Analysing sub-standard areas using high resolution remote (VHR) sensing imagery

Urban planners and managers in developing countries often lack information on sub-standard areas. Base data mostly refer to relatively large and heterogeneous areas such as census or administrative wards, which are not necessarily a relevant geographical unit for representing and analysing deprivations. Moreover sub-standard areas are diverse, ranging from unrecognized slum areas (often in the proximity of hazardous areas) to regularized areas with poor basic services, and information on this diversity is difficult to capture. Sub-standard areas in Indian cities are typical examples of that diversity. In Mumbai, sub-standard areas range from unrecognized slum pockets to large regularized sub-standard areas. This paper explores the usage of the latest generation of very high (spatial and spectral) resolution satellite images using 8-Band images of WorldView-2 to analyse spatial characteristics of sub-standard areas. The research illustrates how VHR imagery helps in rapidly extracting spatial information on sub-standard areas as well as provides a better understanding of their morphological characteristics (e.g. built-up density, greenness and shape). For this study an East-West cross-section of Mumbai (India) was selected, which is strongly dominated by a variety of sub-standard areas. The research employed image segmentation to extract building footprints and used texture and spatial metrics to analyse physical characteristics of sub-standard areas, combined with purposely-collected ground-truth information. The results show the capacity of this methodology for characterizing the diversity of sub-standard areas in Mumbai, providing strategic information for urban management

Participatory 'Spatial' Knowledge Management Configurations in Metropolitan Governance Networks for SD

Thematic Report n°2, Chance2SustainThis report concerns the extent to which participatory spatialized knowledge construction1 and learning are conducive to dealing with challenges of strategic domains of urban development; such as economic growth, reducing social inequalities and vulnerabilities, increasing environmental sustainability, and making use of decentralized and participatory fiscal flows. Our main idea is that spatial knowledge construction and use is a strategic instrument in urban development, making explicit the various types of knowledge existing in cities, and reflecting the priorities of different actors in the city (government, private sector and citizens). We focus on urban development processes in which various kinds of knowledge are produced, exchanged, contested and used, and the extent to which joint learning and collective local formulation of principles of change is generated by such processes

Mapping City Visions: Integrating Mega- projects in Urban Development

This policy brief explores the mapping of city visions in fast-growing cities in several emerging economies (Brazil, South Africa, India, Peru). As cities have to deal increasingly with both complexity and uncertainty in their development, they are concerned with the future pathways their cities can take. City visions on urban development portray idealized situations as goals for the future, and the maps portraying them are strongly idealized. To get behind these idealized versions of reality, policy makers need to understand how such visions are developed, by whom, and whose realities they reflect

Engaging with Sustainability Issues in Metropolitan Chennai

Publication en ligne, City report series (Chance2Sustain) - ISSN 2309-8198Chennai is the largest metropolitan city in South India (8.7 million in 2011) and the provincial capital of the large state of Tamil Nadu (population 72 million in 2011). Before that, under British rule, the city was the capital of the Madras Presidency, and was known as Madras until 1996, when the name was officially changed to Chennai. Located on the east coast of India, on the Bay of Bengal, sea trade has been an important aspect of the regional economy since at least the colonial period. Still today, the city combines political functions with economic command functions for both manufacturing and services, reflecting the region's diversified economy. The Chennai metropolitan area has witnessed strong growth over the last 20 years in automobile manufacturing, software services, hardware manufacturing, healthcare and financial services (CDP 2009). However, it should be noted that only 30% of total employment in the city takes place in the formal sector i.e., is covered by contracts and labour laws, the remaining 70% falls in the informal sector. This underscores the importance of small and micro enterprises and self-employment for providing goods, services and livelihoods in the local economy

Dissection of the Complex Phenotype in Cuticular Mutants of Arabidopsis Reveals a Role of SERRATE as a Mediator

Mutations in LACERATA (LCR), FIDDLEHEAD (FDH), and BODYGUARD (BDG) cause a complex developmental syndrome that is consistent with an important role for these Arabidopsis genes in cuticle biogenesis. The genesis of their pleiotropic phenotypes is, however, poorly understood. We provide evidence that neither distorted depositions of cutin, nor deficiencies in the chemical composition of cuticular lipids, account for these features, instead suggesting that the mutants alleviate the functional disorder of the cuticle by reinforcing their defenses. To better understand how plants adapt to these mutations, we performed a genome-wide gene expression analysis. We found that apparent compensatory transcriptional responses in these mutants involve the induction of wax, cutin, cell wall, and defense genes. To gain greater insight into the mechanism by which cuticular mutations trigger this response in the plants, we performed an overlap meta-analysis, which is termed MASTA (MicroArray overlap Search Tool and Analysis), of differentially expressed genes. This suggested that different cell integrity pathways are recruited in cesA cellulose synthase and cuticular mutants. Using MASTA for an in silico suppressor/enhancer screen, we identified SERRATE (SE), which encodes a protein of RNA–processing multi-protein complexes, as a likely enhancer. In confirmation of this notion, the se lcr and se bdg double mutants eradicate severe leaf deformations as well as the organ fusions that are typical of lcr and bdg and other cuticular mutants. Also, lcr does not confer resistance to Botrytis cinerea in a se mutant background. We propose that there is a role for SERRATE-mediated RNA signaling in the cuticle integrity pathway