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Developing new approaches for people-centred
development
Jockin Arputham SDI, PO Box 9389, Mumbai 400 026, India
Jockin Arputham founded the National Slum Dwellers
Federation in India and is president of Slum/Shack Dwellers
International (SDI). This paper describes Jockin’s life and
work and the many different methods he has used to fight
eviction and get government support for people-centred
development over the last 40 years. This includes the long
fight to protect Janata colony in Mumbai from eviction,
working with Bangladeshi refugees, and the formation of
the federation of slum dwellers, first in Mumbai and then
for all of India.
Key Words: community organizations • evictions • federations • grassroots
Environment and Urbanization,Vol. 20, No. 2,
483-499 (2008); DOI: 10.1177/0956247808096124
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/319
“Negotiated spaces” for representation in
Mumbai: ward committees, advanced locality
management and the politics of middle-class
activism
Isa Baud University of Amsterdam, Department of Human
Geography, Planning and International Development Studies,
baud@wxs.nl
Navtej Nainan University of Amsterdam, navtejnainan@gmail.com
In Mumbai, new forms of cooperation between
local government and citizens seek to improve local
representation and the quality of services. This paper
examines which residents are represented or excluded in
these arrangements, the mandates anda processes by which
the arrangements are negotiated and the outcomes. Local
representation through elected councillors is compared with
that through voluntary neighbourhood groups (Advanced
Locality Management groups, or ALMs), which work with
the executive wing of local government. ALMs, involving
middle-class groups, work on environmental, security and
upgrading issues. They are expanding their claim to both
political and public space, often excluding “unwanted”
people. Elected councillors are channels mainly for lowincome
groups, addressing issues relevant to municipal
services but also responding to personal grievances and
concerns. Conflict between political representatives
and their parties and ALMs is not unusual. Both of these “negotiated spaces” give citizens some way of holding
government to account, although middle-class citizens are
finding greater scope for action.
Key Words: citizenship • civil society participation • India •
urban governance • middle-class activism • Mumbai • spaces
Environment and Urbanization,
Vol. 20, No. 2, 483-499 (2008)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/483
Climate, climate change and human health in
Asian cities
Sari Kovats, Centre on Global Change and Health, London
School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK,
sari. kovats@lshtm.ac.uk
Rais Akhtar, Centre for the Study of Regional Development,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, India,
raisakhtar@hotmail. com
Climate change will affect the health of urban populations.
It represents a range of environmental hazards and will
affect populations where the current burden of climatesensitive
disease is high — such as the urban poor in lowand
middle-income countries. Understanding the current
impact of weather and climate variability on the health
of urban populations is the first step towards assessing
future impacts. The authors review the scientific evidence
for the effects of temperature, rainfall and extreme
events on human health, in particular the impacts of heat
waves and floods. The methods for assessing the risks of
climate change are undergoing development, and there is
a need to shift the focus from global and regional to local
studies. Sectoral approaches to climate change impact
assessments often ignore the effects on health. There is a
need to better describe the risks to health from extreme
weather events as well as improve the effectiveness of
public health interventions. Improving the resilience of
cities to climate change also requires improvements in the
urban infrastructure, but such improvements may not be
achieved quickly enough to avoid an increased burden of
disease due to global climate change.
Key Words: cities • climate change • diarrhoeal disease • floods• heat stroke • heat waves • mortality
Environment and Urbanization,
Vol. 20,No.1,165-175 (2008)
http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/20/1/165
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