Sustainable urban development? Low-cost housing challenges in South Africa

Low-cost housing provision has been a major focus of government in post-apartheid urban South Africa. While successes can be noted, there is growing concern regarding the social and environmental sustainability of housing programs and the impacts upon both the surrounding environment and human health. Utilizing key informant interviews, survey research, Census data and documentary review, this essay identifies the major impediments to a sustainable low-cost housing provision in urban South Africa. The essay also points to hopeful signs in new policy directions, particularly attention to health issues and informal settlement upgrade programs. However, the major obstacles to a sustainable low-cost housing process, including macro-economic conditions, enduring historical legacies of race and class, the scale and rapidity of urban growth and institutional challenges show little indication of abating.     

Toward an interactional approach to sustainable community development

During the 1980s, the concept of sustainable development emerged as a popular solution to the problem of meeting the material needs of a rapidly growing population while minimizing environmental damage. Rather than pitting economic growth against environmental protection, proponents of sustainability focus on development which meets the needs of both present and future generations. This new legitimacy has prompted scholars to broaden the range of issues to which sustainability can be applied. A potentially important development along these lines has been the growing body of literature surrounding the concept of sustainable community development. In this paper, we delineate the central features of the sustainable community, assess obstacles to achieving sustainable communities, and present a conceptual framework for sustainable community development based on an interactional approach to community.     

Timing of space: Some thoughts on building economics

The emerging field of building economics is gradually penetrating both professional practice and academic curricula in architectural design. This essay focuses on the contribution of building economics to architectural design. This contribution hinges on the notion of time. Building economics offers a systematic framework for the representation of time. An economic evaluation of a building is in fact impossible without the time-profile of the economic process it contains. This can be perceived as a problem of finding some numbers to “plug in” the prescribed formulae, but it can also be perceived as a valuable framework for design and building in time. The latter perspective is undeniably more challenging and exciting. The scope of architectural design is thereby considerably widened and enriched.     

中东民主化进程:一个政治经济学的视角

作为上层建筑的转型,中东民主化受到了经济基础的制约,该地区依赖自然资源的经济模式、经济增长缓慢,既得利益集团的抗拒都对民主化形成阻障.只要这些阻碍民主化的经济因素不消除,中东民主化的前景仍不乐观.     

中东民主化进程：一个政治经济学的视角

作为上层建筑的转型，中东民主化受到了经济基础的制约。该地区依赖自然资源的经济模式、经济增长缓慢、既得利益集团的抗拒都对民主化形成阻障。只要这些阻碍民主化的经济因素不消除，中东民主化的前景仍不乐观。     

中国宏观经济2011年形势走向分析

中国经济结构调整的外部环境正在发生变化,因此必须寄希望于通过扩大人均收入,提高消费能力,使中国市场逐步走向世界的前列。但在目前消费和出口双重疲软的情况下,中国经济仍然需要靠投资拉动增长。2011年下半年经济下行风险不是很大,物价上涨是经济增长最主要障碍,预计货币政策偏紧。     

On the economics of design

The emerging field of building economics is gradually penetrating both professional practice and academic curricula in architectural design. This essay focuses on the contribution of building economics to architectural design. This contribution hinges on the notion of time. Building economics offers a systematic framework for the representation of time. An economic evaluation of a building is in fact impossible without the time-profile of the economic process it contains. This can be perceived as a problem of finding some numbers to “plug in” the prescribed formulae, but it can also be perceived as a valuable framework for design and building in time. The latter perspective is undeniably more challenging and exciting. The scope of architectural design is thereby considerably widened and enriched.     

Making it on the Outside: Understanding Barriers to Women’s Post‐Incarceration Reintegration

The increasing rate of imprisonment in the United States over the past few decades resulted in record numbers of individuals reentering society upon release. As men and women exit through prison gates, they encounter a range of obstacles that complicate their efforts to “make it” on the outside. Given the gendered impact of recent punitive prison policies, this essay focuses on women and traces their steps as they navigate the many complex, interrelated, and competing obstacles to successful reintegration post‐incarceration. In particular, this essay describes how many barriers, and women’s reentry experience more broadly, are shaped by gender, race, and class. Further, drawing on the feminist pathways perspective, we examine women’s reentry in light of their pathways into offending focusing, in particular, on their victimization history.     

Banks That Don't Lend? Unlocking Credit to Spur Growth in Developing Countries

This article explores the level of liquidity within the banking systems of developing countries and the potential impact on rates of economic growth from prudently redirecting a portion of liquid assets into credit to the private sector. It finds that banks in developing countries are extremely liquid and growth rates per capita might increase substantially in response to heightened lending to the private sector. It then summarises the primary obstacles to this and presents several policy reforms that can augment the level of credit to the private sector in developing countries.     

Market management of the essential economy: an essay

This essay presents a framework for thinking about public economic policy. The argument is that the prevailing theory of competitive markets serves a useful public purpose but creates problems when made into an ideology. The core theory and philosophy suffers from oversights and illusions. Fundamentalist thinking found in it can be dangerous for the long run well-being of humanity. These insights lead to the conclusion that the fundamental task of an economics for public policy should be to develop a theory of workable markets.     

Rural change in Prince Edward Island,Canada: an interactive of directive economy?

Galeski's work on rural social change and organisation provides the framework for an examination of recent change in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island. The Island is a classic rural community, with its agriculture dominated by the potato. A variety of forces are promoting rural change, particularly those of an economic, political and social nature. The processes of change common to all developed capitalist rural economies — urbanisation, autonomous change, and agribusiness — are present, but there is also the PEI Development Plan, a fifteen-year federal-provincial program for the comprehensive economic and social advancement of the Province. The Plan has highlighted the obstacles to rural change. The family farm is central to the traditional Island way of life, but it is seen as being threatened by the growth of agribusiness and the increasing land purchases by non-residents. Other threats to the Island way of life are seen in the growth of tourism and the centralised school system. Paralleling these changes is the increasing level of direction in the Island's economy, particularly from the federal government and agribusiness. The response is seen in political change at the Provincial level, opposition to the Plan, and the tightest restrictions on non-resident and corporate land ownership in Canada. Rural change per se is not opposed, but there is a growing desire to preserve what is best in PEI and its traditional way of life.     

GENDERED SPECTRE

The focus of this essay is gendered collective memory of the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947, at the time of Independence from British rule. The essay addresses the question of whether there are similarities between trauma studies that developed within a Western Freudian psychoanalytic framework and the anti-colonial theory practiced by decolonizing nations. Taking two women's texts, the essay examines how gender manifests itself within the framework of trauma and how it is played out in collective memory of partition. The texts chosen raise interesting questions about gender, trauma and the nation and provide an alternative non-Western framework through which the trauma of partition can be read. The essay points to how the category of memory and its meanings vary in their national, cultural and historical specificity.     

Autism spectrum disorder and the science of social work: A grand challenge for social work research

The social work profession has not yet taken a leadership role in addressing the myriad of challenges that individuals on the autism spectrum encounter across the lifespan. In this essay, we argue that social workers are well equipped to engage in research and practice aimed at promoting full and meaningful inclusion in society, as well as social and economic justice, for individuals on the autism spectrum. We highlight short- and long-term goals that provide the social work profession with a framework to engage in research, practice, education, and advocacy aimed at supporting individuals on the autism spectrum and their families.     

When class is colorblind: A race‐conscious model for cultural capital research in education

Sociologists of education frequently draw on the cultural capital framework to explore the ways in which educational institutions perpetuate inequality in schools and the larger society. However, these studies adhere to a white centered “class‐based master‐narrative,” to legitimize and perpetuate the assumption that racial differences are secondary manifestations of class‐based structures. The class‐based master‐narrative elevates a one‐dimensional view of inequality as rooted primarily in class‐based stratification and downplays the fact that the economic elites who inhabit these dominant social positions are predominantly white. In this essay, I propose a race‐conscious framework to challenge the colorblind assumptions and deficit perspectives inherent to the cultural capital framework. The race‐conscious model (a) focuses on how racial stratification impacts the cultivation, transmission, and activation of cultural capital on the individual and institutional levels and (b) highlights the harmful impact of the lack of racial literacy that is inherent to the white habitus.     

Seapower and socioeconomic change

The present essay examines the concepts of path dependence and change of political and economic regimes. Starting from the debate of the influence of the so called military revolution on the emergence of modern states, the neglected aspect of the influence of seapower on socioeconomic change is presented, using a formal model. It is maintained that the choice of seapower by a state leads to a different regime than the choice of land military power, because sustainable seapower necessitates a wide alliance of interests, which brings with it more democratic regimes, develops new more efficient and complex forms of organizations, requires the acquisition and diffusion of new knowledge and expertise, which brings with it institutional change and economic growth. The essay concludes with a short presentation of the United Provinces' (the Dutch Republic) turn to the sea.     

Exporting labor: the impact of expatriate workers on the home country

The economic impact of emigration on the source country is analyzed through a literature review and a discussion of costs, benefits, and public policy implications. It is noted that "information collected from different sources and settings is needed for cross-validation of assessments and conclusions. Second....the cost/benefit analysis of emigration should be undertaken on a case by case basis. Third...these costs and benefits must be assessed in a long-term framework that considers the socio-economic conditions and the goals of the country....Fourth, effective governmental policies...need to recognize that emigrants generally are highly motivated people [who] are adept at overcoming legal or other obstacles in their path." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA)     

Colonialism,genocide, and Tibet

A central element of the narrative circulated by the Tibet Movement has been that China has carried out genocide and practised colonialism in Tibet. These notions are, for the most part, uncritically accepted by politicians and the media, especially in the West. This essay challenges such characterizations as inept and as obstacles to resolving the Tibet Question. It looks at whether convincing empirical evidence of physical and cultural genocide in Tibet exists, in light of the most common understanding of such practices as rooted in efforts to destroy a people and its culture. The essay also considers what the contours of colonialism have been in light of its principal modern experience, that of European, US and Japanese colonization, and determines whether the Tibet case fits these characteristics. The essay concludes that a critique of China's policies and practices in Tibet would be best served by focusing on actual problems experienced by Tibetans.     

A general equilibrium approach to tourism and welfare: The case of Macao

Macao has been witnessing spectacular economic growth in recent years. The ongoing boom is mainly driven by rapid tourism growth reflected in massive tourist arrivals and foreign capital inflow. Although Macao is praised as an ‘economic wonder’, serious externalities have emerged, raising concerns about the sustainability of the city's long-term development. Using a modified simple general equilibrium model, this paper shows how economic, social, environmental and political externalities accompanying rapid tourism growth may possibly reduce the net welfare of host communities. The paper concludes that comprehensive tourism policies leading to a sustainable development should be developed in a broader social framework.     

Major obstacles to control of irregular migrations: prerequisites to policy

This paper examines 3 basic obstacles thwarting all attempts to reduce irregular migration. The 1st, rather well known and analyzed, underscores the dependency of all regulation of migratory flows on the system of economic and political relations between developed and developing countries. The 2nd obstacle resides in the persistance and growth of subsequent dependent irregular migration. This obstacle also reveals the relative autonomy of population movements compared with the employment situation in the labor market. The 3rd generally ignored obstacle is the role played by migration itself, particularly the discriminatory status of foreign workers in the labor market, in producing irregular migration.