Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

Environmental Advocacy: Insights From East Asia, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Solving Slums: Assessing Rehabilitation Policy In Mumbai, India, Carl Hooks

Carl Hooks

Increasing Environmental Performance In A Context Of Low Governmental Enforcement: Evidence From China, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

The Changes And Non-Changes Of China's Rural Land, Qian Forrest Zhang, John A. Donaldson

Qian Forrest ZHANG

No abstract provided.

A State-In-Society Approach To The Nonprofit Sector: Welfare Services In Japan, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

This article uses the case of Japan to advocate for a new theoretical approach to the study of the nonprofit sector. In particular, it examines how theoretical models based on the European and North American experiences have difficulty explaining the relationship between the nonprofit sector and the state in Japan, and argues that a state-in-society approach is better suited to explaining complex state–society relations in diverse cultural contexts. It does this by examining the evolution of social welfare service provision in Japan. This article is motivated to explain an apparent paradox: Japan’s recent efforts toward greater government decentralization and privatization …

The State-In-Society Approach To Democratization With Examples From Japan, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

How does an undemocratic country create democratic institutions and transform its polity in such a way that democratic values and practices become integral parts of its political culture? This article uses the case of Japan to advocate for a new theoretical approach to the study of democratization. In particular, it examines how theoretical models based on the European and North American experiences have difficulty explaining the process of democratization in Japan, and argues that a state-in-society approach is better suited to explaining the democratization process diverse cultural contexts. Taking a bottom-up view of recent developments in Japanese civil society through …

From Undemocratic To Democratic Civil Society: Japan's Volunteer Fire Departments, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

How do undemocratic civic organizations become compatible with democratic civil society? How do local organizations merge older patriarchal, hierarchical values and practices with newer more egalitarian, democratic ones? This article tells the story of how volunteer fire departments have done this in Japan. Their transformation from centralized war instrument of an authoritarian regime to local community safety organization of a full-fledged democracy did not happen overnight. A slow process of demographic and value changes helped the organization adjust to more democratic social values and practices. The way in which this organization made the transition offers important lessons for emerging democracies …

The Limits And Opportunities Of Networks: Municipalities And Canadian Climate Change Policy, Christopher D. Gore

Christopher D Gore

Research on climate change policy and politics has become increasingly focused on the actions and influence of subnational governments. In North America, this attention has been particularly focused on why subnational governments have taken action in the absence of national leadership, what effect action might have on future national climate policy, and whether the collective action of networks of municipal governments are reshaping and challenging the character of national and global climate governance. This paper examines Canadian municipal climate in light of the absence of a comprehensive and effective climate national strategy. The paper considers various reasons why local governments …

Retos Urbano Ambientales: Disturbio Climático En América Latina Y El Caribe, Clara Irazabal

Clara Irazabal

Las proyecciones hacia el futuro determinan que podría haber un aumento de hasta 1,7°C de temperatura para el 2050 y hasta 4°C para el final de este siglo, lo que sería catastrófico para la sostenabilidad de vida en el planeta, tal y como la conocemos hoy, Los niveles de aumento del nivel del mar han alcanzado 2 a 3 mm/año desde 1980 en la región. Han sido observados también cambios en los patrones de precipitaciones, con algunas áreas recibiendo más lluvias-sur de Brasil. Paraguay, Uruguay, nordeste de Argentina y noroeste de Perú-y otras con un menor nivel-sur de Chile, suroeste …

Review: The Limits Of Boundaries: Why City-Regions Cannot Be Self-Governing, By Andrew Sancton, Christopher D. Gore

Christopher D Gore

No abstract provided.

Have No Little Perspectives: A Bird’S Eye View On Daniel H. Burnham’S Value Leadership, Marco Tavanti

Marco Tavanti

Daniel H. Burnham provided the connection between Chicago and Manila by working on both the Plan of Chicago and the Plan of Manila. His original works reflect values for social inclusion drawn from his value-based leadership. This presentation highlights these leadership characteristics and 'translate' them into contemporary challenges for urban poverty reduction.

Archetypal Energies, The Emergence Of Obama As A Practical Idealist, And Global Transformation, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

During this time of change, AHP and kindred spirits on the edge have important roles to play. We are the keepers and nurturers of a transformative and evolutionary Vision for Consciousness and a more humane world. At issue is what I will call the “psychic politics” for global transformation, nurtured by practical idealism and the Archetypal Energies. In other writings, I have described Archetypal Energies as Higher Vibrational Energies, operating deep within our individual and collective psyches, which have their own transcendent value, purpose, quality, and “voice”, unique to the individual. We experience them as “creative urges” to move us …

Making The Case For Community-Based Laboratories, Earthea Nance

Earthea Nance, PhD (Stanford University, 2004)

No abstract provided.

A Primary Human Challenge, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

We may ask why, at both the individual and collective levels, it has seemed so difficult for us to choose to evolve our human games with Joy. There is no one answer for such a question, for each of us has the gift of free will. I will suggest, however, that built into our human games is what I call a primary human challenge. That primary human challenge is a dynamic tension, flowing from our creative urge for the freedom “to be” who we really are in our current physical form, and simultaneously to embrace our responsibility for our Being-ness.

Prologue: Ordinary Places, Extraordinary Events, Clara Irazabal

Clara Irazabal

Scholars have argued that public space is a prerequisite for the expression, representation, preservation, and/or enhancement of democracy (Sassen, 1996; Holston, 1989, 1999; Caldeira, 2000; Low, 2000; Low and Smith, 2006). However, this optimistic outlook is betrayed in reality by the many examples in recent history when public spaces have been used for the deployment and reproduction of totalitarian regimes. In the Americas, we can recount the experiences of Pinochet’s Santiago, Videla’s Buenos Aires, Strossner’s Asuncion, and Pérez Jiménez’s Caracas, among others. Yet, even in those cases, political demonstrations in public spaces conversely played a critical role in the eventual …

Space, Revolution And Resistance: Ordinary Places And Extraordinary Events In Caracas, Clara Irazabal

Clara Irazabal

As discussed in the introduction, many scholars have argued that public space is a prerequisite for the expression, representation, preservation and enhancement of democracy (Boudreau, 2000; Caldeira, 2000; Holston and Appadurai, 1999; Low, 2000; Sassen, 1996; Low and Smith, 2006). This has not been more true than in the capital cities of Latin America in recent decades, where political demonstrations have played a critical role in the demise of totalitarian regimes and the reestablishment of democracy. Caracas, capital city of Venezuela, is a prime example in that key urban spaces have been sites for popular demonstrations since Hugo Chavez became …

Transformation Of Japan’S Civil Society Landscape, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Japan’s civil society is being transformed as more people volunteer for advocacy and professional nonprofit organizations. In the American context, this trend has been accompanied by a decline in participation in traditional organizations. Does the rise in new types of nonprofit groups herald a decline of traditional volunteering in Japan? This article argues that while changes in civil rights, political opportunity structure, and technology have also taken place in Japan, they have contributed to the rise of new groups without causing traditional organizations to decline, because Japanese attitudes about civic responsibility have continued to support traditional volunteering.

Review Of Hispanic Spaces, Latino Places: Community And Cultural Diversity In Contemporary America, Ed. Daniel D. Arreola, Clara Irazabal

Clara Irazabal

A welcome addition to the understudied field of Latino cultures and their linkages to place, this book transcends the common approaches to the study of demographic, racial, political, and cultural changes brought about by the fastest growing ethnic group in the U.S., to focus instead on Latinos' "different geographies, and social adjustments to diverse places" (p. 1). Contributors were selected from presenters at the 2002 Association of American Geographers meeting in Los Angeles, but most of the authors are not Latino or female.

Levels Of Consciousness, Archetypal Energies, And Earth Lessons: An Emerging Worldview, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

Worldviews emerge from our individual and collective Levels of Consciousness at given points in time and space and from what we come to “believe” is possible or not. In my own experience, my research on Consciousness, and my study of various cultures, societies, and Consciousness literature, I have identified at least seven Levels of Consciousness, twenty-five Archetypal Energies, and various Earth Lessons, which we seem to commonly experience as human beings, in our own unique personal, societal, and global life spaces.

Barriers To Canadian Municipal Response To Climate Change, Pamela J. Robinson, Christopher D. Gore

Christopher D Gore

No abstract provided.

Multistakeholder Evaluation Of Condominial Sewer Services, Earthea Nance

Earthea Nance, PhD (Stanford University, 2004)

No abstract provided.

Community Determinants Of Volunteer Participation: The Case Of Japan, Mary Alice Haddad

Mary Alice Haddad

Why are some communities more civically engaged than others? Why do some communities provide services with volunteer labor whereas others rely primarily on government provision? When communities provide both volunteer and paid labor for the same service, how do they motivate and organize those volunteers? This article addresses these questions through quantitative tests of prevailing explanations for levels of civic engagement (e.g., education, TV viewing, urbanization) and qualitative analyses of case studies of three medium-sized cities in Japan, focusing particularly on the service areas of firefighting and elder care. The statistical analyses demonstrate that current explanations that rely on individual …

Shifts In Environmental Governance In Canada: How Are Citizen Environment Groups To Respond?, Christopher Gore, Beth Savan, Alexis Morgan

Christopher D Gore

No abstract provided.

Policy Implications Of The Kyoto Protocol For Canada: An Overview, Steven Bernstein, Christopher D. Gore

Christopher D Gore

No abstract provided.