Implementing low-cost landslide risk reduction: a pilot study in unplanned housing areas of the Caribbean     

Malcolm Anderson  Liz Holcombe  Rob Flory  Jean-Philippe Renaud 《Natural Hazards》2008,47(3):297-315

Landslides pose a serious physical and environmental threat to vulnerable communities living in areas of unplanned housing on steep slopes in the Caribbean. Some of these communities have, in the past, had to be relocated, at costs of millions of dollars, because of major slides triggered by tropical storm rainfall. Even so, evidence shows that: (1) risk reduction is a marginal activity; (2) there has been minimal uptake of hazard maps and vulnerability assessments and (3) there is little on-the-ground delivery of construction for risk reduction. This article directly addresses these issues by developing a low-cost approach to the identification of the potential pore pressure changes that trigger such slides we seek to address these three commentaries directly. A complex 45–60° slope site in St Lucia, West Indies was selected as a pilot for a modelling approach that uses numerical models (FLAC and CHASM) to verify the need for surface water management to effectively reduce landslide risk. Following the model confirmation, a series of drains were designed and constructed at the site. Post-construction evidence indicates the methodology to be sound, in that the site was stable in subsequent 1-in-1 to 1-in-4 year rainfall events. A critical feature of the approach is that it is community-based from data acquisition through to community members participating in construction.  相似文献   

RACIALIZED TOPOGRAPHIES: ALTITUDE AND RACE IN SOUTHERN CITIES*     

JEFF UELAND  BARNEY WARF 《Geographical review》2006,96(1):50-78

ABSTRACT. This study examines altitudinal residential segregation by race in 146 cities in the U.S. South. It begins by embedding the topic in recent theorizations of the social construction of nature, the geography of race, and environmental justice. Second, it focuses on how housing markets, particularly in the South, tend to segregate minorities in low‐lying, flood‐prone, and amenity‐poor segments of urban areas. It tests empirically the hypothesis that blacks are disproportionately concentrated in lower‐altitude areas using gis to correlate race and elevation by digital elevation‐model block group within each city in 1990 and 2000. The statistical results confirm the suspected trend. A map of coefficients indicates strong positive associations in cities in the interior South‐where the hypothesis is confirmed‐and an inverse relationship near the coast, where whites dominate higher‐valued coastal properties. Selected city case studies demonstrate these relationships connecting the broad dynamics of racial segregation to the particularities of individual places.  相似文献   

Transport and Housing Security in the Klang Valley, Malaysia     

Paul Barter 《Singapore journal of tropical geography》2002,23(3):268-287

This paper explores links between transport and housing security issues for the urban poor using the example of the Klang Valley in Malaysia. The interface between these issues is identified as a gap in the literature, including policy debates, on both housing and transport. A number of linkages are shown to be important and likely to be relevant in many cities of the South, especially those with rapid motorisation and large numbers of "squatters". A simple framework for understanding these linkages is presented. Key examples include displacement to make way for transport infrastructure and the impact on transport problems for the poor of policies affecting the location of urban poor housing, including relocation sites and transit accommodation. The case study of the Klang Valley is used to illustrate and test the relevance of a focus on this issue and the utility of the conceptual framework. Some policy implications of the investigation and case study are suggested.  相似文献   

Agents of Eviction: The Squatter Control and Clearance Division of Hong Kong's Housing Department     

Alan Smart 《Singapore journal of tropical geography》2002,23(3):333-347

More is known about the policies that produce forced evictions and their consequences than about the agencies whose responsibility it is to conduct them. Understanding the nature of forced evictions requires greater comprehension of responsible agencies since the ways in which they implement policies may be a crucial intervening variable influencing the outcomes. In this paper, I use documentary and ethnographic research to describe the Squatter Control and Clearance Division of the Hong Kong Housing Department. Responsible both for evicting squatters and for controlling squatter areas that are permitted to remain for the time being, officers must respond to the conflicts and challenges of their twin, partially conflicting, mandates. Examination of changes in squatter control and clearance practices since 1954 is followed by a brief case study of the most recent squatter clearance that occurred in July 2001.  相似文献   

Process of Housing Damage Assessment: The 1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster Case     

Horie  Kei  Maki  Norio  Kohiyama  Masayuki  Lu  Hengjian  Tanaka  Satoshi  Hashitera  Shin  Shigekawa  Kishie  Hayashi  Haruo 《Natural Hazards》2003,29(3):341-370

Rebuilding of victims' livelihoods was a crucial issue in the restoration process in the1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster. Housing damage assessment influencedmost of the rebuilding of the livelihood in the long term, because the Victim Certificatesissued by the local governments based on the results of the Housing damage assessmentwas required to receive most of the individual assistance measures. In the process ofHousing damage assessment, many complex problems arose, leading to extensivework on the part of the disaster responders. Consequently, a considerable number ofvictims were dissatisfied with the assessment and applied for a resurvey. Due to a floodof requests for resurvey, disaster responders had to work on damage assessment, leavingrelief activities aside.In order to facilitate Housing damage assessment, this paper discusses thefollowing five points: (1) the processes and the problems of assessments performedin the Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake Disaster, (2) the changes in the nature of informationneeded by the victims, (3) the improvements over the present damage assessment, (4)the housing situation in Japan, and (5) the international situation on damage assessment.It is obvious from the results that a poor damage assessment system and the size ofthe disaster produced a very large work load. Differences in appreciation among theinvestigators also contributed to unfair assessments and led to the victims beingincreasingly dissatisfied by the survey results. Finally, a design concept for acomprehensive damage assessment system, which has been derived from theabove five points, is proposed for post-disaster management.  相似文献   

The transition from people''s property to private property: Consequences of the restitution principle for urban development and urban renewal in East Berlin''s inner-city residential areas     

Bettina Reimann 《Applied geography (Sevenoaks, England)》1997,17(4):301-313

The constitutional decision to return to their original owners all real-estate property in East Germany that had either been expropriated or placed under state administration (the restitution principle) has had significant consequences for urban development and urban renewal. Experiences from East Berlin's innercity residential areas illustrate the effects on the state of repair of housing, the character of residential neighbourhoods, the tenants living in the areas affected, and the future structure of real-estate ownership. The case studies reveal a picture of a contradictory development of residential neighbourhoods, including shifting power relations and new polarizations, especially between tenants and landlords.  相似文献   

Constraints of Housing Age and Migration on Residential Mobility     

Dowell Myers  S. Simon Choi  Seong Woo Lee 《The Professional geographer》1997,49(1):14-28

This paper investigates the role of housing age in constraining residential mobility, measured as the percent of households that have moved into their homes in the past 15 months. The leading explanation for why mobility rates differ so much among regions of the United States has been the overall level of growth. The present analysis shows that the growth effect operates through both the newness of population (migration) and the newness of housing available for occupancy by all local residents. The posited explanation for this housing age effect is that progressively older units contain increasingly settled occupants, yielding fewer opportunities for in-movers in areas with older housing. It is empirically demonstrated that households in older housing have lower likelihood of recent mobility even after controlling for age, tenure, migration status, and state location of residence. The analysis reveals the temporal interdependency of mobility, migration, person age, and housing age.  相似文献   

Spatial Dimensions of Urban Commuting: A Review of Major Issues and Their Implications for Future Geographic Research*   总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3  

Mark W. Horner 《The Professional geographer》2004,56(2):160-173

Modern urban transportation systems continuously challenge, and are challenged by, the changing nature of 21st‐century travel demand. Today, congestion is the norm in cities of the United States, and researchers and practitioners are seeking solutions to these problems. Urban commuting is identified as contributing to the suboptimal performance of transportation systems. This paper offers a review and critique of recent research on urban commuting, emphasizing geographical dimensions of this topic. Three broad areas of research related to urban commuting are discussed. These include (1) urban sustainability, (2) land use, and (3) geographic information systems (GIS). Major themes are examined in an effort to elicit thought on future geographic research. At the conclusion of the paper, summary remarks are provided and avenues for research are outlined.  相似文献   

Global cotton and local environmental management: the political ecology of rich and poor small-hold farmers in southern Mali     

WILLIAM G MOSELEY 《The Geographical journal》2005,171(1):36-55

This study examines the hypothesis that poor households engage in less sustainable soil management practices than rich households in a similar socioeconomic environment. This broad objective is explored in Mali's southern cotton belt through three specific research questions. First, is there empirical evidence to support the claim that poor households engage in less sustainable soil management practices than rich households? Second, what local and extra-local factors influence household agricultural management approaches in southern Mali? Third, what broader scale political and economic processes are linked to the factors that influence local-level agricultural management approaches? The author reports that soil quality measures on the farms of rich and poor households are not significantly different, refuting the conventional wisdom that the wealthy are better managers of the environment. A variety of environmentally deleterious practices are associated with export-oriented cotton production, an activity more vigorously pursued by wealthy than poor farmers. Finally, the focus on poverty in international environment and development discourse has allowed the government of Mali to avoid a serious debate on the sustainability of cotton production. The study's findings are based on household interviews describing agricultural management practices, an analysis of farm field soil measures, and discussions with donors and national policymakers.  相似文献   

搬迁农户生计策略与土地利用行为耦合协调度分析--以贵州省习水县为例     

杨林  汪磊 《上海国土资源》2021,(1):58-62,83

易地扶贫搬迁改变了搬迁农户生计策略,同时影响了其土地利用行为,二者之间的耦合协调度直接影响着农户的可持续生计。本文以贵州省习水县易地搬迁农户调研数据为基础,构建以农户生计策略和土地利用行为为子系统的耦合协调度模型,分析2个子系统之间的耦合关系和耦合协调关系。研究表明:纯农型农户、农兼型农户、兼农型农户生计策略与土地利用行为之间的耦合度值介于0.4~0.5之间,水平较低,处于拮抗状态;不同类型农户生计策略与土地利用行为系统耦合协调度值均处于0.39~0.49之间,处于濒临失调阶段,存在较大优化空间;传统的农业生产形式对于改善农户生计无明显效果,引导农户向专业农业型农户转变对于促进移民安置区“人地系统”协调发展大有裨益。研究结果可为农户生计与土地利用的可持续发展提供理论依据。  相似文献