Urban Workers Research Articles

Impact of Urban Slum Violence on Work in Slum Areas of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Abstract Regular violence pervades the slums in Port Harcourt, a metropolitan city where people inhabit for the purpose of work, among other reasons. The curiosity to understand the relationship of work with this violence is felt by the researchers who, from the review of relevant literature, observed that intellectual response to the issue dealt with political violence and effects on social development. The researchers therefore observed an existing gap in knowledge of the relationship between urban slum violence and work in the slum areas of Port Harcourt. Four research hypotheses were posed to guide the study. The study adopted the social disorganization theory in the explanation of the variables of the study. Simple random sampling method was adopted in the selection of the respondents of the instruments of the study, and some slums in the city were selected randomly. The study adopted cross-sectional research design and generated data through survey. The data for the study was generated through the administration of structured questionnaire and Focus Group Discussion. Sample size of 400 was determined by the Taro Yamane statistics. We analyzed data of the study using descriptive statistics. Thus, chi-square statistics was utilized in testing the hypotheses of the study. The qualitative data were organized into conceptual themes and categories. The study concluded that urban slum violence hinders school activities, business activities, fishing activities and employment opportunities for people in the slum areas of Port Harcourt. Thus, the study established that urban slum violence has a negative impact on work in the slum areas of Port Harcourt. Hence, policy recommendations were made.

PERSEPSI MASYARAKAT TERKAIT PENERAPAN KONSEP DESAIN EKOLOGI TERHADAP PEMBANGUNAN BERKELANJUTAN PADA TEPIAN SUNGAI AYUNG

The concept of sustainable development has basically become the concern of all parties, especially in tourist destination areas. The Ayung riverside area is one of the tourist destinations for local and foreign residents. The rapid development of the Ayung riverside environment has a great impact on the environment around the village. The environment around the village sometimes becomes a place of uncontrolled development that causes environmental damage characterized by decreased air, water and soil quality, resulting in the extinction of animals, plants, wildlife and damage to ecosystems. In this context, it is necessary to apply ecological architecture to the construction of urban support works, including riverside areas. This study aims to determine public perceptions related to the application of ecological design concepts to sustainable development in the Ayung riverside area. The method used is descriptive with a qualitative approach, analyzing according to the principles of ecological design. The application of ecological architecture on the banks of the Ayung river is expected to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem and minimize negative impacts on the environment due to improper ecological design. The results of this study show that ecological principles can be applied in the Ayung riverside area, including the arrangement of several buildings to create dynamic green spaces while still based on local wisdom

Labour code, location, and migration

AbstractThe introduction of the 2012 Labour Code is considered ‘groundbreaking’ in industrial relations in Vietnam. However, knowledge about the effects of this law is still minimal. This study provides the first evidence of the impacts of the law on worker outcomes, disaggregated by location and migration status. The Vietnam Labour Force Survey is used as the primary dataset. Both difference-in-differences and fixed-effect models are applied in the investigation. The estimated results show a relationship between the introduction of the law and the labour supply of contracted workers in urban areas, especially long-term migrant workers. Furthermore, income for these long-term migrant contract workers was affected significantly by the introduction of the law. A link between the law and health insurance participation was also found among non-migrant contracted workers in urban areas. We also perform estimations using a short panel sample and find notable results. The study likewise reveals disadvantages of rural workers compared to urban workers in terms of earnings, and of short-term migrants compared to other workers, in terms of labour supply.

Obshchestvenno-politicheskie nastroeniya rossijskogo krest'yanstva v seredine 1920-h gg. (po materialam vyborov sel'skih sovetov)

The sources of the study of the socio-political sentiments of the Russian peasantry in the mid-1920s were the materials of the elections to village councils. Special emphasis is placed on the study of changes in the identity of peasants of the “revolutionary turning point" generation. The author analyzes the attitude of the active part of the village to urban workers, prices, parties, etc. The reasons for peasant absenteeism and distrust of the authorities are considered. The conclusion is made about the growth of the political consciousness of the peasants in the mid-1920s.

Workability via Platform: A Legislative Proposal and a Collective Movement for Socio-Labor Civil Integration

Introduction: The legal integration of work via technological platforms (applications) in the Brazilian legal system. Contextualization/concept: Under the terms of articles 7 and 114 of the Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988, it is work and work relations that gain grammaticality and literality in the constitutional text, which inaugurate the concept of workability, when the tone of employment (industrial sector) would be giving way to work (services sector). Objective: The historical and normative broth induces a perspective of reflexivity in the midst of resisted change, which will impose on workers via the platform (as mostly urban workers) and labor institutions renewed forms of collective union political, legislative and organizational action, whether at a national or international level, to overcome obstacles that impede the effectiveness of constitutional labor standards. Methodology: The methodology follows comprehensive (Weberian) and extensive interpretative and constitutional historical analysis connected to excerpts from current reality, centered on the theoretical-normative method. Theoretical framework: For Weber (2000), legal norms have the function of disciplining and ordering actions and social relations, constituting maxims and, therefore, creating the conditions of administration and obedience of society's participants to the law. Conclusion: The duty to be constitutionally regulated inaugurated new labor precepts, which are still in resistance in the world of being, which imposes on actors and labor institutions the creation of a middle path suitable for the civil socio-labor integration of a new professional category of urban workers.

Small Transport Operators as Democratic Actors: Work, Politics, and Governance in Delhi

AbstractThe paper broadly illuminates how livelihood pursuits and acts of democratic citizenship mutually constitute each other for the urban working poor in South Asia and argues this through the “democratic action” done by the auto‐rickshaw drivers in Delhi. The paper shows how the drivers work their livelihoods and maintain stable work conditions while also trying to protect its very possibilities in the future. The paper does this by tracing first how government regulation envelopes the everyday livelihoods of these drivers, forcing them to master regulation. The drivers go on to perform two kinds of work—challenging regulation on its own terrain and performing electoral activities in lieu of changing regulation and policy. The paper argues that we can understand these two kinds of activities as pertaining to substantive and procedural democracy. The paper draws upon 24 months of dissertation fieldwork in Delhi with auto‐drivers, other small transport operators, bureaucrats, lawyers, politicians, and others associated with the small transport economy.

A Machine Learning Web App to Predict Diabetic Blood Glucose Based on a Basic Noninvasive Health Checkup, Sociodemographic Characteristics, and Dietary Information: Case Study.

Over the past few decades, diabetes has become a serious public health concern worldwide, particularly in Bangladesh. The advancement of artificial intelligence can be reaped in the prediction of blood glucose levels for better health management. However, the practical validity of machine learning (ML) techniques for predicting health parameters using data from low- and middle-income countries, such as Bangladesh, is very low. Specifically, Bangladesh lacks research using ML techniques to predict blood glucose levels based on basic noninvasive clinical measurements and dietary and sociodemographic information. To formulate strategies for public health planning and the control of diabetes, this study aimed to develop a personalized ML model that predicts the blood glucose level of urban corporate workers in Bangladesh. Based on the basic noninvasive health checkup test results, dietary information, and sociodemographic characteristics of 271 employees of the Bangladeshi Grameen Bank complex, 5 well-known ML models, namely, linear regression, boosted decision tree regression, neural network, decision forest regression, and Bayesian linear regression, were used to predict blood glucose levels. Continuous blood glucose data were used in this study to train the model, which then used the trained data to predict new blood glucose values. Boosted decision tree regression demonstrated the greatest predictive performance of all evaluated models (root mean squared error=2.30). This means that, on average, our model's predicted blood glucose level deviated from the actual blood glucose level by around 2.30 mg/dL. The mean blood glucose value of the population studied was 128.02 mg/dL (SD 56.92), indicating a borderline result for the majority of the samples (normal value: 140 mg/dL). This suggests that the individuals should be monitoring their blood glucose levels regularly. This ML-enabled web application for blood glucose prediction helps individuals to self-monitor their health condition. The application was developed with communities in remote areas of low- and middle-income countries, such as Bangladesh, in mind. These areas typically lack health facilities and have an insufficient number of qualified doctors and nurses. The web-based application is a simple, practical, and effective solution that can be adopted by the community. Use of the web application can save money on medical expenses, time, and health management expenses. The created system also aids in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in ensuring that everyone in the community enjoys good health and well-being and lowering total morbidity and mortality.

Youth educational mobility and the rural family in China

Urban-rural economic opportunity gaps drive rural youth to seek economic stability by migrating away from home and family. The links between educational attainment and economic outcomes for rural youth are well studied in China and elsewhere, but the implications of educational mobility for rural family relationships remain less understood. Extending tenets of second demographic transition theory, we posit that education sets the stage for “individualization:” geographic mobility for urban work distant from rural family networks. Educational mobility may thus set conditions for upending traditional family co-residence patterns, direct-support relationships, and family-gender attitudes. In this paper, we consider first whether educational advancement is associated with urban economic mobility for rural youth in young adulthood, and then ask whether education is linked to disruption of rural family relations. Specifically, using the case of children growing up in rural northwest China, we estimate relationships between secondary and tertiary educational attainment and (1) economic stability, (2) intergenerational geographic separation and material exchange, and (3) traditional family and gender role attitudes, after adjusting for potential confounders. Results show that for both men and women, education is associated with greater economic stability in young adulthood, across several measures, and with an erosion of adherence to traditional family and gender attitudes. Moreover, for men, education correlates to less family proximity and more material exchange.

A Survey on Factors Affecting Knowledge and Satisfaction with Care Among Persons with Diabetes Mellitus in an Urban Health Centre and its Outreach Clinics in South India.

To determine the level of knowledge and factors affecting knowledge and satisfaction with diabetes care among persons with diabetes at urban health centre (UHC) and community health worker (CHW)-led outreach clinics (ORC) in South India. A cross-sectional study was carried out using a structured questionnaire. One hundred patients at the UHC and 200 patients at the ORC were included. Patients with DM of more than eight years, with co-morbidities and maintained on insulin had good knowledge at the UHC. At the ORC, participants who received education beyond the primary level and belonging to non - Hindu religion had higher knowledge. Patients at the ORC experienced better satisfaction in terms of waiting time for appointments, consultation, registration system and counselling. At the UHC, those who received primary education or those with lower educational attainment had better satisfaction. Overall, knowledge (p = 0.03) and satisfaction (p = 0.00001) of diabetes care was better at the ORC than at the UHC. Our study found better knowledge and satisfaction with diabetes care at the ORC than at the UHC. Whether or not the difference can be attributed to CHW-based clinics in the community needs to be further elucidated.

EMBRACING KHADI: URBAN INDIAN WORKING WOMEN'S AFFINITY FOR WESTERN OFFICE ATTIRE

In urban India number of women’s joining the corporate firms has grown significantly and hence the market for women’s office wear is expanding exponentially. The work wear outfit choices of these women’s matters a lot to them as it reflects their personality and somewhere their position in workplace. With changing lifestyles, women’s preference for western office wear outfits has increased. Also, on the other hand Consumer lifestyle preferences in Urban India shows some awareness and inclination towards sustainable fashion choices. This paper aims to analyse Urban Indian working women acceptance for western office wear outfits made using Khadi fabric which is one of the sustainable textile materials. This paper is an extension to a previous study on understanding consumer behaviour towards sustainable fashion and office wear outfit need and preferences of working women in India. For the research western office wear outfits styles were developed using Khadi Fabric material and were subjected to analysis on seven parameters – Fabric look and feel, Garment Quality, Garment Comfort, Garment Style and fashion, Garment Size and Fit, Garment care and maintenance and Garment Price and value. The primary data for the study has been collected from user’s study conducted over the period of three months with an average of once in a week usage of the garment The goal of primary research is to capture users authentic experiences as a potential consumer - while wearing the garment and after care. The findings suggest that the acceptance by users and potential target consumer was significantly related to the seven analysis parameters. This research recommends Sustainable Fashion brands, Women’s western office wear brands, Khadi weavers and designers to adapt and diversify Khadi in such a way which can deliver higher level of customer value and satisfaction Also the research can be useful for customers to adopt Khadi and for other stakeholders to popularize it.

The Architectural-Urbanistic Evolution of Cahul City from the 20th Century to the Beginning of the 21st Century

The 20th century meant for the city of Cahul the continuation of the urbanization process started in the 19th century. In the first two decades of that century, buildings intended for maritime transport, residential buildings, cultural institutions, edifices with an industrial profile, etc. appeared. During the interwar period, several factories and banks operated in the city, education was represented by two high schools, two gymnasiums and eight primary schools. Among the cultural institutions, there was a cinema, two dormitories of the “Prince Carol” Royal Foundation, the Cultural League, etc. Some buildings were of modernist or neoclassical inspiration, and others had qualities of constructivist architecture. After the Second World War, several architectural and urban planning works were undertaken in Cahul. In 1947, the plan sketch of the city was made (architect V. Smirnov). At the “Molghiprostroi” Institute in Chișinău, some series of urban planning documents were developed that determined the subsequent systematization of the city of Cahul. The architecture of the new buildings built during the Soviet period was tributary to socialist modernism. In 2012, the specialists of the “Urbanproiect” Institute completed the elaboration of the general urban plan of the city of Cahul (architects Iu. Povar, V. Bocacev). In recent years, interesting buildings with two or more levels have appeared in the city, both residential ones and those of public interest. Their architecture belongs to post-impressionism, minimalism, etc.

Empathic Communication and Artistic Healing Role of Local Music in Xiamen City under Major Social Events

From local to global, from individual to universal, from singularity to plurality, music not only promotes the deep integration and dissemination of urban culture, giving birth to the theoretical perspective of “music studies”, but also becomes an important symbol and weathervane of a city’s cultural trend. Whether it is a metropolis such as London, Paris or Beijing, or an art city that focuses on the city’s on-the-ground music creation or identity, music is closely connected to the urban cultural space. At the same time, music is also a “holistic effect art”, a language of cultural globalisation. This study will be based on the creation and dissemination of Xiamen’s urban music works under major social issues, taking aesthetic function and artistic healing as the entry point, combining with the case study of Xiamen’s urban in situ music works to explore the current situation of the creation and dissemination of its works, elucidating the social value and artistic healing function of the city’s songs, and rethinking and exploring the relationship between literary and artistic works and the harmonious development of the human society, and the role of the city’s brand shaping and influence on city branding. This research will mainly focus on the literature research method and case study method, using the Internet and electronic resource databases to review the literature, understand the knowledge related to music and art, clarify the development of urban local music and the current status of research, and obtain relevant research information, so as to provide ideas and references for the project research. To analyse the data of urban local music creation and dissemination with appropriate statistical and analytical methods, in order to maximise the function of the data and play a role in the data. Take urban local music as a typical case, investigate it, and give solution ideas and programmes, and look forward to the direction of creation and dissemination of contemporary literary works of urban local music under major social events.

Towards climate change resilience and informal workers’ health in Zimbabwe: an action-research case study

ABSTRACT Despite rising concern for climate change in cities, urban informal workers are rarely considered in climate and health interventions. Globally, about two billion people work in the ‘informal economy,’ which encompasses all livelihoods lacking legal recognition or social protections. To encourage more holistic studies of workers’ health in urban areas, we discuss recent action-research in Zimbabwe’s cities of Harare (population 2.4m) and Masvingo (urban population 207,000). Using surveys (N=418) and focus group discussions (N=207) with informal urban agriculture workers and plastic waste-pickers, we analysed their climate-related, occupational, and environmental health risks. Approximately 55% of waste-pickers and urban agriculture workers reported that heat extremes already shortened their working times and lowered incomes. We highlight the close links between living and working conditions; discuss gendered differences in risks; and examine how heatwaves, water scarcity, and floods are affecting informal workers. In Masvingo, local authorities have begun collaborating with informal workers to tackle these risks. We recommend multi-sectoral, co-produced strategies that can simultaneously promote health and resilient livelihoods. Although climate change could further entrench urban inequalities, there may also be unusual opportunities to spark action on climate change by using a health lens to improve livelihoods and foster more inclusive, resilient urbanisation pathways.

Developing the Urban Fire Safety Co-Management System in China Based on Public Participation

The new situations, problems, and challenges facing urban fire safety work are gradually increasing in China, so innovating urban fire safety governance modes is an urgent task. In the fire management practice of the Chinese government, the establishment of an urban fire safety co-management system is an important measure for aggregating fire safety management resources and improving the level of urban fire safety prevention, as well as control. In order to reveal and clarify the interacting relationships and influencing mechanisms among multiple subjects in an urban fire safety co-management system, we constructed an urban fire safety co-management game model comprising fire supervision departments, production management units, and the public based on evolutionary game theory. The stability of the urban fire safety co-management game system is explored from the perspective of game subjects. The influencing factors of strategy selection between game subjects in the game system were investigated using numerical simulation analysis. The research results show that elevating the informatization level of co-management, the risk perception level of the public, and the disclosure level of fire safety information are conducive to stimulating the public’s positivity to participate in co-management. Strengthening the accountability of the superior government is conducive to ensuring the supervision level of fire supervision departments. The above measures have positive value for optimizing China’s urban fire safety co-management systems, establishing urban fire safety management synergy, and ensuring the stability of social fire safety situations.

A study of the thermal comfort in urban mountain parks and its physical influencing factors

Urban thermal comforts are increasingly holding people's attention due to global warming and urban heat islands. Urban parks can absorb sunlight radiation, which reduces air temperature, improving urban microclimates. Various factors in the park are confirmed to be effective in heat mitigation. However, there are few studies on thermal comfort in urban mountain parks, and mountain areas might cause peculiar climatic conditions owing to their particular landforms. To fill this gap in the research, this study explored thermal comfort in mountain parks and the environmental factors that would affect thermal comfort. A field measurement in the summertime (July & August) of 2018, it was found that trees, the river, and the area of parks could adjust the thermal comforts of mountain parks. Their effects varied throughout the day, and the impacts of trees were most pronounced at noon and late afternoon, while the influence of rivers and park areas was most pronounced at noon. Increasing the leaf area index by 1 point could result in decreases in physiological equivalent temperature, land surface temperature, and solar radiation level by 3.90 °C, 2.69 °C, and 270.10 W/m2, respectively. The findings have practical implications for future urban mountain park design works.

The impact of government environmental attention on firms’ ESG performance: Evidence from China

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) have been globally recognized as a pivotal driving force for achieving sustainable development goals. Extant studies have mainly focused on exploring its economic consequences, while evidence on how the public sector, especially local government, affects enterprises’ ESG performance is scarce. By manually extracting environment-related textual information from 2011 to 2020 urban government work reports, we quantify government environmental attention (GEA) and explore its impact on firms’ ESG performance. The result indicates that an increase in GEA enhances firms’ ESG performance. We confirm this finding using a range of robustness checks. Our mechanism analysis shows that GEA facilitates firms’ ESG performance by altering three environmental-related firm behaviors: green investment, environmental governance information disclosure, and green technology innovation. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that this positive effect differs in firm ownership, CEO experience, and factor intensity. Our findings provide insight for policymakers to propel firms to undertake more social responsibility.

Hidden Income and the Perceived Returns to Migration

In many developing economies, urban workers earn substantially more than rural workers with the same level of education. Why don't more rural workers migrate to cities? I use two field experiments in Kenya to show that low migration is partly due to underestimation of urban incomes, which is sustained by income hiding by migrants. Parents at the origin underestimate their migrant children's incomes by nearly half, and underestimation is greater when a migrant's remittance obligations are high. Providing information about urban earnings increases migration to the capital city by about 40 percent over two years. (JEL C93, J31, J61, J82, O15, O18, R23)

Characterizing Non-governmental Organizations And Local Government Collaborations In Urban Forest Management Across Canada.

Urban forests are being threatened by rapid urbanization, biodiversity crises, and climate variability. In response, governments are increasingly collaborating with the public for solutions to these mounting challenges. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are dominant players in these collaborations because of their ability to supplement governments' expertize and resources and bring social and ecological issues to the forefront of civic agendas. Despite their growing visibility in urban forest management, there is a lack of attention directed to the forms and range of NGO relationships. This study focuses on addressing this gap and examining collaborations between local governments and NGOs in urban forest programming by characterizing their components including mandates, relationship ties, accountability, resource exchange, and power dynamics. We collected data using semi-structured interviews with three groups: leaders of NGOs, municipal government officials in an urban forest or public works departments, and urban-forest experts who have observed their interactions. The participants represent 32 individuals in nine Canadian cities. Our results indicate that NGO-government collaborations have relational ties and accountability processes that are both formal and informal in nature. Formality in collaborations is often associated with the amount of funding, proximity to government, or size of the NGO. In addition, our findings suggest that NGOs present an opportunity for local governments to supplement their resources and capacity. While the strength and formality of collaborations may be a product of NGO size and budgets, public servants should not hesitate to engage smaller, grassroots NGOs to realize their public service mandates. Characterizing the components of these governance processes provides a benchmark for practitioners participating in similar public-civic interactions and arms them with the knowledge to navigate collaborative decision-making.

Aligning policies, maintaining power: State‐society conflicts and state responses to food crises in Indonesia and Nigeria

AbstractDespite the importance of food for both economic and political reasons, why do governments respond differently to food crises? To answer this question, this article assesses the politics of state responses to food crises in Indonesia and Nigeria in the 1960s and 1970s. Using the state‐in‐society approach to politics, this research finds that variation in state–society conflicts explains the differences in Indonesia's and Nigeria's responses to the food crises. Conflicts between the state and urban workers led Nigeria to align its food policies with the need to contain urban workers' grievances, while in Indonesia conflicts between peasants and the state led the government to align its food policies with rural development to raise food production and eliminate the source of rural threats. State responses to food crises are therefore context‐dependent policies, deeply influenced by the salient form of state–society conflicts.Related ArticlesAsare‐Nuamah, Peter, Anthony Amoah, and Simplice A. Asongu. 2023. “Achieving Food Security in Ghana: Does Governance Matter?” Politics & Policy, Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12540.Ayanoore, Ishmael, and Sam Hickey. 2022. “Reframing the Politics of Natural Resource Governance in Africa: Insights from the Local Content Legislation Process in Ghana.” Politics & Policy 50(1): 119–36. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12449.Oehmke, James F., Sera L. Young, Godfrey Bahiigwa, Boaz Blackie Keizire, and Lori Ann Post. 2018. “The Behavioral‐Economics Basis of Mutual Accountability to Achieve Food Security.” Politics & Policy 46(1): 32–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12244.

Peasant traders, migrant workers and “supermarkets”: Low‐cost provisions and the reproduction of migrant labor in China

AbstractThis article analyzes the social and spatial dynamics of the mobile trade in low‐cost goods by rural people from a mountainous region of China's Zhejiang province and how these interact with the mobility and social reproductive patterns of the rural–urban migrant workers they cater to. Also formally categorized as peasants, the traders not only supply the goods necessary for the maintenance of the workers but also of their spatially divided household, thus contributing to the reproduction of migrant labor power more generally. In doing so, they assume mobility trajectories that align with those of factory production and experience familial trade‐offs commonly experienced by migrant workers. Meanwhile, the provision of low‐cost goods to migrant workers has enabled a thriving economy employing peasant families for whom agricultural livelihoods slowly disappear. These dynamics indicate the mutual connection between waged and self‐employed labor that works in the interest of capital accumulation at the same time with the differentiation of migrant labor. As in other comparable Asian contexts, their connection lies at the heart of the state‐sponsored production regime premised on the low‐cost reproduction of flexible migrant labor.