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- Convenors:
-
Flavio Comim
(IQS School of Management)
Des Gasper (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
PB Anand (University of Bradford)
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- Location:
- JSB (Richmond building)
- Start time:
- 7 September, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
The aim of this panel is to invite a dialogue between academics and practitioners. We welcome theoretical, conceptual ideas and discussions on city-wide strategies, policies and plans for sustainable cities, measuring and ranking cities using multi-dimensional indicators, and case studies.
Long Abstract:
The aim of this panel is to follow on from the highly successful panels on inclusive cities at the DSA Oxford conference and several workshops being organised by one of us as part of a British academy research project. The literature on sustainable cities is almost thirty years old with early ideas from the WCED (1987) report on interpreting the WCED definition of sustainable development at city scale. The subsequent decade saw various approaches and methods including the now famous idea of ecological footprint pioneered by Wackernagel and Rees (1996). Thinking about sustainable cities has seen a rise and a fall of sorts in popularity and usage until its re-emergence after the SDG 11 and taking of the centre-stage in the HABITAT 3 conference and the New Urban Agenda. However, many important conceptual, philosophical and practical problems remain far from fully examined or answered. The aim of this panel is to invite a dialogue between academics and practitioners. We welcome theoretical, conceptual ideas and models of sustainable cities, discussions on city-wide strategies, policies and plans for sustainable cities, measuring and ranking cities based on multi-dimensional sustainable city indicators, and also case studies of policies and projects of particular dimensions of economic, social and environmental sustainability that may have been either successes or failures. Since we have explored the issues related to smart cities in the Oxford DSA conference, we are keen to promote a discussion on other aspects of cities. Papers on smart cities projects are welcome if their main focus on how sustainability is either achieved or not achieved in smart city models. Economic sustainability issues can link the challenges of economic transformations and productivity in conditions of austerity or fall of commodity prices in particularly commodity-based economies and also on behavioural economic insights within and beyond 'nudges'. Social sustainability issues can focus on problems of super-diversity, ethnicities or other forms of identities, gender and group based collective action possibilities and obstacles; problems of ageing, caring and making cities compassionate. Environmental sustainability issues can relate to the challenges of resource burden, air and water pollution, littering and waste management, climate change and health impacts, etc. We also welcome papers from the angle of built environment, urban form and the role of spatial planning in engendering and facilitating a vibrant and co-operative community of citizens. What are the implications for public goods and public services? What kind of institutions can mediate between diverging interests and yet remain firmly pro-poor and sustainability focused? What is the role of information and creation of epistemic networks in influencing urban agendas in each city? Through this panel we hope to have a dialogue in relation to these questions. Selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of Elsevier journal.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This paper critiques the existing approach to smart sustainable cities and aims to present alternative ethical and conceptual perspectives from the view points of quality of government and capability approach.
Paper long abstract:
The debate on quality of government is often conducted at the national level. However, the issues of governance can be much more readily relevant to the quality of life and well-being of citizens at spatial and social contexts within cities.
There is very limited literature on applying quality of government dimensions at the city level. Devolution focuses on formal institutions of elected local government or an elected mayor but the interface between formal and informal institutions provides a rich tapestry of a range of institutional arrangements from neighbourhoods and voluntary group formation to city-wide issues. However, as P Arjun Appadurai argued there can be many citizens without the city- meaning the idea of citizenship in terms of right to vote may exist but such individuals and groups may lack the agency to participate in and influence local level decisions that affect their quality of life directly.
This paper based on current research under the British academy research programme aims to explore both conceptual dimensions and some emerging evidence to highlight the need for changing some aspects of the existing discourse on sustainable cities. Speculative land markets, complexity of housing markets, opacity of local finances, limited degrees of mobility and choice in relation to social services all contribute to factors that tantamount to burdens of inflexibility. Social innovations do offer some hope but at present their reach and influence appears limited. The paper explores some of these issues and identifies some issues for a future research agenda.
Paper short abstract:
The paper investigates sanitary realities of peri-urban settlers in Chennai in light of the SDGs' mantra of 'leaving no one behind'. The qualitative study assesses settlers' capabilities in the context of different settlements and concludes that nudges should extend from dwellers to administration.
Paper long abstract:
In line with the mantra of the Sustainable Development Goals, that no one should be left behind, this research employs a methodology that targets marginalised peri-urban dwellers in the Chennai Metropolitan Area and assesses their sanitary realities. The urgency of a comprehensive, larger urban policy for elimination of open defecation and insanitary behaviour originates in the risk to human security such practices pose.
In order for a city to become environmentally sustainable and safe to its citizens, these threats should be eliminated. Traditionally the issue of sanitation has been approached with the focus on construction of toilets to provide the 'hardware', yet such provision may not account for the fluctuating numbers and perceptions of migrant labourers as well as the resident poor. To measure up to a multitude of realities, the capability approach offers a framework for analysis, also as behavioural doings are not necessarily a consequence of freedoms, yet they are restrained by the lack of choice which in turn leads to reduced levels of well-being. This paper draws on the findings of the qualitative exploratory research conducted at ten locations ranging from the city centre to the peri-urban outskirts of Chennai, to highlight and compare (un)freedoms of settlers in their toilet practices. The findings show that 'nudges' may not only be useful for behavioural guidance of the population at a certain location, but also to direct the local administration.
Paper short abstract:
Access to education is essential for sustainable urban development. Using ethnographic data collected from government schools in and around the city of Chennai, India, this paper applies the capabilities approach to an analysis of structural constraints in providing high-quality primary education.
Paper long abstract:
The provision of high-quality primary education can be viewed as a foundational step in achieving Habitat III's goal of 'putting people at the centre' when working towards sustainable urban development. However, with a massive and growing population of young people, India is still decades behind achieving universal access to education (UNESCO 2016). In an attempt to address disparities in both enrolment and access to quality education, the Indian government introduced a large-scale programme in 2000-2001 known as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA); in the southeastern state of Tamil Nadu, the SSA undertook an ambitious project to replace traditional teaching methods with a learner-centred approach known as Activity-Based Learning (ABL) in government schools across the state.
While the ABL approach has been lauded for its rapid and efficient implementation, it has also been criticised for failing to bring about significant change in student outcomes (Hariharan 2011). Based on three months of ethnographic research conducted in 10 schools in and around the state capital, Chennai, in 2014-15, this paper utilises the social justice framework of the capabilities approach (Sen 1984; Robeyns 2005) to interrogate the sustainability of educational reform initiatives such as ABL. It makes the broader argument that policy interventions to provide resources such as education, which are meant to enhance well-being, cannot be effective without also taking into account the 'conversion factors', or structural constraints, underlying an individual's capacity to utilise these resources.
Paper short abstract:
Business intelligence can help define and measure sustainability in social housing in order to make effective and efficient decisions for complex data. This conceptual article recommends creating a framework for business intelligence in social housing.
Paper long abstract:
Sustainability has become a buzzword and still, after decades of research, lacks a coherent and unifying definition among researchers and practitioners. Yet, sustainability is seen as important in order to combat climate change. Buildings, particularly housing, have received much attention in that respect. The impact of housing on the sustainability of a city and how it ties with other actors within the urban environment is massive. Social housing makes up around 18% of the UK housing sector, with sustainability as a consideration from both regulators and international agreements. It is therefore important that the sector is able to accurately define and measure sustainability. This conceptual article argues that business intelligence can help to both quantify and define sustainability in social housing. Business intelligence is part of data-driven decision support systems and provides mechanisms for data management. Its ultimate goal is to lead to sustained effective and efficient decision making processes. This article provides a framework for using business intelligence in the decision making process on sustainability initiatives. It provides a framework that other organisations could use for their own sustainability initiatives, and to increase effectiveness and efficiency of decision making overall. For example, how could private and public organisations work together to increase social housing stock, since the UK's housing crisis largely affects poorer households? The data-driven framework hopefully allows social housing to integrate into city-wide initiatives to create sustainable cities.
Paper short abstract:
This paper uses cross-country econometric analysis to explain the particularities of Latin American and former Soviet states in relation to transport consumption. A strong correlation between income inequality and transport consumption is found and discussed.
Paper long abstract:
2013 demonstrations in Brazil impressed the entire world: they started as protests against raises in public transport fares. Conflict, social mobilisation and emblematic public transport projects have given the right to connectivity a new predominant place in the Latin American public agenda. A discussion is proposed in order to understand the incorporation of transport as a right among citizens' imaginary and as a relevant dimension of states' performances in an urbanised continent. Two lens are developed. On the one hand, from a political theory point of view, the incorporation of transport as key for state's legitimacy is illustrated by reviewing a new materiality of 'sovereign promises' that contemporary states are expected to deliver to urban citizens. On the other hand, I use regression analyses on a 127 countries sample to explain possible causes of differences in transport consumption. Findings make these analyses interesting. Firstly, regional differences point to Latin America and East Europe as contrasting examples in which particular state-trajectories - structural reforms in the former and inheritances from the Soviet Union in the latter - could explain the extent in which transport is present in citizens' lives under different levels of commodification. Secondly, income inequality seems to explain an important part of differences in commodification of transport between countries. Furthermore, among measures of inequality, income concentration seems to be especially significant, turning our attention to the role of elites as a possible explanation for the extent in which transport is seen as a commodity or as a social right.