On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit New York City with an extreme intensity unequalled by any... more On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit New York City with an extreme intensity unequalled by any coastal storm in modern history of the city. Forty-three New Yorkers lost their lives and tens of thousands were injured, temporally dislocated, or entirely displaced by the storm impact. This chapter assesses the resilience of New York City in coping with Hurricane Sandy. In other words, how New York City as a risk city cope with Hurricane Sandy. More specifically, this chapter aims to figure out the contribution of planning policies, and the recent plan of New York City, PlaNYC 2030, in particular to the efforts to make New York City more resilience in facing extreme storms, such as Sandy. The question at the heart of this chapter is whether planning efforts in New York City improved its ability to face this storm. This chapter aims to assess the planning policies that were designed to counter climate change impacts and the risk of environmental disasters in NYC, considering how NYC has prepared in recent years through planning and urban public policies targeting these issues. In this chapter, I argue that urban planning is supposed to play a significant role in efforts to cope with various risk and threats, including climate change impacts in cities and extreme events. In this chapter, I suggest a qualitative assessment method, which is based on the previous chapter, and which is not “rigorous” and “positivist” approach. It is an easy to grasp method, which the wide public, as well as decision makers, politicians, and practitioners may comprehend easily. The findings suggest that NYC planning policies were unable to “adequately” confront Hurricane Sandy; therefore NYC appears to be less resilient and unable to cope with future climate impacts.
Moreover, risk, as a negative resource, is socially and spatially differentiated, and therefore, ... more Moreover, risk, as a negative resource, is socially and spatially differentiated, and therefore, it becomes a major concept of social and spatial inequality in cities. Therefore, understanding the socially-spatially distribution of risk and uncertainties of the risk city is crucial for more effectively coping with risk and for achieving more than just policies for the most vulnerable populations. This chapter presents the concept of Urban Vulnerability Matrix which is a framework for analyzing the social-spatial distribution of risk and vulnerabilities in a city on one hand, and the adaptation measures on the other hand. It provides us with significant information regarding risk and uncertainties at the level of city, communities, and social groups. Eventually, the Urban Vulnerability Matrix allows us to understand in-depth the distribution of risk and uncertainties in one hand, and the existing and planned adaptation measure in a city. The Urban Vulnerability Matrix is critical and significant for the resilient city and for its contribution to the spatial and socio-economic mapping of future risks and vulnerabilities. The role of the UVM is to analyze and identify types, demography, intensity, scope, and spatial distribution of environmental risk, natural disasters, and future uncertainties in a city and its neighborhoods and communities. Significantly, UVM is also a tool for promoting more environmental and social justice. When we acknowledge and analyze the distribution of vulnerabilities by neighborhood and communities, and the existence of adaptation measures, it allows us to figure out the conditions of vulnerability and adaptation also among minority, immigrant, and poor communities. In addition, UVM contributes to our understanding of risk and uncertainty complexity at the community and city level. It will help us in building city future scenarios for planning adaptation measures and coping with threats. This chapter will focuses on risk that stem from climate change.
This chapter argues that the concept of risk is fundamental for understanding the challenges that... more This chapter argues that the concept of risk is fundamental for understanding the challenges that climate change poses both to cities and to the theories and practices of urban planning, and explains why traditional planning theories are inadequate for meeting these challenges.
ABSTRACT This paper examines urban design from the socio-political concept of recognition and for... more ABSTRACT This paper examines urban design from the socio-political concept of recognition and formulates a framework of urban space of recognition. It aims to illuminate principles of urban design that enhance the recognition of misrecognized groups in public space. Based on an analysis of a public space shared by Arabs and Jews in the mixed city of Haifa, Israel, it proposes that the framework of urban space of recognition rests upon the visual display of multiple cultures and histories as well as designing for opportunities for cross-culture learning and interaction.
ABSTRACT Despite a growth in the number of cities currently planning with an eye toward counterin... more ABSTRACT Despite a growth in the number of cities currently planning with an eye toward countering climate change and its effects, few actually promote a comprehensive planning approach aiming at countering climate change impacts. The aim of this paper is to assess and to gain insight from the emerging approach to planning that aims at countering climate change. This paper analyses and draws insight from the recent plan of New York City (NYC), PlaNYC 2030, through a thorough examination and analysis of the major components of the plan. This paper concludes that planning has a strong role to play in countering the impacts of climate change at the city level. Apparently, climate change and its resulting uncertainties challenge the concepts, procedures, and scope of conventional approaches to planning, and create a need to rethink and revise current planning methods. PlaNYC, an economic development and infrastructure-oriented plan, has deficient and inadequate adaptation measures. Therefore, it failed in its contribution to protect NYC and its communities in facing Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Since the plan did not have adequate public participation, PlaNYC failed in understanding the urban-community vulnerability map of NYC and in addressing the critical needs of various communities in facing Sandy. Eventually, planners should take on a leadership role and assume more control in fighting climate change on the city level. Planning has the power to protect cities and save lives of people.
ABSTRACT The Palestinian-Israeli conflict involves three major issues: Palestinian refugees, Jeru... more ABSTRACT The Palestinian-Israeli conflict involves three major issues: Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem and border issues. This article argues that public planning in Israel has been striving dramatically to influence this conflict in order to achieve geopolitical ends. It focuses on the Jerusalem issue and analyses the role of planning institutions and planners in transforming the city for geopolitical ends, Jerusalem is a deeply divided city and has been segregated mainly along ethnic lines since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. This article suggests that the strategy of planning in Jerusalem has been based on three interrelated political strategies: politics of demography that aim to influence heavily the demographics of the city in favour of a larger Jewish presence and smaller Palestinian one, politics of geography that aim to expand the jurisdiction of the city through confiscation of Palestinian lands on the eastern side of the city; and politics of exclusion that aim to exclude the Palestinians from any strategic planning for the city, The major result of these planning policies is dramatic spatial and demographic changes that affect the lives of Palestinians and their political future in the city.
The emission divide between large developed and developing cities is increasing, making it unlike... more The emission divide between large developed and developing cities is increasing, making it unlikely that the Paris Agreement will be met. Herein, we examine how the 424 largest cities globally, each with one million or more residents, contribute to the global emissions gap and examine the increasing emission divide between developed and developing cities. We find that 302 cities lack emissions data, and the overall emission rate has been increasing at an average of 7.9% per annum. Furthermore, only 31 cities have achieved reductions in the emissions gap, all of which are cities in the developed world. Even though cities are responsible for ∼75% of global CO2 emissions, science lacks practical policies for mitigation where resources are scarce. Accordingly, we propose new policy directions to lessen this divide, and we urge the development of city-oriented mitigation science and practical policies to help cities around the world develop specific mitigation policies based on their economic feasibility.
ABSTRACT This article examines the contribution of the concepts trust and risk to our understandi... more ABSTRACT This article examines the contribution of the concepts trust and risk to our understanding of place meaning as people perceive it, and compares the meanings of a place to two different ethnic groups: Arabs and Jews in Israel. The empirical quantitative study was conducted among 210 Arab and Jewish adults who visited the renovated German Colony, a leisure place of restaurants and bars, in Haifa in August 2003. Arab and Jewish participants attributed the following conceptions to the German Colony: a place of trust, safety, good qualities, friendships, and an ethnic minority place. The Arab participants provided four more distinctive conceptions: privacy, trust within their group, unprecedented place, and culturally shared activities. The Jewish participants added a place of a specific class. The study suggests that concepts of trust and risk and their entailments are helpful for further elaborating research questions and hypotheses. The framework could applied to compare meanings of place among different ethnic groups, and comparison along class and gender lines, etc.
International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Feb 21, 2012
ABSTRACT In recent decades, the world has seen many internal violent conflicts that dramatically ... more ABSTRACT In recent decades, the world has seen many internal violent conflicts that dramatically affect the social, economic, and political conditions of human geographies at multiple spatial scales, from the national level to the scale of individual cities and communities. Geography, as a multidimensional discipline, should be in a unique position to contribute to understanding of such conflicts and of post-conflict geographies and their futures in terms of reconstruction and rebuilding. However, in the geography literature, there is little attention given to post-conflict human geographies and their related subjects. At present, there are many emerging post-conflict geographies, which would greatly benefit from theoretical and practical knowledge to guide their future. This paper aims to contribute to building a foundation for developing knowledge on reconstruction of post-conflict and ongoing conflict human geographies. Based on the existing multidisciplinary bodies of knowledge on post-conflict reconstruction, this paper develops a new conceptual framework for post-conflict reconstruction and for ongoing conflict reconstruction as a more adequate way to understand and plan reconstruction in the face of ongoing conflict and offers new insights for the reconstruction agenda.
On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit New York City with an extreme intensity unequalled by any... more On October 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit New York City with an extreme intensity unequalled by any coastal storm in modern history of the city. Forty-three New Yorkers lost their lives and tens of thousands were injured, temporally dislocated, or entirely displaced by the storm impact. This chapter assesses the resilience of New York City in coping with Hurricane Sandy. In other words, how New York City as a risk city cope with Hurricane Sandy. More specifically, this chapter aims to figure out the contribution of planning policies, and the recent plan of New York City, PlaNYC 2030, in particular to the efforts to make New York City more resilience in facing extreme storms, such as Sandy. The question at the heart of this chapter is whether planning efforts in New York City improved its ability to face this storm. This chapter aims to assess the planning policies that were designed to counter climate change impacts and the risk of environmental disasters in NYC, considering how NYC has prepared in recent years through planning and urban public policies targeting these issues. In this chapter, I argue that urban planning is supposed to play a significant role in efforts to cope with various risk and threats, including climate change impacts in cities and extreme events. In this chapter, I suggest a qualitative assessment method, which is based on the previous chapter, and which is not “rigorous” and “positivist” approach. It is an easy to grasp method, which the wide public, as well as decision makers, politicians, and practitioners may comprehend easily. The findings suggest that NYC planning policies were unable to “adequately” confront Hurricane Sandy; therefore NYC appears to be less resilient and unable to cope with future climate impacts.
Moreover, risk, as a negative resource, is socially and spatially differentiated, and therefore, ... more Moreover, risk, as a negative resource, is socially and spatially differentiated, and therefore, it becomes a major concept of social and spatial inequality in cities. Therefore, understanding the socially-spatially distribution of risk and uncertainties of the risk city is crucial for more effectively coping with risk and for achieving more than just policies for the most vulnerable populations. This chapter presents the concept of Urban Vulnerability Matrix which is a framework for analyzing the social-spatial distribution of risk and vulnerabilities in a city on one hand, and the adaptation measures on the other hand. It provides us with significant information regarding risk and uncertainties at the level of city, communities, and social groups. Eventually, the Urban Vulnerability Matrix allows us to understand in-depth the distribution of risk and uncertainties in one hand, and the existing and planned adaptation measure in a city. The Urban Vulnerability Matrix is critical and significant for the resilient city and for its contribution to the spatial and socio-economic mapping of future risks and vulnerabilities. The role of the UVM is to analyze and identify types, demography, intensity, scope, and spatial distribution of environmental risk, natural disasters, and future uncertainties in a city and its neighborhoods and communities. Significantly, UVM is also a tool for promoting more environmental and social justice. When we acknowledge and analyze the distribution of vulnerabilities by neighborhood and communities, and the existence of adaptation measures, it allows us to figure out the conditions of vulnerability and adaptation also among minority, immigrant, and poor communities. In addition, UVM contributes to our understanding of risk and uncertainty complexity at the community and city level. It will help us in building city future scenarios for planning adaptation measures and coping with threats. This chapter will focuses on risk that stem from climate change.
This chapter argues that the concept of risk is fundamental for understanding the challenges that... more This chapter argues that the concept of risk is fundamental for understanding the challenges that climate change poses both to cities and to the theories and practices of urban planning, and explains why traditional planning theories are inadequate for meeting these challenges.
ABSTRACT This paper examines urban design from the socio-political concept of recognition and for... more ABSTRACT This paper examines urban design from the socio-political concept of recognition and formulates a framework of urban space of recognition. It aims to illuminate principles of urban design that enhance the recognition of misrecognized groups in public space. Based on an analysis of a public space shared by Arabs and Jews in the mixed city of Haifa, Israel, it proposes that the framework of urban space of recognition rests upon the visual display of multiple cultures and histories as well as designing for opportunities for cross-culture learning and interaction.
ABSTRACT Despite a growth in the number of cities currently planning with an eye toward counterin... more ABSTRACT Despite a growth in the number of cities currently planning with an eye toward countering climate change and its effects, few actually promote a comprehensive planning approach aiming at countering climate change impacts. The aim of this paper is to assess and to gain insight from the emerging approach to planning that aims at countering climate change. This paper analyses and draws insight from the recent plan of New York City (NYC), PlaNYC 2030, through a thorough examination and analysis of the major components of the plan. This paper concludes that planning has a strong role to play in countering the impacts of climate change at the city level. Apparently, climate change and its resulting uncertainties challenge the concepts, procedures, and scope of conventional approaches to planning, and create a need to rethink and revise current planning methods. PlaNYC, an economic development and infrastructure-oriented plan, has deficient and inadequate adaptation measures. Therefore, it failed in its contribution to protect NYC and its communities in facing Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. Since the plan did not have adequate public participation, PlaNYC failed in understanding the urban-community vulnerability map of NYC and in addressing the critical needs of various communities in facing Sandy. Eventually, planners should take on a leadership role and assume more control in fighting climate change on the city level. Planning has the power to protect cities and save lives of people.
ABSTRACT The Palestinian-Israeli conflict involves three major issues: Palestinian refugees, Jeru... more ABSTRACT The Palestinian-Israeli conflict involves three major issues: Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem and border issues. This article argues that public planning in Israel has been striving dramatically to influence this conflict in order to achieve geopolitical ends. It focuses on the Jerusalem issue and analyses the role of planning institutions and planners in transforming the city for geopolitical ends, Jerusalem is a deeply divided city and has been segregated mainly along ethnic lines since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967. This article suggests that the strategy of planning in Jerusalem has been based on three interrelated political strategies: politics of demography that aim to influence heavily the demographics of the city in favour of a larger Jewish presence and smaller Palestinian one, politics of geography that aim to expand the jurisdiction of the city through confiscation of Palestinian lands on the eastern side of the city; and politics of exclusion that aim to exclude the Palestinians from any strategic planning for the city, The major result of these planning policies is dramatic spatial and demographic changes that affect the lives of Palestinians and their political future in the city.
The emission divide between large developed and developing cities is increasing, making it unlike... more The emission divide between large developed and developing cities is increasing, making it unlikely that the Paris Agreement will be met. Herein, we examine how the 424 largest cities globally, each with one million or more residents, contribute to the global emissions gap and examine the increasing emission divide between developed and developing cities. We find that 302 cities lack emissions data, and the overall emission rate has been increasing at an average of 7.9% per annum. Furthermore, only 31 cities have achieved reductions in the emissions gap, all of which are cities in the developed world. Even though cities are responsible for ∼75% of global CO2 emissions, science lacks practical policies for mitigation where resources are scarce. Accordingly, we propose new policy directions to lessen this divide, and we urge the development of city-oriented mitigation science and practical policies to help cities around the world develop specific mitigation policies based on their economic feasibility.
ABSTRACT This article examines the contribution of the concepts trust and risk to our understandi... more ABSTRACT This article examines the contribution of the concepts trust and risk to our understanding of place meaning as people perceive it, and compares the meanings of a place to two different ethnic groups: Arabs and Jews in Israel. The empirical quantitative study was conducted among 210 Arab and Jewish adults who visited the renovated German Colony, a leisure place of restaurants and bars, in Haifa in August 2003. Arab and Jewish participants attributed the following conceptions to the German Colony: a place of trust, safety, good qualities, friendships, and an ethnic minority place. The Arab participants provided four more distinctive conceptions: privacy, trust within their group, unprecedented place, and culturally shared activities. The Jewish participants added a place of a specific class. The study suggests that concepts of trust and risk and their entailments are helpful for further elaborating research questions and hypotheses. The framework could applied to compare meanings of place among different ethnic groups, and comparison along class and gender lines, etc.
International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society, Feb 21, 2012
ABSTRACT In recent decades, the world has seen many internal violent conflicts that dramatically ... more ABSTRACT In recent decades, the world has seen many internal violent conflicts that dramatically affect the social, economic, and political conditions of human geographies at multiple spatial scales, from the national level to the scale of individual cities and communities. Geography, as a multidimensional discipline, should be in a unique position to contribute to understanding of such conflicts and of post-conflict geographies and their futures in terms of reconstruction and rebuilding. However, in the geography literature, there is little attention given to post-conflict human geographies and their related subjects. At present, there are many emerging post-conflict geographies, which would greatly benefit from theoretical and practical knowledge to guide their future. This paper aims to contribute to building a foundation for developing knowledge on reconstruction of post-conflict and ongoing conflict human geographies. Based on the existing multidisciplinary bodies of knowledge on post-conflict reconstruction, this paper develops a new conceptual framework for post-conflict reconstruction and for ongoing conflict reconstruction as a more adequate way to understand and plan reconstruction in the face of ongoing conflict and offers new insights for the reconstruction agenda.
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