Medellín: environment urbanism society


Book Description

In recent times what has become known as "the case of Medellín " has generated a growing interest in the international community. These urban transformation that Medellín has experimented have become a focus of attention and reference for experts in many fields, around the world. The book ́Medellin: Environment, Urbanism and Society ́, that now published the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies, Urbam, of EAFIT University is a testimony of the value given by our culture to the accomplishments of the city, to the idea of the public sphere and the growing relationship between the technical sphere and the political sphere, understood in the broad sense as a form of disciplinary knowledge and construction of civil society. This book brings together a knowledge of the city from multiple perspectives; knowledge that is, without any doubt, impressive for its extension and profoundity, as well as for its capacity to combine objective data with conceptual reflections about the scope and impact of the different perspectives concerning the theme of urban transformation and the different actors that have participated in such processes. The book weaves a broad net over the city, its history and development, adopting a multidisciplinary vision. I think that this will be the first step in creating a speech that might finally liberate itself from the strict disciplinary boundaries, building a trans-disciplinary perspective that can amplify the urban dimension of the city. This is the beginning of a profound and complex reflection that is, at the same time, a project of knowledge and an instrument of action and participation.




Unnatural Disasters


Book Description

Storms, floods, fires, tsunamis, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other disasters seem not only more frequent but also closer to home. As the world faces this onslaught, we have placed our faith in “sustainable development,” which promises that we can survive and even thrive in the face of climate change and other risks. Yet while claiming to “go green,” we have instead created new risks, continued to degrade nature, and failed to halt global warming. Unnatural Disasters offers a new perspective on our most pressing environmental and social challenges, revealing the gaps between abstract concepts like sustainability, resilience, and innovation and the real-world experiences of people living at risk. Gonzalo Lizarralde explains how the causes of disasters are not natural but all too human: inequality, segregation, marginalization, colonialism, neoliberalism, racism, and unrestrained capitalism. He tells the stories of Latin American migrants, Haitian earthquake survivors, Canadian climate activists, African slum dwellers, and other people resisting social and environmental injustices around the world. Lizarralde shows that most reconstruction and risk-reduction efforts exacerbate social inequalities. Some responses do produce meaningful changes, but they are rarely the ones powerful leaders have in mind. This book reveals how disasters have become both the causes and consequences of today’s most urgent challenges and proposes achievable solutions to save a planet at risk, emphasizing the power citizens hold to change the current state of affairs.




The Danube Basin


Book Description




Handbook of Rural Studies


Book Description

'This is a unique interpretation of rural issues that will become essential reference for students, scholars, politicians, developers and rural activists...' - Imre Kovach, President, European Society for Rural Sociology, Research director, Institute for Political Sciences, Budapest




Assessing the Left Turn in Ecuador


Book Description

This book examines the “left turn” in Latin American politics, specifically through the lens of Ecuador and the effects of the Citizens’ Revolution’s actions and public policies on relevant actors and institutions. Through a comprehensive analysis of one country’s turn to the left and the outcomes generated by that process, the authors and editors provide a clearer understanding of the ways in which the popular desire for change (predominant through the region in recent times, as a response to late-twentieth-century neoliberalism) was realized—or not. The particular case of Ecuador further potentiates analysis of the entire region-wide process, considering that the “corrector” cycle is now at an end, and that the economic and international conditions that favored the return of left governments have also changed.




Critical Medical Anthropology


Book Description

Critical Medical Anthropology presents inspiring work from scholars doing and engaging with ethnographic research in or from Latin America, addressing themes that are central to contemporary Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA). This includes issues of inequality, embodiment of history, indigeneity, non-communicable diseases, gendered violence, migration, substance abuse, reproductive politics and judicialisation, as these relate to health. The collection of ethnographically informed research, including original theoretical contributions, reconsiders the broader relevance of CMA perspectives for addressing current global healthcare challenges from and of Latin America. It includes work spanning four countries in Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Peru) as well as the trans-migratory contexts they connect and are defined by. By drawing on diverse social practices, it addresses challenges of central relevance to medical anthropology and global health, including reproduction and maternal health, sex work, rare and chronic diseases, the pharmaceutical industry and questions of agency, political economy, identity, ethnicity, and human rights.




Progress in Rural Geography (Routledge Revivals)


Book Description

This wide-ranging volume, first published in 1983, reflects the increasing scope of the field of rural geography in the second half of the twentieth century. Although traditional areas of study such as agriculture and the land-use patterns of the countryside remained important, scholars also began to consider rural transport, employment, housing and policy, as well as to develop new theories and methodologies for application to study. The chapters included here addressed the need for a review of the changes that had taken place within the field of rural geography, and as such provide an essential background to students with an interest in rural demography, planning and agriculture.




Risk Habitat Megacity


Book Description

Megacity development and the inherent risks and opportunities for humans and the environment is a theme of growing urgency in the 21st century. Focusing on Latin America where urbanization is most advanced, this book studies the complexity of a ‘mega-urban system’ and explores interrelations between sectors and issues by providing an in-depths study of one particular city, Santiago de Chile. The book attempts to (i) focus on the emergence of risk in megacities by analyzing risk elements, (ii) evaluate the extent and severity of risks, (iii) develop strategies to cope with adverse risks, and (iv) to guide urban development by combining concepts with empirical evidence. Drawing on the work of an interdisciplinary and international consortium of academic and professional partners, the book is written for scholars in cross-cutting areas of urban, sustainability, hazard, governance and planning research as well as practitioners from local, regional and international organizations.




Rural Geography


Book Description




The Differentiated Countryside


Book Description

In the wake of BSE, the threat to ban fox hunting and Foot and Mouth disease, the English countryside appears to be in turmoil. Long-standing uses of rural space are in crisis and, unsurprisingly, political processes in rural areas are marked by conflicts between groups, such as farmers, environmentalists, developers and local residents. Using an innovative theoretical approach based on 'networks of conventions', this book investigates the 'regionalisation' of the English countryside through a series of case-studies. These studies are based on a set of 'ideal types': 'the preserved' countryside, where environmental pressures are strongly expressed; the 'contested' countryside, where development processes are shaped by disputes between agrarian and environmental interests; and the 'paternalistic' countryside, where large landowners continue to oversee patterns of land development. It looks in detail at landowners, residents, politicians, planners, farmers, and environmentalists and shows how these groups compete. The Differentiated Countryside argues that the countryside is increasingly governed by regional policies. It becomes hard to discern a single English countryside; we see the emergence of multiple countrysides, places where diverse modes of identity are expressed and differing forms of development take place. Such diversity, it is argued, now lies at the heart of rural England.