Concept of the NOPOOR project
Objectives
Agenda : Coordination and PolDiss meeting, 18-19 avril 2013, Brussels
Task 6.4. From rural misery to urban poverty
(Partners involved: GRADE, UFRJ, ITESM-EGAP, CDE, CNRS (India); Month 13 to Month 54)
Urban poverty is characterised by a lack of access to urban services, segregation and urban violence. We review some case studies in relevant and concerned cities where partner institutions are located.
(UFRJ) Analysis of urban poverty in Brazilian capital cities. (Census data, 2010), by residence; Analysis of the evolution of poverty and socioeconomic inequalities between 2000 and 2010, and the relationship with migration and urban mobility, whenever possible; Description and analysis of main recent public policies to improving living conditions in favelas, considering an international comparative perspective.
(GRADE) Relation between residential segregation and poverty in Lima. During the last decade of spectacular growth, two processes have been observed: strong economic and social differentiation in the peripheral areas and an acceleration of the population density mainly in the better off districts. During the recent period of accelerated growth, new processes are giving rise to new forms of inequality, mainly through social differentiation and also residential segregation. Traditional, static poverty measures do not capture that dynamic. GRADE will firstly analyse from an ethnographic perspective the links between segregation, poverty and violence in three poor neighbourhoods in Lima and secondly will analyse the relationship between segregation and living conditions (quality of labour, education and domestic violence) on metropolitan neighbourhoods. This will complement the qualitative data and the secondary analysis using the census (task 3.1)
(ITESM-EGAP) Inequality, labour markets and violence in urban areas. The research proposed here will try to shed some light on the relation between urban inequality, the dynamics of the labour market, and violence. We will look at the economic structure of urban areas and the industrial adjustment. To the extent that the industrial structure of urban cities may be affecting in the uprising of violence through lack of opportunities, it also may be true that the opposite may happen, making of this a challenging issue to discern. We shall develop a set of studies for Latin American countries that can make use of different existent labour surveys and match them with different violence data. The comparative studies can highlight specific public policies to improve the labour market in those areas in order to reduce the problems if violence.
(CNRS (India)) In India, the rapid growth of urbanization and the rise in the number of the urban poor gives rise to several different sets of research questions: intra/intercity differences in poverty in India, access to urban infrastructures shaping social and economic mobility, spatial and social segregation – especially in labour and housing markets. A related question is the governance of municipal services and public goods and how it affects the poor. The general attractivity of cities and town in a globalizing economy, relations between rural and urban growth in shaping migration patterns and mobility. Combined work on several Indian data bases (e-Geopolis data from previously executed projects, Data of the Central government of India, Annual Survey of Industries, Census, State level data, and National Sample Survey Organisation) need to be compared and combined and will enable analysis of the structure of urban poverty and differences across India’s regions.
(CDE) Exploring the dimensions and dynamics of Indian urban poverty: Multidimensional and Political aspects. (i) We will devise a general framework for constructing poverty profiles and maps, which will be tested in a few Indian cities. (ii) We shall examine the ‘political dimensions’ and characterise the interest positions and power relations in a ‘social context’, which will be followed by an inventory of political factors and constraints influencing donor organization’s strategies for poverty reduction within international co-operation. (iii) Several suggestions and recommendations within bilateral co-operation will be distilled.
