Urban Governance最新文献

This paper proposes five major criteria—importance, innovativeness, effectiveness, sustainability and replicability—for determining best practices in public management. The influence of each criterion on the probability that a judge recommends a case as a best practice is examined using data from the first Best Practice Cases for Urban Governance in the Yangtze River Delta competition. The results show that perceptions of innovativeness, effectiveness, sustainability and replicability, but not of importance, significantly influence judges’ recommendations. These findings demonstrate that innovativeness, sustainability and replicability are important in evaluations of best practices, in addition to effectiveness. Specifically, innovativeness is as important as effectiveness, which indicates that judges perceive innovation to be closely linked to best practices. In addition, the empirical results partly refute the criticism that sustainability and replicability are not considered in evaluations of best practices. This paper can serve to inspire public management practitioners to consider the innovativeness, effectiveness, sustainability and replicability when developing best practices.

The complexities involved in the urbanization process and its effect on environmental sustainability and city aesthetics has been extensively researched in the conventional literature. The rapid urban growth in countries in the global south coupled with weak development control has led to the encroachment of environmentally sensitive areas. Yet, little is known among scholars on whether regulatory agencies have given up on the encroachment of ecologically sensitive areas to continue or they are powerless. This paper through a qualitative research approach explores the factors that influence non-compliance with land use and ecosystem regulations from the perspective of relevant stakeholders. Through face-to-face interviews, 19 participants from eleven (11) regulatory institutions in the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area were interviewed. The findings of the study showed that several factors ranging from political, social, and economic adversely affect the ability of the regulatory agencies to effectively enforce the regulations that protect environmentally sensitive areas such as freshwater and wetlands. For example, in terms of political factors, the study showed that, the powerful nature of political actors in Ghana's democratic dispensation coupled with their continuous interference in the enforcement of regulations and the lack of sustained political will continue to threaten the sustainable management of environmentally sensitive areas. Socially and culturally, there is a shift from communal management of ecological resources to a formal public institutional management approach. Inadequate financial support, logistical constraints, and unavailability of technical experts and technology were economic factors that influence institutional non-compliance with land use and ecosystem regulations in Ghana The researchers conclude that the inability of the policymakers and the relevant authorities to address these political, social, and economic barriers confronting the regulatory agencies will continue to make them powerless when it comes to the enforcement of the regulations that protect environmentally sensitive areas.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has elicited a range of public health governance responses. One common result has been an associated disruption of food supply chains and growing urban food insecurity. Policy responses to this situation have not yet received sufficient research attention. This paper therefore focuses on the urban food security implications of China's zero-COVID public health measures and the response of central, provincial and municipal government to the governance challenge of ensuring a stable and sufficient food supply to urban consumers. During the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020 in China, zero-COVID lockdown measures aimed to contain and eliminate the spread of the virus. This paper examines the associated policy responses around urban food security in early 2020, with a particular focus on two cities: Wuhan (where SARS-CoV-2 was first identified) and Nanjing (a neighbouring city). The analysis is based on an inventory of policy-related documents providing a wide range of information about governance responses to the pandemic. Four major governance challenges are addressed: agricultural production, food transportation, stabilization of food prices, and new contactless methods in purchasing foods. Key recommendations for post-pandemic policy responses around urban food security include: ensuring consistency throughout all levels of government, strengthening existing food reserves to leverage emergency responses, addressing the root causes of pandemic-related food insecurity by focusing on access at the household level, and improving food utilization.

Infrastructure projects induce various impacts on stakeholders, which can lead to a strong opposition to the project. In order to support urban planning, we propose a method called AFORI (Argumentation for Formalizing and analysing Opinions on Infrastructure project) based on the AIPA abstract argumentation model, to collect, formalize and analyse the views of the different stakeholders on the project. AFORI permits to collect data from various sources (newspaper, social media…), to formalize the pros and cons of argumentation relating to an infrastructure project and to provide an easier understanding of the debate. The structured formalization of the argumentation facilitates the understanding of the different points of view and their interdependence. AFORI was applied to a real case study in order to illustrate its functioning and interest.

While Covid-19 pandemic has affected countries across the world, the burden has been shared disproportionately by urban poor from the cities in Global South. In much of Global South, while cities have emerged as growth centers, they are mostly driven by informalities, belying the image of cities, visualized in the mainstream development economics literature as a place of secured formal jobs that free one from the drudgery of rural life. Covid-19 pandemic has exposed these fault-lines in the cities. India serves as a typical case of such urban-centric growth, with informal workers, predominated by disadvantaged social and religious categories, accounting for 81% of workers in urban space. In cities, migrant in general and seasonal migrants increasingly account for bulk of informal workforce. The lockdown imposed in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic left the community of households reliant on informal works for livelihoods, without any rights and entitlements, which affect their access to food. The review of evidence collected in both primary surveys and macro level data points towards sluggishness in recovery of jobs, which coupled with high food inflation, suggests that access to food continues to be an issue in urban governance. The paper calls for a roadmap entailing both short-term and long-term measures to build sustainable urban livelihoods for ensuring food secure urban space in India.

The COVID-19 pandemic has rendered visible many socioeconomic inequalities and the lengthy period of disruption to everyday life had disproportionate effects on the most vulnerable groups in Singapore and across the world. Utilizing data from the Singapore Life Panel ® (SLP) collected in September 2021, this study examined a sample of 6667 older adults to assess the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) on well-being, and the mechanisms through which social support and resilience may mediate its influence. Overall, our results suggest significant direct and indirect effects of SES on well-being and provide evidence for the pivotal role that social support plays in building resilience and well-being. Affluent socioeconomic backgrounds do not intrinsically build resilience; instead, it is through the access to social resources, which SES affords and facilitates, that resilience is developed, and well-being is safeguarded. We argue that Singapore's policy response to COVID-19 has yet to fully leverage on social resources and develop a social infrastructure that can buffer the negative impacts of prolonged crises on the most vulnerable groups.

This qualitative research investigates the impact of the lockdowns (which started in March 2020) and other factors on Pakistani migrant workers’ food access and consumption practices in Kuala Lumpur. It also explores how they managed food supply. The article drives data from 14 in-depth informal interviews conducted through WhatsApp messenger and face to face. The qualitative interviews were categorized into themes and were analyzed. It used the concepts of social practices and the more proximate structural layers to assert that marginalized groups used their rationale and choices to access food and survived in intense social pressure or returned to their home country. The migrant workers’ narratives revealed that they did not have work for around seven months; thus, they had no wages. However, as a rule, many of the migrant workers’ one month's wages were still not paid by their employers, which the workers were received through weekly installments for food during the lockdowns. As a result, most of the workers’ wages and savings were exhausted. Thus, they started seeking help for food from their community groups, friends, and the local Malaysians in their neighborhood and other cities. Most workers complained that once their wages were exhausted, they did not receive support from their employers. Thus, the workers had abandoned beverages and sweets dishes; and rarely cooked fish and beef. However, almost all respondents in this research had received food support from their community members. The study found that android mobile phones, cheap internet, social media, and close networking enabled the migrant workers to navigate financial and food supply during the pandemic. The study concludes that during a health crisis like the pandemic and consequent strict measures by the governments, the food security of the migrant workers (the vulnerable groups) at the grassroots level could easily be ensured with the community's help, networking, and cheap mobile technology.

Although co-design is extensively used in education, organizational, and healthcare design, it has rarely been used in public transportation decision-making. Typically, transport service users’ involvement is practiced in the form of public hearings or consultations rather than their direct involvement in the design process. Based on the review of relevant literature on co-design and transportation of immigrants and older adults, this study discusses the promise of co-design for transit service improvement in a developed country context. The study developed a co-design framework to be applied to create a plan for improving transit services for older immigrants in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The framework suggests conducting co-design studies by independent investigators instead of service providers to reduce possible biases in the methodology design and decision-making process. Co-design guidelines and principles were developed to address the needs of older immigrants, with the framework addressing their lived experiences, enhancing public engagement, and developing compassionate partnerships among stakeholders. The entire process will allow transit service providers and other community partners to engage with, get insights from, and learn about the impact of their services on older immigrants’ mobility needs. This final output includes a transit service improvement plan, through which the transit service provider can deliver and implement feasible and functional solutions that meet older immigrants’ expectations and improve their transit use experiences.