevelopment within Seattle—but one subtype, so-called urban hubs, is more likely to accommodate redevelopment. This leads to further discussion of the goals and effectiveness of this urban village policy. Overall, the findings of this work form a picture of a happy, healthy, and sustainable city that sets a high bar for other cities seeking to achieve the same success.

Urban Market Production and Coastal Trade in the Early Viking Age: A Study of Eighth-Century ad Blue Period Millefiori Beads in Central and Northern Norway

Resources from outland regions of the Scandinavian Peninsula have been the topic of several studies about trade in the early Viking Age. In contrast, the distribution of highly refined items from the urban markets in southern Scandinavia in the opposite direction has been largely neglected. This article examines the occurrence of eighth-century millefiori beads of the ‘Blue Period’ in central and northern Norway. Comparing the stock of motifs on these beads with the bead production waste from the urban market of Ribe, the manufacturing of many of them in Ribe is likely. The beads’ distribution is considered to reflect areas rich in resources as well as points of strategic importance along the sailing route. A dual function of the beads as accessories and means of payment is discussed.

DETERMINANTS OF HOUSEHOLD’S POVERTY AMONG CROP FARMERS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

This study examined the households’ poverty status among crop farmers in Kaduna State. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 242 farmers for this study. Data were collected through using structured questionnaire with the help of trained enumerators. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as tobit regression and Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) model was employed in this study. The results showed that the mean age of the respondents was 45 years and were married, mean household size of the farmers was 11 persons, and about (80.6%) had formal education. The poverty situation of the farmers revealed that 51% were poor and the strategies adopted by the farmers to combat poverty were mostly through diversification into commercial farming, increased personal savings and involvement in non-farming activities. Tobit regression analysis revealed that age, household and income negatively influences the poverty status of the farmers, statistically significant at 1%, this implied that, poverty is concentrated among households in the study area. Major constraints encountered by the crop farmers, include high cost of inputs, inadequate credit facilities and inadequate market linkages. In conclusion, poverty incidence had a negative and significant effect on rural crop farmers. It was recommended that farmers should form cooperative societies to access micro loan; farmer should be linked to the urban market through extension agent and media to attract good value for their crops. Government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) should make farm inputs readily available at a subsidized rate

The Urban-Rural Relationships in China in the Context of COVID-19: From Urban-Rural Integration to Rural Rebuilding

Rural villages are the foundations of Chinese Society. City and the countryside, associating with the concept of social organic cycle “falling tree leaves return to the ground,”1 have supported each other for thousands of years. However, Chinese history in modern times has not developed as it was imagined theoretically. While the city is advancing, the countryside is declining. The duality of urban and rural areas has eroded the countryside, and their relationship has undergone a fundamental transformation. This deformed social structure must be corrected. Therefore, since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the work to reconcile the contradictions between urban-rural relationships runs through the entire process of China’s socialist modernization. This provides the logical main line of the urban-rural integration. City is a consumption group,2 and it does not have a production function, and the raw materials needed for urban development are all obtained from the countryside. Unlike cities, rural areas have always been production bases.3 However, limited by the scarce economical structure of self-sufficiency, if a rural village wants to prosper, it must rely on the urban market. As a result, the dual nature of the interaction between urban and rural economic development has conditioned that the urban-rural relationship is an interdependent, mutually restrictive and inseparable balanced one. This also means that the fundamental essence of urban-rural integration lies in the rebuilding of the rural social pattern from a modern perspective. In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 disconnected the rural and urban areas in China, which caused a major blow to both cities and rural areas. When the organic cycle of the society is broken, the city will suffer first, and the countryside also cannot avoid economic losses. The cities and the countryside seem to have truly fallen into what Fei Xiaotong calls “the tragedy of urban bankruptcy and rural primitivization”. Examining the urban-rural relationship under the epidemic, we see that the countryside has become a buffer for social distress and a refuge for urban crises. In the post-epidemic phase, rebuilding a more flexible and resilient organic cycle is the theme of urban-rural relations.

Exploring investment paradigm in urban office space management: perspectives from coworking space investors in Nigeria

PurposeCoworking space had been a trajectory in the commercial space operation and management globally. Commercial coworking/tenancy space is confronted with an unexpected shift. This paper aims to examine the peculiarity and investment characteristics of flexible office space and the post-COVID implications on coworking office space practice and investment. This is with a view toward providing investors with an understanding of the dynamics underpinning flexible office space investment in the Nigerian emerging property market.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a qualitative research approach. Open-ended interview questions were used to solicit information from nine coworking space operators in the urban property market of Ibadan, Nigeria. The structured interview data were analyzed using Atlas.ti – a computer-aided qualitative data analysis software.FindingsThe findings show that the factors influencing demand for flexible office space in the study area include flexibility, affordability, cost-effectiveness, entrepreneurship motivations and opportunity for risk sharing. The results also revealed that coworkers are predominantly mobile individuals who require a workstation away from their homes or a traditional office setup. Management challenges include deficient infrastructure, low level of awareness, stealing and high cost of operations. The impact of COVID-19 includes a drop in patronage, rent refunds, changes in working pattern and job loss, restriction to online and remote operation, the extra cost of putting prevention measures in place, changes in tenancy contract and drops in return on investment.Practical implicationsThis study has implications for investors in commercial space occupation and leases in comparable developing economies.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper lies in its relevance with the emergent behavioral changes, orchestrated from the novel COVID-19, which compels reevaluation of workplace practices and investment for economic improvement, especially as it relates to commercial real estate investment.

Animals Traded for Traditional Medicine Purposes in the Kumasi Central Market, Ghana: Conservation Implications

The Kumasi Central Market is the largest urban open market in Ghana and animals used for medicinal purposes are among the items that are typically displayed for sale. However, no study has been undertaken on the animal species sold for traditional medicine purposes. This study took inventory of animal species traded for medicinal purposes in the Kumasi Central Market and examined their conservation implications. The species recorded to be traded comprised 5 taxonomic classes, belonging to 20 families. Chameleons were found to be the most traded animal species. Seven (23%) of the species traded were found to be threatened under IUCN Red List, with four (13%) species listed on Appendix I of CITES, and eight (26%) species on Schedule I of Wildlife Conservation Regulations of Ghana. Wildlife regulations are not serving as a deterrent to the trade in threatened animal species. There is a need to sensitize traders about the threats faced by these animal species and provide explanations as to why these species should be protected.

Consumer and retailer preferences for local ingredients in processed foods: Evidence from a stacked choice experiment in an African urban dairy market

West African consumption of processed dairy products has been increasing over the past decades, most markedly in urban areas. In livestock-rich countries such as Mali, local milk production has the potential to meet growing demand. There is evidence, although limited, that consumers in the region prefer local fresh milk over imported milk. Yet, very little fresh milk is marketed in urban areas, where imported powdered milk dominates the market. The dichotomy between agricultural and urban food policies in Mali along with asymmetric information has likely contributed to this mismatch between fresh milk demand and supply. In this study, we bring new empirical evidence on preferences and information flows on processed dairy products. We employ a novel approach of stacked choice experiments to estimate and compare urban consumer and retailer preferences for three dairy product attributes: ingredient labeling, product safety certification, and packaging. Findings indicate that the majority (70%) of consumers are willing to pay a higher price for pasteurized milk that is manufactured purely from fresh milk, compared to powdered milk, pointing to an important market opportunity. Consumer and retailer preferences and willingness-to-pay are well aligned, suggesting that retailers have adequate information on their customers and that information asymmetry exists further upstream in the value chain. Better labeling regulations, government-backed certification, and policies that support packaging alternatives can improve information flows and strengthen the competitiveness of fresh milk value chains. Policymakers and manufacturers could also benefit from coordinating more closely with retailers as an information partner.

Study of the Current Trends and Opportunities of E-commerce and its Comparative Study in Rural and Urban Areas of India

Electronic commerce, commonly referred to as electronic commerce, deals with products or services on computer networks such as the Internet. The positive and negative effects of e-commerce have an impact on physical or traditional retail formats in the trade field. And detecting the essential factors for the growth of e-commerce in India. To analyse the current trends and opportunities of e-commerce in India. And the comparative study of emerging e-commerce businesses in rural and urban areas in India. And the study of the emerging trends of e-commerce and its development in Indian prospects. It is clear that the Indian rural market is emerging as a preferred destination for marketers looking to hit volume. Companies struggling to survive in the urban market also show a positive coating. Before entering these markets, however, it is urgent to thoroughly study the rural dynamics and demographics or factors affecting demand in the target area, as the entire rural market cannot be considered as a homogeneous mass. In order to attract the masses from rural areas, E-Commerce Industries have introduced mobile applications to influence them, as well as vendors to buy and sell products/services on the mobile Internet. Rural Indians recognize the differences in their opportunities to learn new products and services in the electronic marketplace. The paradigms of rural markets are changing in the 21st century. Companies need to study needs, culture, behavior, etc. rural population and formulate various innovative strategies to explore the opportunistic and promising market. Success largely depends on the long-term vision. Creativity, innovative strategies and quick action to get started early mean more profit.

What drives consumer demand for packaged rice? Evidence from South and Southeast Asia

The demand for improved packaging and labeling of rice is expected to rise in Asia due to rapid income growth, growing food safety concerns, and retail market transformation. Currently, about half of the rice in urban markets in South and Southeast Asia is sold in packaged form. However, urban market shares of packaged rice are highly heterogeneous among countries and range from 11% in the Philippines to 18% in Vietnam, 45% in India, 51% in Indonesia, 58% in Cambodia, 63% in Bangladesh, and up to 64% in Thailand. We identify the drivers of consumer demand for packaged rice by fitting a probit model on survey data from more than 4000 urban and rural consumers from seven countries in South and Southeast Asia. The results indicate that demand for packaged rice is driven by income, education, employment, household size, intrinsic quality attributes such as rice fragrance, per capita rice consumption and purchase frequency. The drivers of demand are found to depend on the stage of retail market transformation, distinguishing Thailand as a market leader from the rest of the countries in South and Southeast Asia. The findings in this study can help policymakers learn from more advanced countries and rice sectors in South and Southeast Asia and develop country-specific strategies to foster modernization and inclusiveness of rice retail markets consistent with their sectors’ state of progress in retail transformation. • Demand for rice packaging is expected to rise due to food safety and nutrition concerns. • Drivers of consumer preferences for packaged rice are identified with a probit model. • Nearly one-half of consumers in South and Southeast Asia purchase packaged rice. • Urban market shares of packaged rice are highly heterogeneous among countries (11–64%). • Education, family size, rice consumption, income, and employment are major drivers.

Migration in China: To work or to wed?

SummaryThis paper develops a model encompassing both matching and hedonic models, studies its properties, and provides identification and estimation strategies. We bring the model to data on internal migration in China to answer the question raised in the title. We estimate the migration surplus of singles and couples and the marital surplus of natives and, using counterfactuals together with our identification strategy, quantify the “marrying‐up” and the “work” effects of migration. Results show that, for floating (resp. permanent) migrant women married with urban men, the “marrying‐up” effect is positive but 3.5 (resp. 5) times smaller than the “work” effect. However, as these migrant women enter the urban marriage market, they generate equilibrium “marrying‐up” effects for all men and women by changing the relative supply of women on both the rural and urban marriage markets. These effects can be large relative to the “work” effect of migration for some types of migrants (floating migrant women married with a permanent migrant man and floating migrant women married with a floating migrant man) and represent about 13% of the equilibrium utility of urban native men.

Labor market dynamics in urban China and the role of the state sector

This paper studies the effect of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on the dynamics of the Chinese urban labor market. Using longitudinally matched monthly panel data, we document very low labor force dynamics in the state sector, which leads to a high long-term unemployment rate. We develop and estimate an equilibrium search and matching model with three differences between the state and non-state sectors: labor productivity, labor adjustment cost, and workers’ bargaining power. Counterfactual analysis shows that, among the three channels, reducing the bargaining power of state sector workers is most effective in reducing unemployment duration and unemployment rate.

Racial, Gender, and Age Dynamics in Michigan's Urban and Rural Farmers Markets: Reducing Food Insecurity, and the Impacts of a Pandemic.

In recent decades, the number of farmers markets has increased dramatically across the country. Though farmers markets have been described as White spaces, they can play important roles in reducing food insecurity. It is particularly true in Michigan, where farmers markets were crucial collaborators in pioneering programs such as Double-Up Food Bucks that help low-income residents and people of color gain access to fresh, healthy, locally grown food. This article examines the questions: (1) What are the demographic characteristics of farmers market managers, vendors, and customers? (2) How do these influence market activities? (3) To what extent do farmers markets participate in programs to reduce food insecurity? (4) To what extent do farmers markets serve low-income residents and people of color? And (5) How has the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) affected farmers’ markets? This article discusses the findings of a 2020 study that examined the extent to which Michigan’s farmers markets served low-income customers and people of color, and participated in food assistance programs. The study examined 79 farmers markets and found that 87.3% of the farmers market managers are White. On average, roughly 79% of the markets’ vendors are White, and almost 18% are people of color. Most of the vendors in the markets participate in nutrition assistance programs. Market managers estimate that about 76% of their customers are White, and about 23% are people of color. Farmers markets operated by people of color attract more customers and vendors of color than those administered by White market managers. Almost half of the farmers markets started operations later than usual in 2020 because of the pandemic. More than a third of the markets reported that their funding declined during the pandemic. Moreover, the number of vendors fell at two-thirds of the markets; customers dipped by more than 40%. On the other hand, the number of people requesting food assistance during the pandemic increased in more than half of the markets.

Rural–urban connectivity strengthens agrarian peace: Evidence from a study of gender and motorcycle taxis in Sierra Leone

AbstractRural‐based insurgencies disrupted the forest margins of Upper West Africa in the 1990s. A subsequent return to peace was accompanied by strong growth in small‐scale trade in foodstuffs and other agrarian produce in high demand in towns. Motor cycle taxis are a feature of this increased rural–urban market integration. It was a mode of transport pioneered by ex‐combatants. Where rural women were once attacked by rural young men without job prospects press ganged into fighting for the rebels, bike taxi riders now carry them to rural periodic markets, many of which are new since the end of conflict. The study provides an analytical account of these developments, drawing on discussions with villagers in three heavily war‐affected localities of Sierra Leone. The evidence indicates that communities divided by conflict have quietly built new cooperative links conducive to peace based on local agricultural production and petty trade.

A comprehensive review of energy scenario and sustainable energy in Kenya

The review examined the potential of renewable and non-renewable energy resources and the current state of exploitation in Kenya. Energy demand is on the rise, coupled with the rapid increase in population. As a result, the state spends a large amount of money on the importation of oil. Oil and electricity are the primary determiners of the economy. The production mix include 52.1% of hydro, 32.5% of fossil fuels, 13.2% of geothermal energy, 1. 8% of biogas cogeneration, and 0.4% of wind. There is a projection of an increase in current energy demand from 600 MW to 2,600–3600 MW by 2020. The national energy review indicates that there is a significant reliance on wood for fuel and the other biomass accounting for 68% of overall energy usage. It's used especially among the rural areas, urban, and informal market which has considerably affected its supply and demand. Consequently, there is the destruction of most of the vegetation and the forests and existing ones are on the verge of diminishing. The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum manages its overall strategy and provides advice on the production and growth of energy sub-sector, including power, petroleum and renewable energy. The major problem in the energy sector is limitation in accessibility to the modern energy, high pressure on biomass supplies, rising energy prices, high demand for electricity than the ability to build new generation, inability of Kenyan Power and Lighting Company to link every consumer willing to purchase and consider cost of rural electrification by grid development due to dispersion.

Consumer behaviour in the bottom level of Pyramid markets with reference to Urban segments

The ‘bottom of the pyramid’ approach, by C. K Prahalad, proposed that ‘marketing to the poor in increasing countries is the best way to instantaneously progress emergent economies and business profits’ (Prahalad, 2004). Firms are ideally well positioned to seek the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid due to their compensations in both scale and scope. As recent research in this area argues, the rural bottom of the pyramid (BOP) is dispersed, distant, extremely poor, heterogeneous and mostly illiterate. Operating in this segment is also physically, economically, and politically risky. A more realistic and sustainable alternative is to target the urban BOP. Although research in this area is relatively new, most of the work done is towards the supply side of the problem. The research done so far has largely remained silent on the demand or the consumption side of the BOP. The thesis elaborately explores the consumer or demand side of the Bottom of the Pyramid concept specifically focusing on the urban BOP. This importance of this study is twofold; firstly, it takes a more realistic approach towards the BOP by eliminating the dynamic barriers of the rural BOP. This will encourage broader business engagement. Secondly, this is one of the first few empirical studies that has been conducted with the motivation to understand the consumer behaviour of the urban BOP market especially with an Indian context.

Determining the suitability level of urban markets to the urban planning and design criteria: case of Bilecik, Turkey

Despite the increasing number of shopping centers day by day, the urban markets, whose visitors and popularities continue to increase, are the facts of urban life that have been left behind in terms of making even ordinary analyses on their historical positions and socio-economic stances. Urban markets are intense areas of socialization apart from all their important features. In this context, the quality and quantity of times spent in these areas should be configured in the best possible manner. The main subject of this study is the evaluation of the urban markets (district bazaar/street market), which is a subject worth to be examined in historical, architectural, economic, environmental, scientific and sociological aspects, specifically in Bilecik (Turkey), with regard to urban planning and design criteria. In the study, it is aimed to examine the study areas comparatively in line with the surveys that contain general questions that will determine the planning and design preferences applied to the users in two marketplaces in different parts of the city in Bilecik and the observation studies made in the market places. The gathered data were analyzed using normal statistical methods of the SPSS program. A set of urban market items were defined using the factor analysis in order for designating the main and underlying factors.

Design of a Cultural Tourism Passenger Flow Prediction Model in the Yangtze River Delta Based on Regression Analysis

Cultural tourism has gained much attention in the last decade and has promoted the preservation of a variety of tangible and intangible assets of culture. In order to accurately predict the cultural tourism passenger flow in the Yangtze River Delta and improve its economic benefits, this paper designs the prediction model of cultural tourism passenger flow in the Yangtze River Delta based on regression analysis. Taking the competitiveness of passenger flow as the core, this paper selects 28 indexes from four aspects of cultural tourism brand resources, cultural tourism support and protection, and urban tourism market income to build the evaluation index system of influencing factors of passenger flow. The principal component analysis method is used to simplify many related factors into a few uncorrelated factors to eliminate the multicollinearity caused by too many dependent variables; on this basis, the principal component regression model is constructed, and the determination coefficient is used to test the model fitting. Taking 15 cultural tourism cities in the Yangtze River Delta as the research object, the results show that the designed model has a good fitting degree, and the average error is only 0.41%, which can meet the needs of the prediction of cultural tourism passenger flow in the Yangtze River Delta. After the application of the prediction model, the foreign exchange earning amount of each cultural tourism city can be increased by more than 12%. The study has revealed good results.

Heavy metal concentrations in soils and two vegetable crops (Corchorus olitorius and Solanum nigrum L.), their transfer from soil to vegetables and potential human health risks assessment at selected urban market gardens of Yaoundé, Cameroon

ABSTRACT Soil contamination by heavy metals has received considerable attention in recent years. In this study, heavy metal accumulation in two vegetable crops (Corchorus olitorius and Solanum nigrum L.) was studied. Assessment of soil properties and seven heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb, Cr and Mn) in soils and vegetables was done. Heavy metal transfer from soil to plant parts, translocation from roots to leaves and estimated potential health risks of heavy metal to humans via consumption of vegetable crops were studied. The ANOVA test showed that variations in the soil characteristics and heavy metal concentrations were statistically significant at level 0.05. Pearson correlation coefficients showed that the concentration of heavy metals has significant relationships with some soil properties like cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic carbon (OC) and soil texture. Bioconcentration factor (BCF) for both leaves and roots for Zn, Cu, Cd, Ni Cr and Mn were found to be greater than one, indicating the hyperaccumulation nature of vegetables. High translocation (TF) from root to leaves (TF>1) was recorded for Zn, Cu, Cd and Mn. The Health Risk Index (HRI) was found generally less than 1, suggesting that it is not risky for the Yaoundé city inhabitants to consume vegetable crops, except for Cd and Mn in Solanum nigrum L. Total Hazard Health Risk Index (THRI) expressed to know the overall harmful effects on health posed by several heavy metals taken together showed that the value for vegetables studied was higher than 1, suggesting the probability of adverse effects. The health risk is likely to occur for vegetable consumers.