Environment & Urbanization

In Chinese cities, employer-provided housing has played an important part in accommodating low-income, rural-to-urban migrants. Employer housing is often used to study other problems such as management style or worker psychology. In this paper we intend to examine employer-provided housing for its own sake. We use two surveys in the cities of Taiyuan and Tianjin in China to understand the reasons why Chinese employers want to provide housing for employees, the conditions of this type of housing and whether workers are satisfied with it. In doing so, we may identify areas that suffer from serious market failure and will discuss possible solutions to the problems.

This paper derives from a longer IIED report and describes the close relationship between migration/emigration and the sociology/ecology of the different regions of Pakistan, and poverty-related issues in these regions. It also deals with the massive migrations from India to Pakistan (at the time of partition and as a result of three wars with India), the migration from Afghanistan (as a result of the prolonged Afghan war), and from Bangladesh (as a result of the creation of that country). The socioeconomic and political repercussions of these migrations are discussed, as well as rural—urban migration and its repercussions on both the urban and rural areas of Pakistan. The sections on emigration establish that, by and large, emigration has not benefited the emigrants and their families except in relation to building real estate. In addition, it has created severe strains on the extended family and has increased the rich—poor divide. However, worker’s remittances from abroad have played an important role in the growth of Pakistan’s GDP, and without them the exchange rate and monetary and fiscal policies would have come under greater pressure. The paper also deals with the legal and illegal processes of migration and emigration; the role of the informal and state agencies in the processes; the role of emigrant organizations in financing and in social projects and programmes; and suggestions for enhancing and improving these roles. Finally, the paper focuses on three very different small towns and discusses the impact of migration and emigration on their physical and socioeconomic development; also the fact that although the economy is dominated by the merchant classes, the political power rests firmly with the landed elite except where the state is the major landowner.

This paper uses the cases of four small towns in Shanxi province, PRC, to examine how domestic migration has been used to boost the local economies and generate local revenues. However, how to govern migration is not a priority and as a result, the outcome of migration governance is very much affected by the ways in which towns interact with the higher authorities.

International migration is an integral part of the lives of many people in the South, and many households add remittances to their income in order to finance the daily costs of living that cannot be met by their traditional source of income. In the literature, a debate has emerged on the impacts of these remittances on development, focusing in particular on the micro level, namely the impact on households. Many studies also contend that national governments should try to redirect the impacts of remittances. However, the role of actors in local governance structures seems to be overlooked in this discussion. We argue that in the discussion on managing development through remittances, local governments and other stakeholders at the local level — such as NGOs — might also play a role, especially in those countries that have implemented decentralization. However, thus far, interventions aimed at leveraging remittance flows and facilitating migration processes are only in an initial phase. Our study of 12 municipalities in Bolivia shows that a lack of knowledge and capacities among local governments and NGOs is a decisive factor.

The Senegal River valley has long been one of the main sources of out-migration to international destinations in the country, and migrants’ remittances are important for the survival of households and for the economic and social development of the area. Investments in home towns and a highly critical view of the ways in which local affairs are managed encourage migrants’ active involvement in local development through associations and, increasingly, in local politics. This paper describes these processes in the light of decentralization in Senegal, and especially the transferring of competences on the use of state and public lands to local government.

There is a view that over the years, larger cities in Zambia have been experiencing a steady flow of out migration, and that the destinations of these out migrants are the smaller centres. However, although this could be true, it is unlikely that all small towns are attractive to migrants. This paper considers the employment opportunities in two towns in southern Zambia, and examines the conditions that may encourage migratory flows of labour between larger cities and surrounding rural areas and small towns. Small and intermediate centres offer different opportunities to migrants, and the level of services provided varies, thus encouraging or discouraging migrants to move. The paper also outlines the economic conditions in the two case study towns in order to explain what motivates migrants from either rural or urban areas to move, and looks at the different types of migrants found in these small centres.

Migration—environment linkages are at the centre of media attention because of public concern about climate change and a perceived “flooding” of migrants from less developed countries into more affluent parts of the world. In the past few years, a substantial body of conceptual literature about environmentally induced migration has evolved, but there is still a paucity of empirical work in this area. Moreover, the environmental causes of migration have been studied largely in isolation of the environmental consequences. In this paper we present an analysis of migration and vegetation dynamics for one country (Ghana) to assess four migration—environment linkages. On the one hand, we look at two environmental drivers of migration: environmental push and pull. On the other hand, we look at the environmental impact of migration on source and destination areas. Census data at the district level (N=110) are used to map domestic migration flows in Ghana, which are then related to vegetation dynamics retrieved from a remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) dataset (1981— 2006). The analysis shows that at the national level, there are significant but weak correlations between migration and vegetation cover and trends therein. Districts with a migration deficit (more out-migration than in-migration) tend to be more sparsely vegetated and have experienced a more positive NDVI trend over the past quarter century than districts with a migration surplus. A disaggregation of data in three principle migration systems shows stronger correlations. Namely that north—south migration and cocoa frontier settlement have important environmental dimensions, but environmental factors do not seem to play a major role in migration to the capital, Accra. An important insight from this paper is that migration flows in Ghana can be explained partly by vegetation dynamics but are also strongly related to rural population densities. This is because access to natural resources is often more important than the scarcity or abundance of natural resources per se. This study further shows that satellite remote sensing can provide valuable input to analyses of migration—environment linkages.

The largest share of Latin American population lives in cities with less than half a million inhabitants. Since the publication of the Brundtland Report in the 1980s, small and intermediate cities have been regarded as places that hold out a promise for sustainable urban development. This paper explores current urbanization trends in intermediate cities in Central America. It describes the construction boom of gated communities for the middle class, in majority people with access to migrant remittances. It is argued that sustainable urbanization is challenged by the privatization of urban planning. The lack of strong governmental coordination of the housing market along with urban growth puts pressure on natural resources and on the livability of cities that used to be characterized by their human scale and rich natural environment. It is suggested that the market of existing housing should be made more attractive in order to control urban growth and prevent an oversupply of new expensive middle-class homes in the periphery, paralleled by a large number of abandoned existing houses in the urban core.

This paper presents empirical findings of a study on the mobility situation of people of different gender, age and class in two residential areas each in two fast-growing Asian cities with high rates of motorization, Xian in China and Hanoi in Vietnam. Notable class and gender differences in travel patterns were found in both cities. Respondents in the old and poorer residential areas walk more, while better-off respondents in the new areas use motorized transport modes (car and motorbikes) to a greater extent. The main difference in travel modes between the areas in both cities is that non-motorized modes are used as a necessary means of travel for less well-off people in the old areas, while residents in the new (and better-off areas) can choose to switch to motorized modes for longer distance trips. Further class difference can be found in Hanoi in the use of buses and in Xian in the use of cars. The study found that the differences in travel patterns between women and men are similar to those found between the residents of poor and affluent areas: women walk more and men are more motorized. The study also confirms that in both Xian and Hanoi, despite women’s high rates of participation in the labour market, men still predominate in livelihood-related transport tasks whereas women are more involved in household-related transport tasks.

This paper describes the risks that Mexico City faces from flooding and water scarcity, how these risks developed over time and how climate change will affect them. It begins by discussing the climatic and hydrological conditions that explain the abundance of water resources and the droughts and floods that have affected the city and its surrounds for centuries. It then presents the water-relevant implications of climate change for the city and considers who is likely to be most impacted. Floods, droughts and other water-relevant hazards are the result not only of “nature” (and now of human-induced climate change) but also of past and present socio-environmental changes. This helps explain why Mexico City’s population, infrastructure and systems are less able to cope with climate change.

This paper, based on qualitative research within two communities in Addis Ababa, identifies factors that impoverish households and expose them to chronic food shortages, and assesses their coping and survival strategies. A sustainable livelihood framework is used to explore how context, shocks, assets, institutions, activities and strategies interact in multiple ways to affect well-being and food security. Households were found to be vulnerable to a range of environmental factors and economic shocks, including poor sanitation, unhygienic environments, overcrowding, unemployment and limited access to financial capital. Their survival strategies include diversification of sources of income, living in slum areas and migration of household members.

Urbanization has been mentioned as one possible cause of higher food prices, and in this paper we examine some of the suggested links between urbanization and food prices. We conclude that urbanization, conventionally defined as the increasing share of the population living in urban settlements, is being conflated with related but separate processes, such as economic growth, population growth and environmental degradation. We discuss factors that affect food prices and conclude that the one important way in which urbanization in poor countries may affect food prices is that it increases the number of households that depend on commercial food supplies, rather than on own production, as their main source, and hence are likely to hoard food if they fear future price increases. One policy option for managing this is larger food reserves. Attempts to curb urbanization, on the other hand, would be ill-advised.

This paper describes an enumeration of all households living in informal settlements in Kisumu, Kenya, implemented by their inhabitants and supported by savings groups, the Kenyan Homeless People’s Federation (Muungano wa Wanvijiji), of which they are members, and Pamoja Trust, a Kenyan NGO. This work included collecting data on each household, numbering each structure and providing photo identity cards to each household. It also included the preparation of detailed maps defining the boundaries of all house structures along with features of the site, with a level of accuracy and detail needed for upgrading and providing secure tenure. The data from the enumeration helped inform the residents of each settlement about their needs, and supported their collective discussions about priorities. The enumeration in Kisumu is part of a larger enumeration and mapping programme, both within Kenya and in many other nations, supported by organizations and federations of the urban poor.

This paper explores how urban regeneration strategies, focused on increasing the social, economic and spatial values of old industrialized areas, are being experienced in Turkey. It examines the brownfield regeneration process in five old industrial sites in one of Turkey’s earliest industrialized cities, Eskişehir. The examples described are evaluated based on the sustainability objectives of brownfield development. The aim is to investigate the potential of these cases of brownfield regeneration to secure land for sustainable urban development. The conclusions suggest that local experience in the re-use of old industrial buildings and sites provides valuable input to the development of urban development policies. Greater attention to sustainable outcomes could add a new and vital dimension to brownfield regeneration. The leading role of local government in providing integrated approaches to land management policies and sustainable urban development must be noted.

This paper examines the changes in land use and economic activities between 1986 and 2005 in a residential development in Port Harcourt that was originally developed for senior civil servants and military personnel. It shows how land ownership has changed and also the rapid expansion of commercial activities within what was exclusively a residential development. With no enforcement of land use regulations, this has led to a decline in the quality of life for the residents.