Gordon McGranahan

Environment, wealth and health: towards an analysis of intra-urban differentials within the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana

presents findings from a study of household environmental problems that included a 1,000 household survey and tests for air and water pollution. After presenting a conceptual model summarizing key interactions between environment, wealth and health in Accra, the authors analyze intra-urban differentials in household environmental conditions by level of wealth and residential zone with particular emphasis on diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases among children and respiratory problem symptoms among principal homemakers.

Inclusive urbanization: Can the 2030 Agenda be delivered without it?

Governments are wary of rapid urbanization, yet eager for the economic benefits that cities bring. The resulting tension is reflected in exclusionary cities created through strategies that privilege economic growth and result in many people being left behind. There is both exclusion from the city and exclusion and segregation in the city. This paper’s redefinition of inclusion moves beyond a focus on identity-based disadvantage, to frame inclusion as a counter to both overt discrimination and structurally created disadvantage. It explores three levels of inclusive urbanization: eliminating discriminatory exclusion, giving the disadvantaged a bigger voice in existing institutions, and guaranteeing human rights. u2003Drawing on examples of emerging economies, the paper points to the dangers of pursuing a growth-first strategy for urbanization, as exclusion can become entrenched and difficult to reverse, even with increased prosperity. It then examines how more inclusive urbanization can be achieved and how this relates to the Sustainable Development Goals (part of the 2030 Agenda). The world’s governments have committed themselves to balanced development that integrates economic, social and environmental goals, and have pledged that “no one will be left behind”. Inclusive urbanization is needed to achieve this balance, and to move the world towards the progressive realization of human rights for all.

Resilience as a policy narrative: potentials and limits in the context of urban planning

The aim of this paper is to analyse the emergence of the concept of ‘urban resilience’ in the literature and to assess its potentials and limitations as an element of policy planning. Using a systematic literature review covering the period 2003–2013 and a combination of techniques derived from narrative analysis, we show that diverse views of what urban resilience means and how it is best used (as a goal or as a conceptual/analytical framework) compete in the literature. Underlying these views are various (and sometimes diverging) interpretations of what the main issues are and what forms of policies or interventions are needed to address these issues. Urban planners need to be better aware of these different interpretations if they want to be in a position to use resilience appropriately and spell out what resilience can bring to their work. The review also highlights that the notion of urban resilience often lacks adequate acknowledgement of the political economy of urbanization and consequently does not challenge the status quo which, some argue, is socially unjust and environmentally unsustainable. As such it runs the risk to be seen as simply making marginalized urban communities more resilient to the shocks and inequity created by the current dominant paradigm.

Editorial: Urban ecologies

Most people writing on urban environmental and ecological issues, particularly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, agree on the importance of both addressing environmental issues and reducing poverty. Beyond this, if one looks at the full range of writings, there is much disagreement, even on the basics. There are environmental optimists and pessimists. There are those with “green” agendas and those with “brown” agendas. (1) The critical scale for understanding urban environmental issues is variously identified as local, regional or global. The central challenge is sometimes described as technical, and at other times social, economic or political. The means to address this challenge is variously presented in terms of market mechanisms, state planning or community action. And of course, the more academic writers align themselves with (or occasionally against) their disciplines. There are also important trends in the evolution of academic ideas about sustainable urban development, not least with the growth of interdisciplinary approaches and the rapid emergence of more theoretically driven work over recent years. (2) Unsurprisingly, this can be a confusing terrain to chart, particularly if the goal is to give clear direction to practitioners.