FOCUSED REVIEWS ON COMMUNITY LIVABILITY STRATEGIESFOR UPGRADING IMPOVERISHED AREAS

Impoverished areas represent the worst of urban poverty, inequality and intolerable difficulties concerning the quality of life of the wellbeing. A person is impoverished when there is deprivation of strength, vitality and liveliness. Poor societies are conscious of their deficiency of power and independence which subject them to mistreatment; they express about pain brought by their inevitable violation of social norms and inability to fully participate in community life. The concept of livability and its strong link with sense of community is essential; it is the sum of factors that add up the community’s quality of life including the built and natural environment, economic prosperity, and social stability. This p a p e r f o c u s e s o n the existing problems in impoverished areas that represent the most unbearable complications concerning quality of life of the inhabitants. Therefore, this paper aims to provide community livability strategies in local and international regions for upgrading quality of life in impoverished areas. The fourth largest city in Lebanon, Tyre and Colombia’s second largest city, Medellin, comprises impoverished areas that experience a deep social and economic exclusion and are mostly inhabited by refugees, homeless children, and fragmented families. This paper analyzes the case studies to add spatiality to understanding of vulnerabilities. Thus, the paper deducts checklists based on the livability factors to check the community livability in impoverished areas. Consequently, livability and sense of community are different for the poor since satisfaction with quality of life of the impoverished increases significantly by gentrifying the area

Sustainability vision for the Uptown transit district

tableOfContents: Executive summary -- Correspondence to scope of work -- Chapter 1. Introduction -- 1.1. Profile of the Uptown District -- 1.2. Profile of the Reinvent Phoenix project -- 1.3. Objectives of the district visioning study -- Chapter 2. Visioning research process -- 2.1. Overview---SPARC visioning research methodology -- 2.2. Steps, methods, and participatory settings (public engagement) -- Chapter 3. Results -- 3.1. District-wide vision for the Uptown District in 2040 -- 3.2. Vision descriptions for specific transition areas (transition areas) within the Uptown District -- 3.2.1. Vision for Mariposa to Highland -- 3.2.2. Vision for Central Avenue and Indian School Road -- 3.2.3. Vision for west on Camelback -- 3.3. Daily life in the Uptown District (vision narratives) -- 3.4. Consistency analysis of the Uptown vision -- 3.4.1. District-wide synergies -- 3.4.2. Key synergies by transition area -- 3.4.3. Potential conflicts -- 3.5. Sustainability appraisal of the Uptown vision -- Referencesabstract: The Uptown Transit District Vision Report includes specifics on economic development, health, housing, green systems, mobility, and land use. This vision builds on inputs from residents, workers, business owners, and landowners to describe Reinvent Phoenix's Uptown transit district in 2040.Report submitted to the City of Phoenix Planning and Development Department by the ASU-SOS Team for the project grant 'Reinvent Phoenix--Cultivating Equity, Engagement, Economic Development and Design Excellence with Transit-Oriented Development,' funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD

Principles for Better Cities: Towards Sustainable Development in Metropolitan Regions, Precincts and Places

This document was commissioned by the Sustainable Cities Collaboratory and the City of Berlin to guide cities through the complexity of creating vital, sustainable, productive and relational places to live. It is one of the outcomes of the Metropolis project ‘Sustainable Cities Collaboratory’ led by the City of Berlin

Sexual Assault and Subsequent PTSD in Austin, Texas

Goal Statement: The goal of the following prevention program is to reduce the numbers of sexual harassment, dating violence incidents, and sexual assaults for adolescents ages 11-18, including transgender youth, in the City of Austin, Texas by implementing the procedures outlined below. The prevention plan will be implemented in small local middle and high schools in the Austin Independent School District and will involve the participation of the community and families of the youth involved. The program will be implemented for one school semester. Reduction in the number of incidents and assaults will be assessed utilizing a survey administered pre- and post-prevention. Significant Findings: Sexual violence has profound and lasting effects on the victim including physical and mental health consequences such as post-traumatic stress disorder (Basile et al., 2016; Jaconis et al., 2020). Rape is often unreported, and some estimates show that only 18 percent of sexual assaults are reported to the police (National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, 2021). In 2020 there were 54.2 reported sexual assaults per 100,000 people in Austin, Texas (City-Data, 2021). To address the numbers of sexual assaults for youths ages 11-18, including transgender youths, a prevention program utilizing the social ecological model will be implemented in local middle and high schools in Austin, Texas. The program will work to stop sexual assault before it happens, preventing the myriad of physical and mental health problems from occurring. An advocacy program, utilized in conjunction with existing local, state, and national sexual assault prevention and transgender rights organizations, is also proposed as this will help raise awareness of the importance of these issues. Objectives/Strategies/Interventions/Next Steps: Enact a social ecological model-based prevention program aimed to reduce sexual assault rates for girls ages 11-18 in Austin, Texas. Utilize an ecological perspective to reduce risk factors associated with sexual assault for youth ages 11-18 in Austin, Texas. Incorporate techniques used by the Olweus bullying prevention program to help prevent sexual violence. Utilize the social ecological model and the ecological perspective to reduce sexual violence for transgender youth ages 11-18 in Austin, Texas, while making sure to maintaining confidentiality as well as other ethical codes and standards. Finally, advocate for an action plan to increase public awareness of sexual assault of adolescents and transgender youth in the City of Austin, Texas

The Global Risks Report 2016, 11th Edition

Now in its 11th edition, The Global Risks Report 2016 draws attention to ways that global risks could evolve and interact in the next decade. The year 2016 marks a forceful departure from past findings, as the risks about which the Report has been warning over the past decade are starting to manifest themselves in new, sometimes unexpected ways and harm people, institutions and economies. Warming climate is likely to raise this year's temperature to 1° Celsius above the pre-industrial era, 60 million people, equivalent to the world's 24th largest country and largest number in recent history, are forcibly displaced, and crimes in cyberspace cost the global economy an estimated US$445 billion, higher than many economies' national incomes. In this context, the Reportcalls for action to build resilience – the "resilience imperative" – and identifies practical examples of how it could be done.The Report also steps back and explores how emerging global risks and major trends, such as climate change, the rise of cyber dependence and income and wealth disparity are impacting already-strained societies by highlighting three clusters of risks as Risks in Focus. As resilience building is helped by the ability to analyse global risks from the perspective of specific stakeholders, the Report also analyses the significance of global risks to the business community at a regional and country-level

Community-Based Approaches to Reducing Health Inequities and Fostering Environmental Justice through Global Youth-Engaged Citizen Science

Growing socioeconomic and structural disparities within and between nations have created unprecedented health inequities that have been felt most keenly among the world’s youth. While policy approaches can help to mitigate such inequities, they are often challenging to enact in under-resourced and marginalized communities. Community-engaged participatory action research provides an alternative or complementary means for addressing the physical and social environmental contexts that can impact health inequities. The purpose of this article is to describe the application of a particular form of technology-enabled participatory action research, called the Our Voice citizen science research model, with youth. An overview of 20 Our Voice studies occurring across five continents indicates that youth and young adults from varied backgrounds and with interests in diverse issues affecting their communities can participate successfully in multiple contributory research processes, including those representing the full scientific endeavor. These activities can, in turn, lead to changes in physical and social environments of relevance to health, wellbeing, and, at times, climate stabilization. The article ends with future directions for the advancement of this type of community-engaged citizen science among young people across the socioeconomic spectrum

Enhancing Security in Affordable Housing: The Case of Prince Fawaz Project

The present study argues that the urban form of affordable housing projects affects safety and security. The study examines the level of safety and security in the Prince Fawaz project proposing recommendations that enhance it. Theories and approaches concerned with the environmental crime are initially reviewed. Then, urban and architectural features as well as crime rates and patterns are documented. Also, trace and behaviour observations are carried out. The observations monitored urban features and behaviours associated with crime or fear of crime. Residents’ perception for security and fear of crime is extracted through a questionnaire. A Space Syntax is processed and linked with the questionnaire and observation outputs. Observations demonstrate a semblance of fear of crime which is supported by records of car and home theft. Although the questionnaire reflects a suitable level of security, it points to peripheral spaces and areas around mosques and shops as the less secure. However, enhancing security in the Prince Fawaz project requires urban interventions including controlling access to peripheral spaces, reviving areas detected to be unsafe, repositioning elements causing visual obstacles and enhancing appearance by vegetation and sustainable maintenance. Besides, reformulating the movement network so that an appropriate integration between residents and strangers is achieved. On the conceptual level, the study proves that none of the theories of environmental crime can act as a comprehensive approach; but each can partly work

Culture Is Our Common Wealth: An Action Agenda to Enhance Revenues and Resources for Massachusetts Cultural Organizations

Looks at current support provided by the state of Massachusetts to arts and cultural organizations, and recommends ongoing advocacy to encourage additional support -- specifically, increased investment in existing and new cultural facilities