Handbook on Urban Social Movements


Book Description

Providing an overview of urban social movements from a diverse range of both empirical and theoretical perspectives, this Handbook includes not only a critical analysis of the transformations that have occurred in the urban landscape recently, but also sheds light on the strategies implemented by social actors in various socio-political and cultural contexts. It focuses on understanding better how and to what extent collective action around urban issues remains relevant in our modern world. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.




Background paper


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Biennial Report


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The U.S.-Mexican Border Environment


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Public Infrastructure, Private Finance


Book Description

Traditionally, the public sector has been responsible for the provision of all public goods necessary to support sustainable urban development, including public infrastructure such as roads, parks, social facilities, climate mitigation and adaptation, and affordable housing. With the shift in recent years towards public infrastructure being financed by private stakeholders, the demand for transparent guidance to ensure accountability for the responsibilities held by developers has risen. Within planning practice and urban development, the shift towards private financing of public infrastructure has translated into new tools being implemented to provide joint responsibility for upholding requirements. Developer obligations are contributions made by property developers and landowners towards public infrastructure in exchange for decisions on land-use regulations which increase the economic value of their land. This book presents insight into the design and practical results of these obligations in different countries and their effects on municipal financial health, demonstrating the increasing importance of efficient bargaining processes and the institutional design of developer obligations in modern urban planning. Primarily written for academics in land-use planning, real estate, urban development, law, and economics, it will additionally be useful to policy makers and practitioners pursuing the improvement of public infrastructure financing.




Rental Housing Wanted


Book Description

This book highlights the importance of renting and its potential to help solve the most pressing housing problems in Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently, 1 in 5 households in the region rent their homes, a trend which is most prevalent among the fastest-growing segments of the population, such as young people, single-person households and divorced people. This alternative can therefore help satisfy demand preferences and create greater residential mobility. Also, the quality of rented property is often similar to that of formal homes, even for households in the lowest income quintiles, proving it is an efficient and cost-effective alternative for resolving the qualitative and quantitative housing deficits in the region, suggesting that housing policies linked to better planning and improved territorial organization can lead to more dense, compact cities. For these reasons, the rental market may become a key instrument to compliment the region's housing policy.




Dismantling the Mexican State?


Book Description

In assessing Carlos Salinas' socio-economic reforms the authors question the extent to which the Mexican state has been radically transformed, and possibly dismantled. The authors show that the changes which have occurred are uneven, limited and reversible. Despite the aura of reform it is the degree of continuity which is the most noticeable feature. In many respects the Mexican State remains highly authoritarian.




Property Rights from Below


Book Description

Recent years have seen a globalization of property rights as the Western conception of property over land has extended across the world. As formerly community-owned land and natural resources are privatized and titling schemes proliferate, Property Rights from Below questions the trend toward treating land as a commodity and explores alternatives to the Western model. As we enter an era of resource scarcity and as competition for land and associated natural resources increases, purchasing power cannot become the sole criterion for land allocation; and the law of supply and demand in increasingly financialized markets cannot become the sole metric through which the value of land is determined. Using a range of examples from around the world, Property Rights from Below demonstrates that alternatives to this model often emerge from social innovations supported by local communities and that there is an urgent need for a broader political imagination when it comes to land governance. This innovative cross-disciplinary perspective on the pressing problems surrounding global property rights will be of interest to academics, students and professionals with an interest in property law, development economics and land governance.




Beyond the Megacity


Book Description

Beyond the Megacity connects and reconnects the global debate on the contemporary urban condition to the Latin American tradition of seeing, considering, and theorizing urbanization from the margins. It develops the approach of "peripheral urbanization" as a way to integrate the theoretical agendas belonging to global suburbanisms, neo-Marxist accounts of planetary urbanization, and postcolonial urban studies, and to move urban theory closer to the complexity and diversity of urbanization in the Global South. From an interdisciplinary perspective, Beyond the Megacity investigates the natures, causes, implications, and politics of current urbanization processes in Latin America. The book draws on case studies from various countries across the region, covering theoretical and disciplinary approaches from the fields of geography, anthropology, sociology, urban studies, agrarian studies, and urban and regional planning, and is written by academics, journalists, practitioners, and scholar-activists. Beyond the Megacity unites these unique perspectives by shifting attention to the places, processes, practices, and bodies of knowledge that have often been neglected in the past.