Abstract
I. MISSION STATEMENT
II. THEMES FOR FUTURE ISSUES
III. DISCOUNTED PRICES AND ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO E&U
IV. SISTER JOURNALS
V. BLOGS
VI. SOCIAL MEDIA
VII. EMAIL NEWSLETTER
VIII. ENGAGING READERS IN BOOK NOTES
I. Mission Statement
Environment and Urbanization (E&U) seeks to advance a more socially just and environmentally sustainable urban world through the provision of knowledge. Our focus is the global South, where an estimated one in three of the urban population live in informal settlements and where more than half work within the informal economy. UN projections suggest that almost all the world’s growth in population in the next few decades will be in urban centres in the global South.
Contributors to E&U include those engaging with critical social science to add theoretical and conceptual insights, those reporting innovative empirical findings that augment our understanding of context and solutions (and their significance for theories and concepts), and those able to share the voices of activist representative groups and movements that are rarely seen in the scholarly literature. In other words, our journal aims both to advance social justice and be the change we strive for by encouraging contributions that share the perspectives of disadvantaged and marginalized groups.
E&U particularly encourages researchers, NGO staff, professionals and activists in Africa, Asia and Latin America to write about their work, present their ideas and debate issues. We promote the work of French, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking authors by arranging for the translation of their work into English.
Papers commonly deal with poverty, inequality, and the power relations underpinning both disadvantage and transformation. Papers also report on trends, policies, programmes and practices related to urbanization, urban development and urban environments. We are concerned with processes of progressive change, while recognizing that these are contested, and that change is neither uni-linear nor necessarily progressive. Urbanization processes are often poorly understood and papers that contribute insights supporting an accurate understanding of grounded realities are important to us. We recognize that sustainable development, including needed responses to climate change, is critical to both current and future populations, and that ecosystems have a critical role in the wellbeing of urban populations and the resilience of their cities. We encourage contributions related to such themes.
II. Themes for Future Issues
2021 is a significant year for advancing global action on key environmental issues with three major Conferences of the Parties (COPs): on biodiversity (CBD), climate (UNFCCC) and desertification (UNCCD). All of these are highly relevant for cities: both existing cities that are locked into high levels of dependency on energy and natural resources; and new and emerging cities that have the potential to grow in ways that avoid this. Urban issues associated with both local and global environmental challenges include air pollution from (regulated and unregulated) industries, crop burning, woodfuel use, and transportation; pollution of inland and coastal waters; depletion of natural resources; and impacts on global climate change from energy use (for electricity generation and transportation). These create major negative impacts on the health of urban residents, ecosystems in and around cities, and global systems.
At this point it seems likely that 2021 will also be a year in which governments seek to move beyond the immediate health and economic emergencies associated with COVID-19. One question to consider is whether the pandemic has enabled the resetting of trends that are damaging ecosystems on which urban centres depend. Equally there are questions about the implications for the dynamics of urbanization and hence the environmental costs of agglomeration.
Drawing on an anticipated wealth of substantive evidence and informed debate, we intend that the first issue of 2022 will enable Environment and Urbanization to share relevant papers with our readers. We are interested in papers that have sought to contribute to these debates, as well as those that reflect on the quality of policy debates and the result of transnational governance processes.
*We recognize that the latest (2019) Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) uses the term “Nature’s Contributions to People” (NCP) rather than “ecosystem services” as it is more encompassing of the role of culture in linking people to nature. However, we believe that “ecosystem services” remains more widely recognized and therefore we use this term.
The challenges of urban inequality have long been recognized. Growing concern about national and global inequalities has been accompanied by an acknowledgement of the multidimensional aspects of inequality that are particularly severe in urban areas. Spatial, political, economic and social disadvantage combines to deny individuals their right to safe and meaningful life. The Sustainable Development Goals and UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda recognize that addressing growing inequality has to be a priority for local and national governments, and these global agendas are working alongside local efforts to support urban transformation.
This issue will include papers that advance our understanding of inequality and how it can be addressed. We will draw on the research programme “Knowledge in Action for Urban Inequality” (KNOW), funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).
There is growing recognition among policymakers and researchers around the world that cities perform a leading role in economic growth and human development. This contribution is doubly important as countries seek to bounce back from the dual health and economic crises of COVID-19. Although the pandemic threatens core aspects of urban life, such as density and connectivity, cities are best placed to lead the economic recovery, renewal and transformation. This is because they have inherent advantages for growth and inclusion arising from the concentration of assets, institutions and diverse skill sets, along with strong information and trading connections to other cities and regions. These attributes have the potential to foster dynamic human and business interactions that promote learning, stimulate enterprise, raise productivity, create jobs and livelihoods, and increase the returns on public and private investment. However, the positive feedback and synergies are not automatic because urban growth is also accompanied by congestion, pollution, overloaded infrastructure, social tensions and higher property prices, which can deter productive investment, entrepreneurial talent and highly skilled workers. Successful outcomes seem to require capable city-level institutions to guide the process and provide essential public goods and services, because market mechanisms cannot organize urban development effectively to ensure that it creates functional, liveable and sustainable environments.
The purpose of this special issue is to explore the contemporary opportunities and challenges facing cities in seeking to boost economic growth and ensure widely shared prosperity. What are the foundations of urban economic success in the 21st century and how are these changing? What obstacles need to be tackled to harness the potential of urbanization to lift people out of poverty and improve their wellbeing? Environment and Urbanization encourages submissions that address one or more of the following key themes:
The relationship between urbanization and economic growth/development.
The challenge of low productivity, low investment and low-income urban growth, and the success of efforts to transform these conditions.
The effectiveness of efforts to promote small, medium and/or large enterprises, to create jobs and to secure livelihoods.
The changing relationship among the locations of firms, households and transport systems in the post-pandemic city.
The planning and financing of urban infrastructure to improve productivity and liveability.
The role of city-level governance and institutions in planning and managing urban economic development.
The role of cities in macroeconomic policies, national industrial policies and/or national infrastructure plans.
Ways of understanding and enhancing links between city economies and economic activity in small towns and villages in the surrounding area.
The concept and measurement of urban density and its economic upsides and downsides.
The existence and strength of agglomeration economies in the global South.
The relationship between urban economies and the climate emergency.
The contribution of digital technology and/or innovation to urban economic development.
III. 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://journals.sagepub.com/home/eau, and all but those published during the last two years are open access and so available electronically free of charge. Printed subscriptions to 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://journals.sagepub.com/home/eau and click on “Journal Info”, then “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).
IV. Sister Journals
The last 30 issues of Medio Ambiente y Urbanización (MAyU), published by IIED América Latina, are accessible at no charge at http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iieal/meda. Urbanisation, co-published by SAGE and the Indian Institute for Human Settlements, is available at http://urbanisationjournal.com.
V. Blogs
Recent Urban Matters blogs (http://www.iied.org/urban-matters):
Feeding all city inhabitants – Cecilia Tacoli
COVID-19 in cities: pathways towards a transformative urban recovery – Anna Walnycki
What women want – part two: to map vulnerability to climate change – Sheela Patel
Tricky questions and frank discussions: a participatory forum on protracted displacement in Afghanistan – Nassim Majidi and Jawid Hassanzai
What women want – part one – Sheela Patel
Broadening the understanding and measurement of urban poverty – David Satterthwaite
Getting attention to a much-neglected health agenda: occupational health and safety – Rangarirai Machemedze
Researching displacement: how do we know we are asking the right questions? – Stef Barratt
Fire disaster makes more than 1,000 homeless in Freetown – Joseph M Macarthy
How community mapping of storm water drains is fighting evictions in Karachi’s informal settlements – Arif Hasan
The often forgotten role of small and intermediate urban centres – David Satterthwaite
VI. Social Media
To receive news about Environment and Urbanization and urban issues in general, including updates when new Book Notes are available, please follow the journal on Twitter at @EandUjournal. Also on Twitter are editor-in-chief Diana Mitlin @Diana Mitlin and editor David Satterthwaite @Dsatterthwaite. You can visit and follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EnvironmentandUrbanization.
Our LinkedIn page is https://www.linkedin.com/company/environment-and-urbanization.
VII. Email Newsletter
The urban newsletter of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is emailed to subscribers several times a year and provides updates on the Human Settlements Group’s activities and publications. To sign up to receive the newsletter, please visit http://www.iied.org/sign-up.
You can sign up to receive email alerts about new Environment and Urbanization articles at http://journals.sagepub.com/home/eau.
VIII. Engaging Readers in Book Notes
Our Book Notes section has short summaries of new publications (including working papers and books) that we prepare. We invite you to send us short summaries of new publications you have read that you found interesting – and relevant to urban issues. This includes summaries in English of works published in other languages. Authors may submit summaries too, but not promotional material. You can send these summaries to