Bulletin Board

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

April 2024: Decarbonization and urban justice. Submissions closed.

Much of the debate on climate justice in cities focuses on adaptation and calls on wealthy countries and donors to increase and decentralize investments and aid for climate adaptation projects. This reflects how the increasingly severe effects of climate breakdown – for example more frequent intense storms, heat and flooding – disproportionately hurt the urban poor across the global North and South. There is less focus on cities as accelerators of decarbonization or how mitigation finance can also respond to pervasive dimensions of urban poverty such as poor access to housing and basic services. Decarbonization has the potential to transform life in cities. However, to be equitable in effectiveness, interventions must benefit all urban residents, especially the urban poor. Informal settlements and other low-income neighbourhoods have relatively low carbon footprints, and any infrastructural investments in these neighbourhoods that include a focus on decarbonization will enable these communities to bypass the carbon-intensive trajectories underway in other parts of the city.

We invite contributions that expand documentation and deepen our knowledge of how climate change mitigation policies and practices can align with the agendas of new and established urban social movements and the imperative to decrease socioeconomic inequalities in cities. This special issue of Environment and Urbanization will build on the growing literature examining climate justice in cities (Bulkeley et al., 2014; Granberg and Glover, 2021) and urban just transitions (Hughes and Hoffmann, 2020; McCauley, 2021), particularly concerning emissions mitigation and resilience in informal and low-income neighbourhoods (Almansi et al., 2020; Dodman et al., 2018; Satterthwaite et al., 2020), aligning climate finance with infrastructure inequalities and urban justice (Colenbrander et al., 2018; Mulligan et al., 2020), the injustice of urban climate policy and action (Blok, 2020; Bouzarovski et al., 2018; Sovacool et al., 2019), and how urban social movements are contesting inequalities in the context of a warming planet (Pickerill, 2020; Routledge et al., 2018).

We invite submissions in the form of academic articles or Field Notes based on original research or innovative practices. We will also consider interviews or dialogue exchanges ⁽¹⁾ with social movement leaders or artists. Potential themes to explore include:

• Policy and governance innovations driving decarbonization and reduction of poverty in cities

• Analysis of co-produced and pro-poor mitigation interventions from informal settlements and low-income neighbourhoods

• Analysis of new urban social movements in relation to environmental and climate justice

• Creative approaches of community mobilization connecting the arts, activism and climate action

• Critical analysis of urban climate policy and governance in relation to social, economic and spatial inequalities

• Planning for more equitable and compact cities, with potential (re)development on brownfield and greenfield sites

• Potential clashes between urban justice and climate action, such as “green gentrification”, forced relocation of informal settlements, “green washing”, etc.

• The concept, measurement and application of “climate justice” in cities

• Regional or international comparative analysis of climate action and inequalities

• Tracking and analysis of climate finance flows to cities and effects on segregation and socioeconomic and spatial inequalities

• Integration of renewable energy and/or green-blue infrastructure in informal and low-income neighbourhoods

October 2024: Forced displacement and the city. Deadline for submissions: 15 February 2024. (Short expressions of interest outlining potential articles are welcome any time before 15 January 2024.)

This special issue has an explicit focus on towns and cities in low- and middle-income countries hosting refugees and IDPs in protracted displacement.

Although statistics are unreliable, it is generally accepted that the majority of forcibly displaced people – around 60 per cent of refugees and more than half of all internally displaced people (IDPs) – now live in towns and cities around the world. Globally, 76 per cent of refugees are living in low- and middle-income countries, and urban areas of the global South are thus disproportionately affected by these trends. Many displaced people arrive with limited assets, and find that without humanitarian assistance or the legal right to work, these are quickly depleted. Locating to areas of the city with the cheapest rents, refugees and IDPs often live alongside low-income and marginalized households in informal settlements, where they may experience additional vulnerabilities linked to their migration status.

Statements on the urbanization of displacement now appear with regularity in international policy documents or on the websites of humanitarian organizations. However, programming and assistance for urban refugees and IDPs still lag behind the attention and funding focused on camps. Recognition that displacement trends are mirroring broader urbanization trends are only slowly translating into in-depth research on the urban experiences of displaced people, and the impacts of displacement on the urban fabric, its economy and systems of service delivery.

In many countries, cities of refuge are intrinsically linked to camps. In some cases, displaced people will have transited through or lived in a camp, or move between the camp and an urban centre, often to nearby secondary cities. Aid agencies and hosting governments present the camp as an alternative for those who are unable to achieve “self-reliance” in the city. In addition, there is a body of scholarship that posits that camps, over time, develop social and economic systems – as well as infrastructure – that are urban in nature. The idea that remote camps could become autonomous urban centres, functioning without the support of humanitarian assistance, has also caught the imagination of some international policymakers and donors.

Despite the co-existence of refugees in urban areas and in camps, and the flows of people, goods, capital and information between them, comparative research on the experiences of these populations is rare. An exception is the International Institute for Environment and Development’s (IIED) Protracted Displacement in an Urban World study, that has used mixed methods to compare the wellbeing and livelihoods of refugees and IDPs in camps and urban areas of Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya. Building on IIED’s research, this special issue of Environment and Urbanization will provide a platform for original research on the intersections of urbanization and displacement, experiences of displaced populations (including comparative work between camp and urban spaces), actual and potential roles for municipal authorities responding to the arrival of forcibly displaced people, and policy and programming innovations promoting inclusive environments for refugees and IDPs in towns and cities.

We invite submissions in the form of academic articles or Field Notes based on original research or innovative practices. Themes may include:

• How displaced people navigate formal and informal city systems to find shelter, achieve livelihoods and access basic services

• Reflections on refugee/IDP self-reliance and/or wellbeing in towns and cities, their economic and social contributions, and the opportunities and barriers to a decent standing of living in exile

• Municipal responses to forced displacement that promote refugee and IDP inclusion, including innovations in participatory city planning and expanding service provision and protection

• Experiences of international, national and community or refugee-led organizations in supporting municipal authorities and local service providers to promote an inclusive, safe environment for displaced people in towns and cities

• Explorations of the relationships between camps and cities, and how displaced people navigate the humanitarian system to maximize benefits to themselves and their families

• The role of secondary cities and small urban centres in providing opportunities for refugee livelihoods and protection

• Analysing the experiences of refugees and IDPs in the context of theories related to urban inequality and intersectional disadvantage including stigmatization and social exclusion

Please visit https://www.iied.org/forced-displacement-city for details of an academic symposium related to this special issue.