Feeling Safe in the Dark : Examining the Effect of Entrapment, Lighting Levels, and Gender on Feelings of Safety and Lighting Policy Acceptability

This research examined to what extent physical factors, notably lighting and entrapment (blocked escape), and individual factors, notably gender, affect feelings of safety and the acceptability of reduced lighting levels. The authors reasoned that acceptability of reduced street lighting depends on perceived safety, which in turn depends on entrapment, lighting, and gender. Virtual representations of a residential street were used, systematically manipulating entrapment and lighting levels. As expected, people felt less safe in lower lighting and higher entrapment settings, and these settings were evaluated as less acceptable. Although women perceived a situation as less safe compared with men, the authors found no gender differences in acceptability, which extends previous research. Importantly, as hypothesized, perceived safety mediated the effect of lighting on acceptability levels, suggesting that people can accept lower lighting levels when social safety is not threatened

The development of highway nuisance perception. Experiences of residents along the Southern Ring Road in Groningen, the Netherlands.

The perception of highway nuisance i.e. noises, air pollution and barrier-effects, is associated with negative effects on health and quality of life. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the development of highway nuisance perception among residents. Interviews were conducted with residents in 32 households living along the Southern Ring Road, a highway which crosses various neighbourhoods in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. Various themes emerged from the interviews which were important in the development of residents’ perceptions of highway nuisance. For example, our interviews showed that residents who had not explicitly chosen to live next to a highway were more acutely affected by the negative externalities of that highway later. Perceived environmental changes, often due to governmental actions such as new/extended noise barriers, removal of trees and newly constructed buildings causing noise reflection, also played a role in the interviewees’ development of nuisance perception. In addition, the interviewees indicated that expectations about future highway developments influenced their current perception of highway nuisance: described as anticipation effects. Interviewees also indicated that recent information about the potentially harmful effects of air pollution increased their concerns about living near the highway. A final theme discussed were differences in the extent to which residents were able to develop coping strategies to reduce the amount of highway nuisance perception. The participants’ experiences indicate the importance of further integration between the planning of highway infrastructure and the broader environment in order to reduce nuisance perceptions and improve residential quality near highways

Fiji : an analysis of the power sector infrastructure requirements on electric vehicles for Viti Levu

This study develops a localized analysis of the effects of Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption on the electricity grid on Viti Levu Island in Fiji. It generates costed recommendations for development of infrastructure and other related changes to facilitate the levels of EV adoption defined in the Fiji Low Emissions Development Strategy 2018-2050 (LEDS) scenarios

Understanding Resident Satisfaction with Involvement in Highway Planning: In-depth interviews during a highway planning process in the Netherlands

This study investigates resident satisfaction with provided involvement activities during highway planning processes, with particular attention given to the planned Southern Ring Road highway project in Groningen, the Netherlands. In-depth interviews with 38 residents living in the project area reveal important themes contributing to satisfaction. Satisfaction with passive information activities is motivated by the extent to which information addresses concerns, but (dis)trust in government and other information sources also plays a role. For residents preferring to obtain additional information, perceived access to such information and the extent to which it reduces concerns are also important to satisfaction. Finally, for residents who would rather participate actively, satisfaction is motivated by their perceived access to participation activities and the sense of being heard. Study results show how residents’ evaluations of the themes underpinning involvement satisfaction are based on their perceptions of actual project team activities and contextual factors

Access to the Brazilian City - from the perspectives of low-income residents in Recife

This paper describes a study of the transport and accessibility needs of residents living in low-income communities in the City of Recife in Brazil. It discusses the theoretical background underpinning the academic and policy rationale for such a study. We outline the qualitative methodological approach, which was adopted to engage in meaningful knowledge exchanges with what are often considered by policymakers to be the ‘hard-to-reach’ citizens of Brazil’s favelas. In the exploration of our study results, we describe the complex relationship between the mobilities and livelihoods of the research participants. A key question the paper seeks to examine is how far the restricted mobility and activity patterns of citizens in these low-income communities influences or interacts with their quality of life outcomes in terms of their wealth, health and wellbeing? A second question is whether transport planning and policy can have a role to play in enhancing their future life chances? Currently, transport planners and policymakers in Brazil know very little about the specific accessibility and mobility needs of people living in Brazilian low-income communities. Our aim is to shed some light on the issue of their mobility needs in the context of a wider set of policy discussions about how to protect the livelihoods and wellbeing of low-income populations within rapidly emerging urban economies

Energy transition pathways for the 2030 agenda : SDG 7 roadmap for Pakistan

Developed using the National Expert SDG7 Tool for Energy Planning (NEXSTEP)The key objective of this SDG 7 Road Map for Pakistan is to assist the Government of Pakistan to develop enabling policy measures to achieve the SDG 7 targets. This Road Map contains a matrix of technological options and enabling-policy measures for the Government of Pakistan to consider. It presents three core scenarios (BAU, CPS and SDG scenarios) and two ambitious scenarios that have been developed using national data, and which consider existing energy policies and strategies and reflect on other development plans. These scenarios are expected to enable the Government to make an informed decision to develop and implement a set of policies to achieve SDG 7 by 2030, together with the NDC

Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective

Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma children’s educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, states’ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group

Leveraging human capital to reduce maternal mortality in India: enhanced public health system or public-private partnership?

Developing countries are currently struggling to achieve the Millennium Development Goal Five of reducing maternal mortality by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. Many health systems are facing acute shortages of health workers needed to provide improved prenatal care, skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric services – interventions crucial to reducing maternal death. The World Health Organization estimates a current deficit of almost 2.4 million doctors, nurses and midwives. Complicating matters further, health workforces are typically concentrated in large cities, while maternal mortality is generally higher in rural areas. Additionally, health care systems are faced with shortages of specialists such as anaesthesiologists, surgeons and obstetricians; a maldistribution of health care infrastructure; and imbalances between the public and private health care sectors. Increasingly, policy-makers have been turning to human resource strategies to cope with staff shortages. These include enhancement of existing work roles; substitution of one type of worker for another; delegation of functions up or down the traditional role ladder; innovation in designing new jobs;transfer or relocation of particular roles or services from one health care sector to another. Innovations have been funded through state investment, public-private partnerships and collaborations with nongovernmental organizations and quasi-governmental organizations such as the World Bank. This paper focuses on how two large health systems in India – Gujarat and Tamil Nadu – have successfully applied human resources strategies in uniquely different contexts to the challenges of achieving Millennium Development Goal Five