Abstract
THEMES FOR FUTURE ISSUES
DISCOUNTED PRICES AND ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO ENVIRONMENT AND URBANIZATION
MEDIO AMBIENTE Y URBANIZACIÓN
ENVIRONMENT AND URBANIZATION PEN DRIVE
BLOGS
INFOGRAPHICS
NEW JOURNAL URBANISATION
BOOK NOTES DATABASE
RECONVENING THE URBANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT STUDY GROUP
I. Themes For Future Issues
October 2015: Sanitation and drainage in cities II
We had so many high-quality papers submitted for the April 2015 issue on sanitation and drainage that we decided to have a second issue on this topic. The deadline for submissions is past.
April 2016: The urban agenda; what is it and where is it in the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals? The deadline for submissions is 15 September 2015.
There is much discussion among United Nations agencies and other international bodies on whether the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are being met or will be met by 2015 and what new SDGs (sustainable development goals) should replace the MDGs after 2015. We welcome papers either on the MDGs or on what should replace them that have relevance to urban areas. This includes consideration of the initiatives to get the SDGs to give more attention to urban issues (and to local governments). This also includes reviews of MDG performance in urban centres, although authors will need to think critically on the relevance of available data for assessing such performance. At present, much of the literature on whether or not the MDGs are being met are based on indicators that are invalid for most urban areas. For instance, for water and sanitation, the official UN indicators only indicate the proportion of the population that has access to what they define as “improved provision” and this is certainly not measuring who has provision for water and sanitation that is “safe” or “adequate” in regard to health, convenience and affordability in urban contexts. For monetary poverty, the dollar-a-day poverty line (and the small adjustments made to it) is used as one of the MDG indicators on extreme poverty but this is known to greatly understate the proportion of urban dwellers with incomes too low to meet non-food needs.
We also welcome papers that consider the urban future – in light of the Third UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat III) that is taking place in Quito during the week of 17 October 2016. UN-Habitat, the UN agency that is organizing Habitat III, suggests that the objective of Habitat III “… is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable urban development, assess accomplishments to date, address poverty and identify and address new and emerging urban challenges for the establishment of the ‘New Urban Agenda’.”(1) Joan Clos, Secretary-General of Habitat III, notes that “ ‘the Conference is a unique opportunity for rethinking the Urban Agenda in which governments can respond by promoting a new model of urban development able to integrate all facets of sustainable development to promote equity, welfare and shared prosperity.’ ”(2) We can but hope that Habitat III will produce a more realistic, accurate and implementable guide to action than the Habitat Agenda, agreed at Habitat II in 1996.
This is an issue that we will develop in collaboration with WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), which is a global action–research–policy network that seeks to improve the status of the working poor in the informal economy, especially women.
II. Discounted Prices and Electronic Access to Environment and Urbanization
All papers published in Environment and Urbanization since its first issue in 1989 are available at http://eau.sagepub.com, and all but those published during the last two years are open access and so available electronically free of charge. Printed subscriptions of the journal are also available at no charge to libraries or resource centres of universities or teaching or training institutions in low- and middle-income nations.
In addition, the publisher of Environment and Urbanization, SAGE Publications, offers large discounts on subscription prices to charities and students and to all subscribers from low- and middle-income nations − see http://eau.sagepub.com and click on “Subscribe”. With regard to electronic access, there are schemes that allow access to Environment and Urbanization for universities and research centres in low- and middle-income nations − see Research4Life (http://www.research4life.org). This includes Online Access to Research on the Environment (OARE), which has research journals on the environment, including Environment and Urbanization (http://www.unep.org/oare).
III. Medio Ambiente y Urbanización (MAyU)
The last 22 issues of our sister journal are accessible at no charge at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iieal/meda. The latest issue (Vol 81, November 2014) is on “Ciudades inclusivas; trabajo en red y acciones participativas”.
IV. Environment and Urbanization Pen Drive
We have a pen drive with all papers from Environment and Urbanization from 1989 to 2012 and all the working papers published by IIED’s Human Settlements Group. Do contact us if you would like one of these (also providing your postal address); these are available at no charge. All the items on this pen drive are available open access online – but this pen drive will be useful for those with difficult, limited or slow internet access.
V. Blogs
Recent Environment and Urbanization blogs (available at http://www.environmentandurbanization.org):
Local democracy as a substitute for data (and rather a good substitute too)
Why is there so little data on who faces poverty and where they live?
World Toilet Day: People need equality and dignity when they “have to go”
The IPCC and an urbanising planet
Achieving universal sanitation: Sharing the experience of the SDI affiliate in Blantyre, Malawi
VI. Infographics
IIED produced two interactive data visuals recently:
http://www.environmentandurbanization.org/cities-interactive-data-visual
VII. Facebook
The Journal’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/EnvironmentandUrbanization) is to keep you informed of new papers published in the journal and of other relevant publications. We very much welcome feedback and the Facebook page is intended to allow feedback and also be a site for discussion and for suggestions from our readers.
VIII. New Journal Urbanisation
The Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) is launching a new urban journal called Urbanisation. We will include more details of this in our next issue.
IX. Book Notes Database
A searchable database is being developed for all publications that have been included in Book Notes since 1989. This will be integrated with the online Book Notes section at http://www.environmentandurbanization.org/book-notes.
X. Reconvening the Urbanisation and Development Study Group
The Development Studies Association has approved the request to reconvene the Urbanisation and Development Study Group. The group will engage with research and practice on urban poverty in the global South – but will go beyond this to engage with issues that have become more prominent since the group last existed. The areas of focus will include wellbeing and human development in relation to the processes of urbanization, demographic change and population growth; economic growth or stagnation, and implications for livelihoods; environmental challenges including climate change, hazards and disasters; basic services; shelter and housing; conflict and security; and governance and planning processes and responses. In particular, the group will focus on how these affect low-income urban residents, with a particular concern for gender relations.
If you would like to be added to the mailing list and invited to future meetings and events, please contact one of the convenors,
