Education for Change

Research Abstracts

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, fi rst 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 low income groups, addressing issues relevant to municipal services but also responding to personal grievances and concerns. Confl ict 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 fi rst 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 fl oods. 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