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

Urban Neighbourhood Associations: People, Organizations, and Place

In a world increasingly “globalized” through advances in transportation and communication, place still matters. Our urban communities, dense and mixed in character, are homes for important social, economic, and political institutions and relationships (DeFilippis, Fisher, & Shragge, 2006), with volunteer-run neighbourhood associations bringing the voices of community residents into the conversation. My research with two such groups in Kitchener, Ontario, originally focused on organizational characteristics that aided their work in addressing neighbourhood issues such as crime, but later expanded to include considerations of the urban context within which both groups belong. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with association members and external actors highlighted the importance of leadership, organizational structure, flexibility, and partnerships with external organizations. Safety concerns in the communities provided an initial impetus, with both groups focusing on specific issues and engaging in ongoing learning to improve their neighbourhoods. The associations also appear to benefit their communities indirectly by fostering residential pride and informal neighbouring activities. Based on insights from empowerment theory, urban studies, and my own critical reflections on my experiences living in urban neighbourhoods, I suggest that the associations are uniquely shaped by their settings, with structures and behaviours that respond to the complexity of life in our cities. In turn, these neighbourhood groups have the potential to address the paradoxes often encountered in urban living: by bridging the individual and the community, they serve as an example of a “third way” (Newbrough, 1995). This research provides suggestions for neighbourhood residents, groups, community practitioners, and researchers

Urban Infrastructure Condition and Neighbourhood Sustainability: A Contingent Valuation Approach

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the implication of infrastructure condition to urban neighbourhood sustainability and how a demand driven approach can enhance willingness to pay for service improvement. The study is a survey research carried out through the distribution of structured questionnaires to 1040 households in 8 metropolitan local government areas namely; Alimosho, Apapa, Eti-osa, Ikeja, Shomolu, Mushin, Kosofe and Surulere. The questionnaire was designed to elicit information on households’ preferences and demand for urban infrastructure including willingness to pay and averting expenditure. Findings from the study indicated that different areas of the city have preferences for different infrastructure both in specific types and service option, and that demand driven provision will enhance WTP and has implication to neighbourhood sustainability. It will also encourage cost recovery and public sector participation in infrastructure provision.Key words: Demand side management, infrastructure, sustainability, urban neighbourhood, willingness to pay

Globalization and the health of Canadians: ‘Having a job is the most important thing’

Background Globalization describes processes of greater integration of the world economy through increased flows goods, services, capital and people. Globalization has undergone significant transformation since the 1970s, entrenching neoliberal economics as the dominant model of global market integration. Although this transformation has generated some health gains, since the 1990s it has also increased health disparities. Methods As part of a larger project examining how contemporary globalization was affecting the health of Canadians, we undertook semi-structured interviews with 147 families living in low-income neighbourhoods in Canada’s three largest cities (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver). Many of the families were recent immigrants, which was another focus of the study. Drawing on research syntheses undertaken by the Globalization Knowledge Network of the World Health Organization’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health, we examined respondents’ experiences of three globalization-related pathways known to influence health: labour markets (and the rise of precarious employment), housing markets (speculative investments and affordability) and social protection measures (changes in scope and redistributive aspects of social spending and taxation). Interviews took place between April 2009 and November 2011. Results Families experienced an erosion of labour markets (employment) attributed to outsourcing, discrimination in employment experienced by new immigrants, increased precarious employment, and high levels of stress and poor mental health; costly and poor quality housing, especially for new immigrants; and, despite evidence of declining social protection spending, appreciation for state-provided benefits, notably for new immigrants arriving as refugees. Job insecurity was the greatest worry for respondents and their families. Questions concerning the impact of these experiences on health and living standards produced mixed results, with a majority expressing greater difficulty ‘making ends meet,’ some experiencing deterioration in health and yet many also reporting improved living standards. We speculate on reasons for these counter-intuitive results. Conclusions Current trends in the three globalization-related pathways in Canada are likely to worsen the health of families similar to those who participated in our study

Energy transition for the decarbonisation of urban neighborhoods: A case study in Seville, Spain

A method of greenhouse gas inventory has been developed for evaluating the environmental implications of civilian life, in terms of carbon emission, according to citizens' behaviour and to the condition of buildings, local infrastructures and services. The assessment focuses on energy use for housing, mobility, impacts of waste and water management. All factors refer to different spatial scales, ranging from the regional, urban neighbourhood, right through to the single-family household. Based on site-specific data, carbon accounting has been performed in Seville, firstly focussing on the provincial scale, then on the urban neighbourhood of Barrio Tiro de Línea. Both quantitative information and a uniquely citizen-centred method of visual result representation have been provided and taken as a starting point for planning an energy transition and decarbonisation scenario. The graphical outcomes allow the selection of a series of carbon footprint mitigating measures to be potentially accomplished in the medium-long term. The procedure was tested during the City-Zen Roadshow, as part of the European Union FP7 City-Zen Project, and demonstrated a powerfully communicative and easily implementable method to inform policy makers and citizens, to raise awareness on real energy transition potentials and to address choices for decarbonisation

Does a satisfying trip result in more future trips with that mode?

Previous studies have indicated that travel satisfaction – the experienced emotions during, and cognitive evaluation of, a trip – can be affected by travel mode choice and other trip characteristics. However, as satisfactory trips might improve a person’s attitudes toward the used mode, persons may be more likely to use that same mode for future trips of the same kind. Hence, a cyclical process between travel mode choice and travel satisfaction might occur. In this paper we analyse this process – using cross-sectional data – for people who engage in walking and cycling for leisure trips in the Belgian city of Ghent. The focus on walking and cycling reflects recent studies indicating that active travel is often associated with the highest levels of travel satisfaction. Results support the idea of a cyclical process; the evaluation of walking and cycling trips positively affects the respondents’ attitude towards the respective mode, which in turn has a positive effect on choosing that mode. Furthermore, results indicate a strong effect of life satisfaction on travel satisfaction, suggesting a strong impact of long-term happiness on short-term satisfaction

Lower neighbourhood walkability and longer distance to school are related to physical activity in Belgian adolescents

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether adolescents living in a high-walkable town centre are more physically active than those living in a less-walkable suburb. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Izegem (Belgium). Data collection took place in spring 2007. One high-walkable urban neighbourhood and one less-walkable suburban neighbourhood were selected, based on objective connectivity and residential density. One hundred twenty adolescents (12-18 years, 60 per neighbourhood) completed the Neighbourhood Environmental Walkability Scale (NEWS), the Neighbourhood Physical Activity Questionnaire (NPAQ), wore a pedometer for 7 days and filled in an activity log. RESULTS: In contrast with the expectations, adolescents living in the less-walkable suburb reported 220 min/week more cycling for transport than those living in the high-walkable town centre. A trend towards significance was found for mean step counts/day with 1371 more steps/day for suburban adolescents. Travel time to school was 7.4 minutes less for urban adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast with previous results in adults, lower walkability and larger distance to school was associated with more physical activity in Belgian adolescents. Therefore, physical environmental interventions designed for adults, focusing on increases in connectivity, residential density and connectivity, might not be effective for Belgian adolescents

Networked Individualism of Urban Residents: Discovering the Communicative Ecology in Inner-City Apartment Buildings

Certain patterns of interaction between people point to networks as an adequate conceptual model to characterise some aspects of social relationships mediated or facilitated by information and communication technology. Wellman proposes a shift from groups to networks and describes the ambivalent nature inherent in an ego-centric yet still well-connected portfolio of sociability with the term ‘networked individualism’. In this paper we use qualitative data from an action research study of social networks of residents in three inner-city apartment buildings in Australia to provide empirical grounding for the theoretical concept of networked individualism. However, this model focuses on network interaction rather than collective interaction. We propose ‘communicative ecology’ as a concept which integrates the three dimensions of "online and offline", "global and local" as well as "collective and networked". We present our research on three layers of interpretation (technical, social and discursive) to deliver a rich description of the communicative ecology we found, that is, the way residents negotiate membership, trust, privacy, reciprocity, permeability and social roles in person-to-person mediated and direct relationships. We find that residents seamlessly traverse between online and offline communication; local communication and interaction maintains a more prominent position than global or geographically dispersed communication; and residents follow a dual approach which allows them to switch between collective and networked interaction depending on purpose and context

Evaporating waterbody effects in a simplified urban neighbourhood: A RANS analysis

The incorporation of nature-based solutions comprising green and blue infrastructure is often touted as a way to cool cities and enhance pollutant removal. However, there is little agreement between different methodologies to measure the effect of any single intervention. Here, we present 3D steady RANS simulations to investigate the influence of waterbody on in-canyon flow structure, temperature (T*) and water vapour (!*) distribution in a simplified urban neighbourhood. A novel solver that captures evaporation effects is developed and validated against wind tunnel experiments. Simulations are performed under neutral atmospheric conditions for forced -and mixed-convection cases and different air-water temperature differences, indicative of either daytime or night-time conditions. Results under forced convection show minimal impact on the flow structure, whilst T* and !* effects are distributed primarily over and around the water surface. However, the mixed-convection case shows that a cooler waterbody weakens the principal vortex in the open square, whilst T* and !* effects reach further upwind and are more widely distributed in the spanwise direction. A warmer waterbody is shown to disrupt the skimming flow structure, indicating a possible heat and pollutant removal mechanism from around the waterbody and also downwind canyons