The interaction between school poverty and agreeableness in predicting educational attainment

This study examined the relation between school poverty and educational attainment of adolescents, and tested whether personality trait agreeableness moderated this link. The sample consisted of 4236 adolescents, whose math abilities were assessed twice, at ages around 13/14 and 15/16. Agreeableness was assessed at age 13. School poverty was measured as the proportion of children eligible for free school meals in the school. The results showed a negative relation between school poverty and educational attainment, however, this negative relation was weaker for adolescents with higher levels of agreeableness. Specifically, in low poverty schools, agreeableness did not predict differences in educational attainment. The results were in line with the diathesis-stress model. This suggests that higher levels of agreeableness can contribute to resilience and better coping with contextual stressors in the school environment.OLD Urban Renewal and Housin

The association between neighbourhoods and educational achievement, a systematic review and meta-analysis

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013) / ERC Grant Agreement n. 615159 (ERC Consolidator Grant DEPRIVEDHOODS, Socio-spatial inequality, deprived neighbourhoods, and neighbourhood effects). Many studies have examined the effects of neighbourhoods on educational outcomes. The results of these studies are often conflicting, even if the same independent variables (such as poverty, educational climate, social disorganisation, or ethnic composition) are used. A systematic meta-analysis may help to resolve this lack of external validity. We identified 5516 articles from which we selected 88 that met all of the inclusion criteria. Using meta-regression, we found that the relation between neighbourhoods and individual educational outcomes is a function of neighbourhood poverty, the neighbourhood’s educational climate, the proportion of ethnic/migrant groups, and social disorganisation in the neighbourhood. The variance in the findings from different studies can partly be explained by the sampling design and the type of model used in each study. More important is the use of control variables (school, family SES, and parenting variables) in explaining the variation in the strength of neighbourhood effects.OTBArchitecture and The Built Environmen

The role of integration for future urban water systems: Identifying Dutch urban water practitioners' perspectives using Q methodology

Urban water systems are under increased pressure from ongoing developments like climate change, population growth and urbanization. While it is clear that current urban water challenges need a more integrated approach, practitioners disagree on what such an integrated approach means exactly. Integration could therefore be described as a wicked problem, with practitioners having different understandings of integration, as well as the opportunities and challenges they should focus on; e.g., climate adaptation, resource recovery or collective replacement. This lack of consensus challenges decision-making, and thus the implementation of integration. To foster urban water systems integration, this study uses Q methodology to explore the different perspectives that Dutch urban water practitioners have on integration for future urban water systems. Our analysis reveals four salient perspectives: perspective 1 sees coordination as a means to make the system future-proof, perspective 2 focuses on climate adaptation, perspective 3 aims for recovery, and perspective 4 is all about efficiency and being in control. While all perspectives acknowledge that traditional urban water practices need to change, they differ on which sustainability challenges are considered most important and what means should be used. Practitioners need to understand these differences to deal effectively with the wicked nature of integration.Sanitary Engineerin

Ethnic differences in timing and duration of exposure to neighborhood disadvantage during childhood

This paper examines ethnic differences in childhood neighborhood disadvantage among children living in the Netherlands. In contrast to more conventional approaches for assessing children’s exposure to neighborhood poverty (e.g., point-in-time and cumulative measures of exposure), we apply sequence analysis to simultaneously capture the timing and duration of exposure to poor neighborhoods during childhood. Rich administrative microdata offered a unique opportunity to follow the entire 1999 birth cohort of the Turkish, Moroccan, Surinamese, and Antillean second generation and a native Dutch comparison group from birth up until age 15 (N = 24,212). Results indicate that especially Turkish and Moroccan children had higher odds than native Dutch children to live in a poor neighborhood at any specific stage during childhood, but particularly throughout the entirety of childhood. Although ethnic differences in neighborhood income trajectories became smaller after adjusting for parental and household characteristics, a substantial proportion of the differences remained unexplained. In addition, the impact of household income on children’s neighborhood income trajectories was found to be weaker for ethnic minority children than for native Dutch children. We discuss our findings in relation to theories on spatial assimilation, place stratification, and residential preferences.OLD Urban Renewal and Housin

De toekomst van het stedelijk watersysteem: Opereren in een stad vol transities

Gedreven door ontwikkelingen zoals klimaatverandering, verstedelijking en digitalisering zien we in het stedelijk watersysteem steeds vaker oplossingen ‘buiten de buis’. Oplossingen zoals publieke pleinen met een waterbergende functie, polderdaken met een dynamische waterberging, zwembaden verwarmd met warmte uit (afval)water; het zijn allemaal pogingen om antwoorden te vinden op de uitdagingen waar de watersector mee te maken heeft. Echter, de watersector is niet de enige in de stad die worstelt met uitdagingen die dergelijke ontwikkelingen met zich meebrengen. Doordat de ruimte in de stad beperkt is, zien we dat de grenzen van stedelijke infrastructuur steeds vaker worden opgezocht, opgerekt en verlegd, om zo oplossingen te kunnen vinden die in te passen zijn in bestaand stedelijk gebied.Sanitary EngineeringOrganisation and Governanc

Understanding cross-sectoral innovations for urban water management through the lens of organizational ambidexterity

Urban water systems worldwide need integrated, cross-sectoral innovations to anticipate developments like climate change and population growth. Development and implementation of such innovations is challenging due to the operational and sectoral mindset of organizations in which these innovations take place. This study uses the concept of ambidexterity to get a better understanding of how organizations responsible for urban water management deal with the tension between operation and the need for innovation. We focused on Amsterdam and Rotterdam, two Dutch cities that are global frontrunners in urban water management. Combining a desk study with 25 semi-structured interviews, we found four mechanisms to manage innovation and operation tensions: network, hierarchical, process and human-resource mechnanisms. Different from the literature on ambidexterity, our empirical findings show that the connection between operation and innovation is dominated by networks rather than by executives. Hierarchical mechanisms could be used to complement this, catalyzing innovation or formalizing it.Sanitary EngineeringOrganisation & Governanc

Towards the integrated management of urban water systems: Conceptualizing integration and its uncertainties

Climate change and urbanization, as well as growing environmental and economic concerns, highlight the limitations of traditional wastewater practices and thereby challenge the management of urban water systems. Both in theory and in practice, it has been widely acknowledged that the challenges of the twenty-first century require solutions that address problems in a more integrated way. Although the demand for integration is obvious, implementation has proved challenging because of the complexity and uncertainty involved. In addition, the urban water literature contains a wide diversity of approaches to integration, each contribution having its own understanding of the term, as well as how to deal with the complexity that comes with it. In this article, we take a first step in supporting both decision-making and decision-makers in urban water systems integration. First, we work towards a more comprehensive perspective on integration in urban water management; one that uses and structures the variety of existing approaches. In so doing, we introduce a typology of urban water systems integration that distinguishes between geographical, physical, informational, and project-based forms. Second, we explore the implications that such integrated solutions bring for decision-makers. They will be faced with additional uncertainty arising (1) at the interfaces of previously unconnected systems and (2) from the social and institutional changes that systems integration requires. Finally, we draft three decision-making challenges that come with integration and provide some possibilities for dealing with them.Sanitary EngineeringOrganisation and Governanc

Statistical modelling of Fat, Oil and Grease (FOG) deposits in wastewater pump sumps

The accumulation of FOG (Fat, Oil and Grease) deposits in sewer pumping stations results in an increase in maintenance costs, malfunctioning of pumps and, a potential increase of wastewater spills in receiving open water bodies. It is thought that a variety of parameters (e.g. geometry of the pump sump, pump operation, socioeconomic parameters of the catchment) influences the built-up of FOG. Based on a database containing data of 126 pumping stations located in five Dutch municipalities a statistical model was built. It is shown that 3 parameters are most significant in explaining the occurrence of FOG deposits: mean income of the population in a catchment, the amount of energy (kinetic and potential) per m3 per day and the density of restaurants, bars and hotels in a catchment. Further it is shown that there are significant differences between municipalities that can be traced back to the local ‘design paradigm’. For example, in Amsterdam, the design philosophy of discharging in the pump sump under the water surface (and hence maintaining a low level of turbulence in the pump sump) results in an increase of the probability of the formation of FOG.Sanitary Engineerin

Root causes of failures in sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS): an exploratory study in 11 municipalities in the Netherlands

Despite being widely implemented, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) do not always function flawlessly. While SUDS have been tested extensively and seem to perform well on a laboratory or pilot scale, practitioners’ experience is different: failures in SUDS occur regularly in practice, resulting in malfunctioning systems, water nuisance and high costs. To anticipate their malfunctioning, and thus to improve their performance, a better understanding of failures occurring in SUDS and their underlying causes is needed. Based on an explorative case-study approach, consisting of site visits and semi-structured interviews with urban water professionals, this study presents an inventory of technical failures in SUDS and an analysis of their root causes. In total, 70 cases in 11 Dutch municipalities have been documented. The results show that the interfaces between SUDS and other urban systems are prominent failure locations. In addition, we found that failures originate from the entire development process of SUDS, i.e., from the design, construction and user/maintenance phase. With respect to the causes underlying these failures, our results show that these are mainly socio-institutional in nature. These are valuable insights for both practitioners and scholars, contributing to a renewed socio-technical urban water system with more sustainable water management practices.Sanitary EngineeringWater Resource

Does Segregation Reduce Socio-Spatial Mobility?: Evidence from Four European Countries with Different Inequality and Segregation Contexts

The neighbourhoods in which people live reflects their social class and preferences, so studying socio-spatial mobility between neighbourhoods gives insight in the openness of spatial class structures of societies and in the ability of people to leave disadvantaged neighbourhoods. We study the extent to which people move between different types of neighbourhoods by socio-economic status in different inequality and segregation contexts in four European countries: Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Estonia. The study is based on population registers and census data for the 2001–2011 period. For the UK, which has long had high levels of social inequalities and high levels of socioeconomic segregation, we find that levels of mobility between neighbourhood types are low and opportunities to move to more socio-economically advantaged neighbourhoods are modest. In Estonia, which used to be one or the most equal and least segregated countries in Europe and now is one of the most liberal and market oriented countries, we find high levels of mobility, but these reproduce segregation patterns and it is difficult to move to better neighbourhoods for those in the most deprived neighbourhoods. In the Netherlands and Sweden, where social inequalities are the smallest, it is easiest to move from the most deprived to less deprived neighbourhoods. To conclusion, the combination of high levels of social inequalities and high levels of spatial segregation tend to lead to a vicious circle of segregation for low income groups, where it is difficult to undertake both upward social mobility and upward spatial mobility.OLD Urban Renewal and Housin