‘Money and (dis)connection’: Income inequality and network disadvantage as barriers to sustainable technology adoption

Scholars have highlighted the role of income distribution as a fundamental factor to understand consumption, health, adoption of technologies, social cohesion, democratic stability, and long term economic performance, among other phenomena. Moreover, reducing income inequality was included in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. However, less attention has been put on the link between differences in household incomes and other pressing sustainability challenges, such as those that depend on massive adoption of new technologies within network industry sectors: telecommunications, waste management, transport, energy and water. Does existent income inequality translate into adoption gaps within these sectors? Is inequality an obstacle for advancing the vision of an inter-connected and more sustainable world? This research explores these questions through seven stand-alone papers, which focus on adoption of broadband internet, municipal recycling and railway passenger transport. Part I of the thesis includes four papers based on publicly available data from traditional mainstream sources. Chapter 1 provides a systematic map of the peer-reviewed literature on the link between income inequality and adoption of the three selected network technologies. Chapter 2 looks at country-level panel data from OECD countries. Chapter 3 analyses cross-sectional data in a broader world-wide sample. Chapter 4 compares borough-level recycling and income distribution in two European cities: London (United Kingdom) and Barcelona (Spain). Part II provides an in-depth analysis of two South American metropolitan areas: Santiago (Chile) and Medellín (Colombia). This part includes three papers (chapters 5, 6 and 7), each one focusing on a specific sector, that employ mixed-methods based on fieldwork conducted in both cities. The main contributions of the thesis are new evidence on the negative effect of income inequality on network technology adoption, and a discussion of the role of formal and informal institutions in this relationship.CONICYT PFCHA/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2016 ‐ 7217012

Participatory Planning at the National Level - the Case of Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development Strategy of Serbia

The paper focuses on the assessment of participatory process in formulation of national urban development policy of Serbia until 2030. The assessment of participation is attached to the complexities in defining auxiliary set of evaluation criteria, while the process itself requires activities focused on individuals, organizations and their institutional environment, and the linkages between the different governance levels and instruments. The assessment in this paper is based on a mixed method approach. Quantification is used to measure the level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction of actors involved in the process, while the qualitative analysis provides an in-depth understanding on the visible and less visible results of their engagement. Findings point out the increase in participants’ knowledge and understanding of the planning process, and the possibility of institutionalising such a process in a way that coordination and cooperation are continually unfolding. The most important elements of active stakeholder involvement were recognised in the possibility to attain the public discourse which enabled: 1) prioritization of the national urban development programs, 2) linking planning with financing, and 3) better understanding of the relation between traditional spatial/urban planning and new governance instruments. The identified challenges relate to the need for further support to the implementation of the strategy through legislation, institutions, capacities and funding. The fragility of institutions and resistance to change in the transitional context of the post-socialist country is present. At the same time there is a need to deal with complexity and uncertanity, where the findings point out at the necessity to rely on the openness and vitality of the local level and experts involved in the process

Right to Land and the Rule of Law: Infrastructure, Urbanization and Resistance in India

The Special Economic Zones Act 2005, a critical infrastructure model, was enacted in India in two days amid total political consensus. Within two years, intense conflicts over land and resources erupted in SEZ areas across the country between corporate developers, the state, and peasants\u27 and citizens\u27 groups. In the ensuing furor, several SEZs foundered and Goa state unprecedentedly revoked its SEZ policy, suspending 15 SEZs, some with construction underway. Amid raging debates and accusations of corrupt real estate deals over SEZs and other infrastructure and urbanization investments, the central (federal) government attempted to redraft land acquisition policy, eventually enacting a new law in 2013. This legal anthropological study of land and resource conflicts over growth infrastructures and urbanization in India examines the emergent Indian jurisprudence around land and resources; the policy genesis and evolution of Indian SEZs; the growth of India\u27s real estate economy; and successful peasant and citizens\u27 resistance to infrastructure and urbanization policies in Goa. Using ethnographic and archival research, it contributes to anthropological studies of law as process, and law contextualized in its broader social setting. It locates conflicts over land and resources challenging state sovereignty and capital accumulation at the center of India\u27s economic growth story. It analyzes contemporary processes of capital accumulation, relationships with land and resources, social movements, and negotiations of citizenship and the state refashioning the rule of law in India\u27s liberal democracy. It concludes that India\u27s growth is unfolding with recurrent conditions of impasse and resistance. Contradictory policy and legal provisions, interests within the state, and oppositional social alliances have reopened a fundamental historical impasse over relationships with land and resources that underlines how critical access to land and resources are to a large number of people. It argues for a legal framework for land- and resource-use that is locally determined, egalitarian and ecologically appropriate as a tool towards ushering a fundamental reconstitution from below

Sustainable Smart Cities and Smart Villages Research

ca. 200 words; this text will present the book in all promotional forms (e.g. flyers). Please describe the book in straightforward and consumer-friendly terms. [There is ever more research on smart cities and new interdisciplinary approaches proposed on the study of smart cities. At the same time, problems pertinent to communities inhabiting rural areas are being addressed, as part of discussions in contigious fields of research, be it environmental studies, sociology, or agriculture. Even if rural areas and countryside communities have previously been a subject of concern for robust policy frameworks, such as the European Union’s Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy Arguably, the concept of ‘the village’ has been largely absent in the debate. As a result, when advances in sophisticated information and communication technology (ICT) led to the emergence of a rich body of research on smart cities, the application and usability of ICT in the context of a village has remained underdiscussed in the literature. Against this backdrop, this volume delivers on four objectives. It delineates the conceptual boundaries of the concept of ‘smart village’. It highlights in which ways ‘smart village’ is distinct from ‘smart city’. It examines in which ways smart cities research can enrich smart villages research. It sheds light on the smart village research agenda as it unfolds in European and global contexts.

Investigating climate change intervention strategies in opencast mining contracting and plant hire companies: a case of mutual construction company group of companies, South Africa

Climate change has come to be understood as a deleterious phenomenon, which threatens business, society and ecological systems, thus making it imperative to understand its impact on human, social and economic activities as well as the impact of these activities on climate change. Against this background, this research sought to determine climate change intervention strategies in the mining supply chain in general, specifically focussing on opencast mining contracting and plant hire companies’ practices. This focus on the mining industry was driven by its importance in South Africa and globally, despite its significant direct and indirect contribution to climatic changes. The mixed-methods multiple case study focused on the climate change management of the Mutual Construction Company Group of Companies (MCCGC), an open cast toll mining firm and equipment supplier. Limited to two sites, Pilanesberg Platinum Mines (PPM) and Tharisa Minerals (Tharisa) Mines, the researcher gathered data through interviews, questionnaires, observations and document review. Data was analysed through deductive content analysis. The research made three major findings: (i) the MCCGC, like its principals PPM and Tharisa, does not have an explicit climate change management strategy. Instead, climate change is managed indirectly through implicit strategies seeking to manage environment, health and safety concerns of the mines, (ii) as a contractor, the MCCGC has had to adopt PPM and Tharisa’s implicit approach to climate change management strategies to meet contractual obligations, instead of an explicit approach and, (iii) the MCCGC and its principals’ commitment to environment, health and safety management, and implicitly climate change management, is not mere rhetoric but is being put into practice. The research concluded that MCCGC’s lack of expressed climate change management intentions and practices exposed the firm to climate change risks, most notably financial risks and reputation risks. Financial risks arise from possible ex post climate change liability. In addition, MCCGC is risking its contract tenures, particularly if the two mines change ownership and the new owners insist on an explicit rather than implied climate change strategy with all its suppliers. Reputational risks arise from the possible failure to attract new clientele and investors who may perceive MCCGC as a risky partner, due to an inept climate change intervention strategyCollege of Agriculture and Environmental SciencesM. Sc. (Environmental Management

Creating a policy framework for growing the middle class : the case of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality

Thesis (PhD (Public Administration))--University of Pretoria, 2020.Since post-apartheid South Africa, the government has focused mainly on alleviating poverty and bridging the inequality gap. This has been done through the implementation of pro-poor policies. While these pro-poor efforts favour primarily the poor, a significant number of households are trapped as they are neither poor nor rich. These are referred to as the aspirants in this study. The aspirants, in terms of regulation, are considered economically self-sufficient and could as well be classified in the middle class. However, they are struggling to pay their bills and take care of their households. Their desired economic, social, and political life is still the aspiration and admiration of those in the middle class. There is no specific government policy targeted at the progression of the aspirants towards becoming a stable middle class. Therefore, this study aims at developing a policy framework with recommendations that will grow the aspirants to become a stable middle class. This study utilised the convergent parallel mixed-methods case study design in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, to profile these aspirants by identifying their characteristics and analysing their determinants and the impact of such determinants on their upward mobility. Finally, a policy framework that will assist to grow and sustain the aspirants into a stable middle class was developed. Findings from the study show that the aspirants tend to adopt lifestyles of the middle class but without the prerequisite resources to sustain these livelihoods. The descriptive analysis, non-parametric tests and chi-square tests indicated that they have lower levels of education, asset holding, and participation in social networks, which makes them vulnerable to consumption shocks. Consequently, through the literature review, the study established key determinants of the aspirants’ upward mobility. These were modelled using the binary logistic regression technique to determine their impact. Findings from the logistic regression revealed a significant relationship between social mobility and education, racial inequality, asset ownership, access to economic opportunities, and proximity to amenities. The study findings were necessary for providing a policy framework that focuses on improving the quality of education through early childhood development and leveraging intergovernmental relations; addressing asset accumulation through improving enforcement of property rights; addressing racial inequality and improving access to opportunities through reducing the cost of doing business, the creation of decent employment and preferential procurement; and ensuring spatial developments that promote proximity to amenities by the aspirants.School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA)PhD (Public Administration)Unrestricte