DIE ERDE – Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin
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Exploring institutional structures for Tidal River Management in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh
Get PDFTidal River Management (TRM) is a local adaptation strategy for coastal floodplains in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta in Bangladesh. TRM involves the periodic opening and closing of embankments to accelerate land accretion (or reclamation) in a floodplain. Although the approach is considered a promising adaptation strategy, there have been both positive and negative outcomes from recent TRM implementation. The aim of this study is consequently to explore the institutional (community, rules-in-use, and also biophysical) factors influencing successes and failures of TRM implementation for managing common-pool resources, as a basis for making recommendations on future institutional design. The Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, first developed by Ostrom (2010) and revised by Bisaro and Hinkel (2016), is therefore used to conduct comparative analysis of TRM institutional effectiveness in three Delta floodplains or beels: one led by a local community and the other two by national authorities. Our research employs a mixed method approach involving focus group discussions, stakeholder interviews, site visits, along with secondary literature analysis. The results of this assessment provide insights into coastal adaptation governance that could inform TRM implementation in Bangladesh and other similar contexts worldwide
Peripheral urbanization and the UNCTAD III building in Santiago, Chile: continuity and disruption in grassroots engagement
Get PDFResearch has found that contestation has gained more attention in the urban development of Santiago de Chile. This contestation is seen by some scholars as the reaction to the predominant technocratic way in which consensus has been reached in the spatial planning of Santiago in the last decades. This article wants to showthe potentials for rekindling collaborative city-building experiences in a setting of governance and political democratic processes. Therefore, this study reviews specific experiences of production of urban space from the 1960’s 70’s in Santiago, noted for complex interactions and presence of organized resident, workers and grassroots actors. An emblematic public building – icon of the socialist regime – and peripheral housing estates – that represent the model of ‘self-organization’ – are shown to reveal the diversity of actors that were involved, the context of their formation and the interdependence they perform to reach consensus in urban development
Onward (im)mobilities: conceptual reflections and empirical findings from lifestyle migration research and refugee studies
Get PDFTaking the new mobility paradigm as a starting point, this article provides a broader perspective on migration processes that goes beyond decision-making processes, the journey and the arrival, and addresses onward mobilities instead. In this regard, we assume that people permanently negotiate the decision where and how to live by means of various mobility practices and the establishment of place-based belonging. In order to capture different migrant groups, we provide empirical material from two different mixed methods case studies: (1) a study on relatively affluent lifestyle migrants in coastal areas and the rural hinterland in Spain and (2) refugees, who were initially placed in rural Bavaria, Germany. We firstly aim to unravel mobility processes among lifestyle migrants and refugees after arrival in Spain or Germany. Secondly, we aim to identify how migrants’ mobility strategies counteract sedentarist logics of the state. Empirical data show that migrants’ onward mobilities vary at length and thus blur boundaries between residential and everyday mobility. While negotiating mobility and immobility, they develop agency and learn to decide whether, when and how to be mobile or to be fixed to places and establish strategies how to deal with territorially based logics of the state. Thus, state authorities are highly interested in regulations to identify where people reside. Apart from security issues, particularly welfare states have to find solutions how to be responsible for people in a way that goes beyond territorially based registrations. In conceptual terms, results finally provide empirical evidence for a broader understanding of migration, especially considering onward mobility and forms of desired immobility
Coastal adaptation through urban land reclamation: Exploring the distributional effects
Get PDFLand reclamation and urban redevelopment is currently underway in coastal regions around the world, as urbanization continues rapidly, and high-value coastal urban land becomes more scarce. Yet coastal hazards will also continue to increase due to sea-level rise, and building flood risk reduction measures into such land reclamation projects appears to be low cost compared to the potential benefits generated. Moreover, land reclamation in high-value urban areas that incorporates such adaptation can generate substantial revenue attractive to governments, particularly in developing countries, which struggle to finance coastal adaptation measures. Yet revenue generation in these projects depends on including some degree of high-value and high-priced developments, giving rise to potential distributional effects. This paper surveys three current coastal urban redevelopment projects incorporating flood risk reduction in the Maldives, Germany and Nigeria, illustrating different modes of urban development projects and the distributional effects that can arise for each of these. The paper explores the equity implications of such projects that arise in planning processes and in implementation. The examples illustrate that inequalities can arise through incentives for corruption, budget imperatives leading to developments that result in gentrification, and shifting of physical risks on to neighboring communities. Finally, I reflect on policy and project design instruments that can address these inequalities, and draw out implications for future research to ensure sustainable and inclusive development of coastal cities in the context of sea-level rise
Neighborhood variation in early adult educational outcomes: The case of Norway
Get PDFIndividuals originating in different neighborhoods fare differently in later life. Part of this is because families sort non-randomly over the urban landscape; different types of families live in systematically different neighborhoods. Another part of the explanation is that children in different neighborhoods are exposed to different urban opportunity structures. The opportunity structure can exert its influence through social interactive, environmental and institutional factors. Using a multi-level framework applied to a Norwegian register-based data set with complete coverage of 1986-1992 cohorts with siblings, we decompose the variation in high school completion and in enrollment in higher education at age 22 into variances at the levels of family and neighborhood occupied at age seven. The variations in both outcome variables among young adults raised in different neighborhoods are substantively important. The gap in expected high school completion rates between children raised in the upper and lower quartiles of the neighborhood distribution is eleven percentage-points; the equivalent gap in being enrolled in higher education is 16 percentage points. We also find substantial heterogeneity in this neighborhood variation; for example, boys are more vulnerable to neighborhood variations, while children residing with both parents at the age of seven are less vulnerable. We argue that the large variation across neighborhoods in educational outcomes of young adults should be of concern for policymakers. It can both imply a suboptimal utilization of human resources and it can feed into inequalities later on in the lifecourse and harm social cohesion thereby
Old wine in new skins? China’s neighbourhood transformation from danwei to shequ
Get PDFIn this paper we argue that the urban neighborhood is a social product that serves as an instrument to ensure the social stability. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the socialist work unit (danwei), which assumed a basic role in socialist policy and the embodiment of the institution, has been the elementary social cell in the planned economy. With the decline of danwei and the introduction of shequ in the market-oriented economy, neighbourhood transformation exercises a deep influence on social integration and personal unfolding and poses a big challenge for social coherence. After exploring the neighbourhood concepts in the Chinese context, the paper tracks the trajectory of neighbourhood transformation from danwei to shequ and analyses the practice of neighbourhood management. It concludes that the new practice of neighbourhood management remains a sort of ‘old wine in new skins’ in regard of its top-down approach
Challenges for shared responsibility – Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives
Get PDFThere is widespread understanding that climate change has dramatic impacts especially for small islands. In the Maldives, a key challenge is to confront erosion processes along its coasts – past approaches have shown to not always be sustainable. Alternative approaches to coastal protection are therefore urgently needed. In this paper we use the concept of transformative governance to identify factors in society and politics that act as barriers and enablers to the introduction of alternative approaches to coastal protection in the Maldives. We investigate how inhabitants perceive coastal erosion risks and analyse people’s receptiveness to alternative coastal protection measures and their willingness to get involved in coastal protection. Governance structures are assessed against the context of conflicting central political, national and island peripherical interests. We identify hierarchical political structures in coastal protection governance as a dominant obstacle to alternative approaches. Based on empirical data collected in the research project DICES (Dealing with change in SIDS – societal action and political reaction in sea level change adaptation), we stress the importance of cultural aspects and sense of place when dealing with coastal protection. Further, we challenge the widespread assumption that people of the Maldives prefer hard coastal protection structures for their islands – a notion which is utilised by national politicians in their decision-making process to support the continuing application of hard protection measures. We discuss challenges to transformative governance related to shared responsibility, political power and openness to innovation
Satellite imagery evidence for a multiannual water level decline in Hulun Lake, China, with suggestions to future policy making responses
Get PDFLakes are ecosystems characterised by a substantial vulnerability to climate change. Their geomorphological features mean that they are particularly exposed to extreme events, which are known to put a significant pressure on fauna, flora and human populations. An example of the impacts of climate change on lakes canbe taken from Hulun Lake, China, whose water levels have changed over time due to the combined impact of climate extremes and anthropogenic activities. There is a limited amount of literature on Hulun Lake and a perceived need to monitor, document and disseminate information on how water level changes influence suchecosystems. This paper attempts to address the current information needs by reporting on a study, which lists the pressures and stressors Hulan Lake is exposed to and considers the role of policy-making in addressing them. The methods used in this paper and the results obtained may serve the purpose of encouraging similarstudies elsewhere
Advancing research on climate change, conflict and migration
Get PDFPolicy makers across the entire globe have repetitively expressed concern about climate change as a trigger of mass migration and increased political instability. Recent research on both climate-conflict and climatemigrationlinkages has gained significant attention in the scientific and public debate. Both research fields are deeply intertwined and share some common characteristics. They also have been rapidly evolving during the past years with major achievements being made. Perhaps most importantly, an improved understanding of the role of (potential) climate change impacts in migration and conflicts has been achieved, which has been essential for moving beyond environmental determinism toward a more nuanced exploration of the interlinkages between climate, conflict and migration. Yet, significant conversations and uncertainties continue to exist, hence indicating the urgent need for further advances in these fields. Here, we debate cross-cutting andcommon pitfalls in both research fields and their implications for policy and research. These pitfalls include (i) insufficient attention to context factors and causal chains, (ii) underestimation of complex spatio-temporal patterns, (iii) discrepancies between quantitative and qualitative evidence, (iv) the non-consideration of adaptation strategies, and (v) a narrow spectrum of methods. We illustrate best practices and suggest ways to move the debate forward
