When Work Disappears: New Implications for Race and Urban Poverty in the Global Economy

This paper discusses the impact of growing joblessness and dwindling work opportunities on inner-city areas in America. The lack of low-skilled manual work in the inner city is linked to poverty, crime, family dissolution and the social life of neighbourhoods. The paper discusses this impact at a neighbourhood-wide, family and individual level, noting the interaction between these levels and the intergenerational repercussions that result. The paper goes on to look at race in this context, identifying a new form of cultural racism. It examines the way race becomes an issue as black people become disproportionately represented in neighbourhoods where there is a high ratio of joblessless and very few work opportunities. The paper shows how this segregation plus its interaction with other changes in society, escalates rates of neighbourhood joblessness and compounds existing problems in these neighbourhoods. Finally the paper examines the role of public policy, the way it has exacerbated inner-city joblessness and how it attempted to resolve the problem, but failed. The paper concludes by pointing to a way forward to improve work opportunities for all sectors of society that are struggling to make ends meet, including inner-city poor and the working- and middle- classes.joblessness, race, urban poverty

Barrio de Valdeacederas: entre abandono, remodelacion y gentrificacion

El trabajo analiza los orígenes del barrio de Valdeacederas en el siglo XIX y su desarrollo a través de los planos urbanísticos hasta la actualidad. Se analiza la operación de IVIMA (1986-2002), parte del programa Barrios en Remodelación, realizada en una pequeña zona de Valdeacederas. Se indaga en el futuro del barrio, que actualmente incluye una política de demolición de edificios antiguos y su sustitución por edificios de gran altura. Para la mejora del barrio se propone la revitalización de los pequeños espacios públicos, abundantes pero en estado de abandono, que contribuiría al enriquecimiento de carácter del barrio. Valdeacederas es de gran importancia para Madrid, por su valor cultural e histórico y su carácter único, por lo que la mejor solución para el barrio es la reconstrucción integral de las edificaciones existentes y el fortalecimiento de los lazos culturales y económicos entre el barrio y el resto de la ciudad.This paper analyzes the origins of neighbourhood of Valdeacederas in the 19th century, its evolution and position in urban planning until the present day. It also discusses housing development operation, conducted by IVIMA (Madrid Housing Institute) from 1986 - 2002 in a small area of Valdeacederas, as part of social housing programme Barrios en Remodelación. Another issue explored is the possible future of this neighbourhood, endangered by a policy of demolishing of old hoses and their replacement by high - rise buildings. Finally, the adaptive reuse of various small public spaces found in Valdeacederas is proposed, as a way to change the gloomy face of this neglected urban area and enrich its character and diversity. The author takes position that the best solution for Valdeacederas, unique for its cultural and historical value, is comprehensive regeneration of existing urban structures and consolidation of cultural and economic bonds between the neighbourhood and the rest of Madrid.Peer Reviewe

Social Interactions between Immigrants and Host Country Populations: A Country-of-Origin Perspective

This paper aims at exploring how countries of origin can affect migrants’ socio-cultural integration in multicultural European societies. Socio-cultural integration is considered through the lenses of different kinds of social interactions between migrants and host society namely: intermarriages, interethnic friendship, interethnic relations in workplaces, and encounters in the neighbourhood. The literature review highlighted that these social interactions prove to depend on a multiplicity of factors related mainly to the destination country (such as residential segregation, degree of racism and acceptance, opportunities for encounters and neighbourhood effects) and of individual factors related to the migrant (such as demographic characteristics, migration trajectory and length of residence and work position). The impact of countries of origin and transnational links is more difficult to assess considering that little research has directly dealt with the issue. However, the paper shows that some non-state actors such as family members and some state-actors such as Ministries or consulates, may have an influence on the social interactions of emigrants abroad even though this influence can be indirect. The paper tries to map actors and related actions including very specific cases like family pressure to discourage intermarriage or broader ones through programmes targeting diaspora which may have an empowerment effect on emigrants and thus foster their socio-cultural integration. Finally, through the paper, some specific case studies on transnational ties and integration are presented and several hypotheses and questions for further research are highlighted.IN

Gender, class and space in the field of parenthood comparing middle-class fractions in Amsterdam and London

This paper argues that becoming a parent/carer can be seen as a new field of social relations and suggests how gender is the key mechanism in the reconfiguration of class relations in this field. By conceptualising parenthood as a field, that is a social world with specific stakes and rules, this study suggests that residential decisions and strategies developed by different middle-class households do not solely depend on their class habitus, but also on gendered positions and dispositions in respect to division of labour, child care and school choice. Drawing on interview data from London and Amsterdam, this study re-addresses the issue of middle–class time-space trajectories at a specific period in the life course. We contend that the middle classes are not just differentiated by various orientations of capital (economic versus cultural) but that interaction of class and gender is also key for understanding practices of the middle classes as they enter the field of parenthood. These practices are strongly influenced by labour market and welfare regimes (as the Netherlands/England comparison makes clear). In the new field of parenthood the work of realigning class habitus (through social reproduction) is highly gendered, but to different degrees that are made evident in the different neighbourhood settings. In terms of urban space this points to the significance of the particular neighbourhood structure and opportunities of the city as a whole as well as a more active idea of the role of space in the particular working out of class and gender in specific neighbourhood contexts. Urban space is a situating framework and an active process in trajectories of social reproduction

Heritage, gentrification, participation : remaking urban landscapes in the name of culture and historic preservation : introduction

This special issue explores the relationship between heritagization, shifting economies, and urban struggles in different cities around the globe. Our aim is to examine the conditions that have brought history, culture, an old/new urban aesthetics, real estate values, and housing struggles in a relational nexus by looking at the ways in which differently-situated actors mobilize the language of cultural heritage to act upon urban spaces. Ideas of what constitutes a beautiful and livable city are changing along with capital accumulation strategies and urban social geographies. The growing heritagization of historic neighborhoods enables local governments and real-estate developers to engender massive spatial and social changes in the urban landscape. City authorities renovate last swaths of urban fabrics in the name of historic preservation and of the ‘common good’, but this often means that local residents are evicted while private developers allied with these authorities realize huge profits by ‘regenerating’ depressed areas. Yet, local residents also resort to the language of cultural heritage to combat the destruction of their urban worlds. What are the consequences for those who cannot afford to live in the newly restored quarters? What kinds of heritage rhetoric are being mobilized by involved actors? How do rooted political cultures shape the local instantiation of this globalizing phenomenon? Recent urban struggles in the Middle East and Europe reveal an inextricable link between heritagization, gentrification, and urban politics. We invite contributors to submit papers dealing with such links between heritagization and housing struggles, evictions, cultural capitalism, and changing urban aesthetics.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN A SEMI-URBAN NEIGHBOURHOOD

There are no published studies on impact of neighbourhood on domestic violence in Sango-Ota. This is the first study to examine formal and informal control method and the influence of family structure and socio-economic status on the occurrence of domestic violence in Sango-Ota. A closed-ended questionnaire with two open –ended questions was administered to married couples and other consenting adults at three selected neighbourhoods in Sango-Ota. A research question and one hypothesis were tested. The study tried to find out whether formal and informal control methods are effective. The research hypothesis states that there is a significant combined contribution of socio-economic conditions, family structure and years of marriage to incidences/occurrences of domestic violence in Sango-Ota. Of the 84 participants that reported cases of domestic violence, about two-thirds (61%) reported to their family members while 17 (21%) reported to close family friends. Only 4 (5%) participants had the courage to report to the law enforcement agency, in this case, the police. Risk factors identified to precipitate domestic violence are years of marriage (β= -.205; t = -2.792; p< 0.05) and the prevailing socio-economic status of the family (β= .437; t = 6.052; p< .0005). The findings show a low level reportage of cases of domestic violence. Higher socioeconomic status was found to be protective against domestic violence. Our findings also highlight the potential role of broader contextual or community-level interventions in reducing domestic violence in settings such as Sango-Ota which is a semi-urban area. We found evidence that improvements in the socioeconomic status of the participants will lead to significant reductions in the incidence of domestic violence. Keywords: Domestic Violence, Sango-Ota, Neighbourhood, Socioeconomic status, Polic

Spatial variations in road collision propensities in London

Propensity to be involved in a road traffic collision in Greater London is likely to depend on many factors, including personal mobility, lifestyle, behaviour, neighbourhood characteristics and environment. This paper seeks to identify in terms of geodemographic type the propensity of individuals to be involved in collisions and to examine geographic variations in such propensities with distance from Central London. Results for Central London suggest only a small number of Mosaic types portray a higher than average index score (over 100), translating into a higher risk for a smaller proportion of London’s geodemographic types. This contrasts with results which show a larger number of Mosaic classifications having higher than average index scores further from Central London. The results highlight a need, through enhanced spatial analysis, for better understanding of the spatially incidence of collisions which are putting at risk the lives of London residents

From Barcelona Process to Neighbourhood Policy: Assessments and Open Issues. CEPS Working Documents No. 220, 1 March 2005

The Barcelona process so far has been a valuable systemic/institutional advance in Euro-Med relations and a confidence-building measure on a large scale. But it has not been a sufficient driving force to have created a momentum of economic, political and social advance in the partner states. It is therefore quite plausible that the EU should seek some new advance – through the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) – to build on the positive features of Barcelona and so try to introduce some new driving force. The Action Plans currently being adopted seek to make the often vague intentions of the Association Agreements of the Barcelona process more operational by linking them to either domestic policy programmes of the partner state or to EU policy norms and standards as an external anchor. In this paper we first crystallise alternative approaches for the ENP to become a real driving force under the headings of ‘conditionality’ and ‘socialisation’. The conditionality concept would mean that the EU sets out i) what incentives it offers, and ii) the conditions on which these incentives would be delivered. The socialisation concept relies essentially on a learning process that comes from the extensive interaction between actors in the partner states and the EU, which induces the partner states to engage in policy reforms that are to a degree modelled on EU norms or derive some inspiration from them. For the EU to become a driving force for reform in the region also requires that it does not have to face an uphill struggle against negative tendencies, for example in the widening and deepening of radical Islam – and here the issue of coherence in the approaches of the EU and US together is paramount