Urban Governance最新文献

This article interrogates the nuances of risk communication in a poor neighbourhood of South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that risk communication had multifaceted implications for managing and governing the COVID-19 pandemic. This pandemic has coincided with the information age, where multiple communication channels affect the success of risk communication through miscommunication, false news, or distortion. Using a qualitative study premised on a phenomenological research design, data were collected from 60 purposively sampled residents in Bloemfontein to capture their perspectives regarding risk communication on COVID-19. This data was triangulated with secondary sources to enhance the validity of the findings. Among the secondary data sources are reviews of news media outlets reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic at the international and the local level. The study's findings reveal that the poor residing in informal settlements are marginalised in risk communication. This is mainly a result of the digital divide that has resulted in challenges for the poor communities in accessing specific news channels, while also making it difficult for them to validate some information.

During COVID-19, the demand for food relief exploded as vulnerable people were suddenly more numerous and visible than ever, for which statutory welfare was not ready to cope with. We examine the role of voluntary and community organizations (VCOs) in food relief in Stockholm, Sweden and Seoul, Korea. Interpretive analysis of interview materials reveals how VCOs perceive their role vis-à-vis the state and take actions against urban food insecurity during the pandemic. The limits of statutory welfare in reaching out to vulnerable individuals reserve an indispensable role for community action in food relief even with the well-developed welfare state. Despite starkly different welfare state contexts, VCOs in both cases complement statutory welfare by swiftly identifying the risk of hunger and organizing community actions to meet the emergent needs. Given that Sweden and Korea represent the least likely cases to observe welfare provision by VCOs, the findings may have implications to general understanding of VCOs as indispensable welfare provider.

Reducing the spread of COVID-19 partly depends on easy access to water to ensure adherence to good hygienic practices. However, most communities in Ghana face a series of challenges in accessing improved water sources. This study seeks to examine water access and its associated challenges, and the various strategies adopted by households to cope with these challenges in the Yilo Krobo Municipality of Ghana during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. Communities were stratified into rural and urban, and 400 households were randomly sampled for questionnaire administration. The data was inputted into SPSS and the results were analyzed using chi-square and descriptive statistics. Purposive and convenient sampling was used to select 30 informants for the qualitative interviews and the results were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The findings show that about 68.5% of households have access to pipe-borne water during COVID-19 compared to 8% who use unhygienic sources. Most households (54.5%) depended on pipe-borne water sources outside their dwellings. The main water accessibility challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic was the increased cost of water (41%) even though water provision was supposed to be free during the early period of the pandemic. Most respondents adapted to the situation by storing water using small-sized storage facilities and also had to buy from other vendors at an expensive rate. The study recommends the formation of a water and sanitation board and an increase in the capacity of the pumping station to ensure adequate provision of potable water for the communities on a sustainable basis.

Time flies, as CO₂ and global temperatures continue to rise rapidly. We can no longer rely on expensive and unachievable or long-delayed new technologies, requiring investment and development to reduce carbon emissions in future decades. Current geopolitical uncertainties are looming while climate change and food insecurity are increasing, and the world's economy is struggling following the two most recent major crises of COVID and war in Europe. Here, emphasis is placed on the demand-side role of urban populations to influence carbon emissions. Focusing on two key carbon emitters – the agricultural and transport sectors, contributing a third of global greenhouse gas emissions combined – a few existing and well-established practical ‘soft’ measures are suggested, in addition to emission reductions. These measures can be implemented effectively at no or little extra cost, while new digital technologies can contribute to managing our daily carbon emissions.

By ratifying the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), the Australian Government has accepted the need to mainstream disaster risk reduction (DRR) principles into policy and procedures. This research explores the extent to which this rhetoric has been actioned, using local-government policy as an indicator. The rationale for this approach is that evidence of DRR integration should be observable in recovery procedures related to the aftermath of disasters, which could extend over a period of years and require transformational changes. Using the targets and priorities of the SFDRR, a meta-synthesis of research conducted since its ratification was used to create a conceptual framework of DRR principles and practices. This framework was then used to conduct a policy analysis of the New South Wales Local Disaster Recovery Plan (NSWLDRP) template for alignment/non-alignment to the principles of the SFDRR, with the intention of indicating where future efforts in policy development should be directed.

The analysis revealed gaps in intent between the NSWLDRP template and DRR principles and practices. While some underlying concepts of DRR are incorporated into the plan, such as vulnerability assessments and communication tools, fundamental risk reduction policies, including prevention, mitigation and participatory mechanisms are largely absent. This gap between the principles of the SFDRR and its limited application at the local level in NSW highlights the need for greater mainstreaming of DRR principles in both State and Federal Government frameworks since they direct both local disaster management arrangements and subsequent ongoing community development. The benefits of this includes reduced load on emergency services during extreme events, and increased community resilience after them, including reduced reconstruction and less disruption to community productivity in their aftermath.

Urban revitalization is a substantive area of Urban and Regional Planning philosophy. Culture, arts and entertainment, and urban innovation have assumed a growing importance in urban revitalization. However, there is need to clarify the basis of research endeavors in this area. This paper analyses how downtown revitalization governance has evolved in recent decades. A thorough discussion on the causality of qualitative planning research to study urban revitalization is provided. The paper's approach builds upon various contradictions surrounding culture-based urban policies. Although, it concentrates mostly on the use of cultural mega events in Europe, it recognizes that a main research limitation is the paucity of published research on similar events of alternative cultures in other parts of the world. The paper identifies three main findings: The evolution of downtown revitalization has caused a substantial body of knowledge, which includes myths to be dispelled, and areas of proven success; in spite of various contradictions, downtown cultural policy has been used mostly as a form of civic boosterism; and qualitative planning research methods are critical to study empowering urban revitalization which has liberating city and culture developments at its core.

Organizational capacity is required to explain what it takes for local governments to succeed in their digital transformation. However, the current literature largely ignores how local governments are adapting their organizational dynamics in order to change. This paper aims to contribute to better understanding how local governments enhance their organizational capacity to achieve digital transformation. We conduct a comparative case study that includes three cases of digital transformation through smart city initiatives in Milan, Barcelona, and Munich. Our findings show that these cities made decisions to enhance specific attributes of their organizational capacity mainly related to the dimensions of management (having a strategy, leadership, and a dedicated unit) and collaboration (public-private partnerships, collaboration with citizens, collaboration with other levels of government).