"This publication presents a methodology for participative informal settlement upgrading with the support of information technology, the result of research and development activities carried out by UNCHS (Habitat) and a group of partners. Examining a number of experiences in the field, and through direct support to specific tool development activities, Habitat aims to consolidate a wealth of practical and field experiences into a methodological framework. The methodology refers to the project preparation phase, including community involvement protocols, and the information management system related to it. This methodology should be seen as a practical reference framework for programme managers and officials involved in designing and managing settlement upgrading projects and should assist policy makers and external support agencies in policy formulation and resource allocation. It will also provide a technical background to the Global Campaigns for Secure Tenure and for Good Urban Governance that UNCHS (Habitat) is launching in the year 2000"--p. 3.

The purpose of this book is to disseminate contemporary knowledge and practical experiences concerning problems and solutions related to urban hydrology and drainage. Although the main focus is on developing countries, the book draws from experiences in many other parts of the world. Based upon numerous practical examples and case studies, the book provides information to assist in the management, planning and engineering design processes. Urban Stormwater Management in Developing Countries covers a wide range of methods and approaches to improve the understanding and ability of local stakeholders to solve stormwater problems within the framework of integrated urban water management. As well as structural interventions, the book describes various non-structural approaches for flood mitigation and pollution control. This book encourages the reader to adopt an integrated approach towards stormwater management and considers the importance of institutional arrangements, participation of local stakeholders in planning, as well as aspects of financing and cost recovery. This comprehensive and topical book: Addresses the broad range of issues related to urban stormwater management with a specific focus on developing countries. Covers the main aspects of planning, design, operation and maintenance of urban drainage systems as well as socio-economic and institutional issues related to urban stormwater management. Presents structural and non-structural approaches for flood mitigation and pollution control within an integrated water resource management framework. Provides extensive examples and case studies of "best practice". Contents Urbanisation and urban hydrology Impacts of flooding on society Integrated framework for stormwater management Institutional structures and policies Planning for urban stormwater management Approaches to urban drainage system design Ecological approaches to urban drainage system design Applications of computer models Operational performance and maintenance Flood mitigation and response strategies Participation and partnerships Economics and financing Full Contents List (27KB)

Extreme inequalities, uneven planning, and unruly environments have long shaped individual and collective subjectivities at Latin America’s urban margins. Yet these same margins have frequently given rise to new forms of community organization, cultural practice, and social mobilization. This volumeframes the urban margins as complex and multi-layered sites where ongoing translocal histories of exploitation and marginalization meet distinctly local and interpersonal forms of sociability, subjective belonging, and political agency. Through nuanced ethnographic work and cross-disciplinary theoretical insights, Subjectivity at Latin America’s Urban Margins unpacks this complexity, investigating how margins are upheld, negotiated, and challenged.

While the negative effects of urban poverty are well documented, the everyday experiences of urban residents are often absent or secondary in urban studies research. The Cost of Being Poor rectifies this problem by examining both the noneconomic and the often-overlooked economic costs faced by residents of poor urban neighborhoods in Gary, Indiana. Using census, regional, and local data, and in-depth interviews with the residents of Gary, Sandra L. Barnes argues that many people incur costs resulting from the dual dilemma of being poor and residing in a poor urban area. She explores how factors such as race/ethnicity, neighborhood type, and location influence residents' views, coping strategies, and unconventional approaches toward making ends meet. Well written and accessible, this study of Gary's poor urban neighborhoods offers broad findings that apply to other similarly impoverished Rust Belt cities.

Wilson, one of our foremost authorities on race and poverty, challenges decades of liberal and conservative pieties to look squarely at the devastating effects that joblessness has had on our urban ghettos. Marshaling a vast array of data and the personal stories of hundreds of men and women, Wilson persuasively argues that problems endemic to America's inner cities--from fatherless households to drugs and violent crime--stem directly from the disappearance of blue-collar jobs in the wake of a globalized economy. Wilson's achievement is to portray this crisis as one that affects all Americans, and to propose solutions whose benefits would be felt across our society. At a time when welfare is ending and our country's racial dialectic is more strained than ever, When Work Disappears is a sane, courageous, and desperately important work. "Wilson is the keenest liberal analyst of the most perplexing of all American problems...[This book is] more ambitious and more accessible than anything he has done before." --The New Yorker