Robert B. Potter

The City in the Developing World

1. The Nature and Scale of Urbanisation in the Developing World 2. Third World Urbanisation and Development: Theoretical Perspectives 3. National Urban Systems and Global Development 4. National Urban Development Strategies 5. Urbanisation and Basic Needs: Education, Health and Food 6. The Structure and Morphology of Cities in Developing Areas: Can we Generalise?7. Housing and Shelter in Third World Cities: Rags and Riches 8. Employment and Work in the Developing World City 9. Cities and Environmental Sustainability in the Developing World 10. The Future of the City in the Developing World: the Policy Agenda

‘Young, gifted and back’: second-generation transnational return migrants to the Caribbean

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study of a relatively new group of Caribbean migrants, namely second-generation overseas-born Barbadians who have decided to migrate to the country of birth of at least one of their parents, paying particular attention to the development-oriented implications of these migrants. After a brief review of the circumstances surrounding this relatively new and innovative migratory cohort, the insights gained from in-depth interviews with 25 such migrants are presented. The account focuses in particular on the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the young returnees, as well as their pattern of visits to the island prior to migration, and the reasons for their move. The paper then tentatively explores the adjustments made by the returnees and those that they feel they still face. In a number of respects, the essentially ‘hybrid’ and ‘inbetween’ positionality of these young transnational migrants is emphasized. Thus, they report difficulties in making friends (especially female friends), problems regarding their accents, feeling like an outsider, culture shock, the Americanization of society, being regarded as ‘mad’, aspects of resentment and having to accept things as they are. Through the analysis, issues of national and racial identity are shown to be of particular salience.

Both black and symbolically white : The 'Bajan-Brit' return migrant as post-colonial hybrid

Abstract The research presented in this article centres on an under-researched demographic group of young return migrants, namely, second-generation Barbadians, or ‘Bajan-Brits’, who have decided to ‘return’ to the birthplace of their parents. Based on 51 in-depth interviews, the essay examines the experiences of second-generation return migrants from an interpretative perspective framed within post-colonial discourse. The article first considers the Bajan-Brits and issues of race in the UK before their decision to migrate. It is then demonstrated that on ‘return’, in certain respects, these young, black English migrants occupy a liminal position of cultural, racial and economic privilege, based on their ‘symbolic’ or ‘token’ whiteness within the post-colonial context of Barbados. But this very hybridity and inbetweeness means that they also face difficulties and associated feelings of social alienation and discrimination. The ambivalent status of this transnational group of migrants serves to challenge traditional notions of Barbadian racial identity.

Supplanting the planters: Hawking heritage in Barbados

Summary After briefly examining the plantation-as-hotel model, this contribution focuses the remainder of its attention on the conversion of plantation slavery into entertainment on the Caribbean island of Barbados. First, and by way of contextualization, it is shown that an extensive and well-documented history of plantation life exists, one that is drawn from early accounts of travelers, missionaries and others, as well as later expert commentaries offered by indigenous and extra-regional scholars. Second, it is argued that the tourism industry has largely ignored or been highly selective in borrowing from this rich source of material in its attempt to supply the sort of a-historical diversion which it believes its clientele enjoys. Examples provided include the Open House Programme of the Barbados National Trust, the annual Crop Over Festival and Plantation Spectacular dinner shows. Finally, a few suggestions are advanced in order to try and understand the success of this type of tourism. They include references to postmodernity, nostalgia, dark tourism and varieties of promotion.

Repetitive Visiting as a Pre‐return Transnational Strategy among Youthful Trinidadian Returnees

Abstract Building upon existing Caribbean research by Condon and Duval, we assess how repetitive visiting is, or is not, important to youthful return migrants in their 30s and 40s, who have decided to return more permanently to Trinidad. Is it influential in their social and economic adaptations on return, and does this transnational practice lead to a more permanent return? Our analysis is based on 40 detailed narratives which were collected in 2004–2005. For some returnees, repetitive visiting is influential, for others one visit is enough and for a few, it makes no difference. Yet it is certainly a common practice for ‘keeping in touch’ among our transnational informants.

Urban-rural interaction: physical form and political process in the Third World

Abstract This paper provides an examination of the implications for urban-rural interaction in developing countries of the increasing trend towards the creation of vast megalopolitan urban systems and of recent political changes in the world order. This is developed as a critique of Potter and Unwins (1989) edited volume on the geography of urban-rural interaction in developing countries. In the first part of the paper, the global recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s is seen as being significant for the further gravitation of private capital to urban cores. The second half of the paper examines some of the implications of the collapse of state socialism in eastern Europe and the former USSR for urban-rural interaction in developing countries. In conclusion, it is argued that increasing disadvantages accruing to the rural poor of the Third World as a result of the resurgence of global capitalism are likely to lead to major inequalities between urban and rural areas, which will require urgent attention by the world community if significant political unrest is to be avoided.

The Geography of Urban-Rural Interaction in Developing Countries

Economic geography Wikipedia Tue, 10 Jul 2018 20:53:00 GMT Economic geography is the study of the location, distribution and spatial organization of economic activities across the world.It represents a traditional subfield of the discipline of geography.However, many economists have also approached the field in ways more typical of the discipline of economics.. Economic geography has taken a variety of approaches to many different subject matters ... Urbanization Wikipedia Tue, 10 Jul 2018 17:11:00 GMT

Environment and housing in third world cities

Disastrous Environments, Vulnerability and Response Hazardous Environments and Low-Income Neighbourhoods Housing, Environmental Problems and Resources.

Issues of water supply and contemporary urban society: the case of Greater Amman, Jordan

Over the last two decades, Jordan has suffered a chronic water crisis, and is the tenth most water-scarce nation on Earth. Such water stress has been well illustrated in the case of Greater Amman, the capital, which has grown dramatically from a population of around 2000 in the 1920s, to 2.17 million today. One of the distinctive characteristics of the water supply regime of Greater Amman is that since 1987 it has been based on a system of rationing, with households receiving water once a week for various durations. Amman is highly polarized socio-economically, and by means of household surveys, both quantitative and qualitative, conducted in high- and low-income divisions of the city, a detailed empirical evaluation of the storage and use of water, the strategies used by households to manage water and overall satisfaction with water supply issues is provided in this paper, looking specifically at issues of social equity. The analysis demonstrates the social and economic costs of water rationing and consequent management to be high, as well as emphasizing that issues of water quality are of central importance to all consumers regardless of their socio-economic status within the city.

The past is still right here in the present: second-generation Bajan-Brit transnational migrants' views on issues relating to race and colour class

This paper deals with second-generation Barbadians or ‘Bajan-Brits’, who have decided to ‘return’ to the birthplace of their parents, focusing on their reactions to matters relating to race relations and racialised identities. The importance of race and the operation of the ‘colour-class’ system in the Caribbean are established at the outset. Based on fifty-two qualitative in-depth interviews, the paper initially considers the positive things that the second-generation migrants report about living in a majority black country and the salience of such racial affirmation as part of their migration process. The paper then presents an analysis of the narratives provided by the Bajan-Brits concerning their reactions to issues relating to race relations in Barbadian society. The impressions of the young returnees provide clear commentaries on what are regarded as (i) the ‘acceptance of white hegemony’ within Barbadian society, (ii) the occurrence of de facto ‘racial segregation’, (iii) perceptions of the ‘existence of apartheid’, and (iv) ‘the continuation of slavery’. The account then turns to the contemporary operation of the colour-class system. It is concluded that, despite academic arguments that the colour-class dimension has to be put to one side as the principal dimension of social stratification in the contemporary Caribbean, the second-generation migrants are acutely aware of the continued existence and salience of such gradations within society. Thus, the analysis not only serves to emphasise the continued importance of racial-based stratification in the contemporary Caribbean, but also speaks of the ‘hybrid’ and ‘in-between’ racialised identities of the second-generation migrants.