text:
The Bartlett Development Planning Unit
Collective reflections about development practice and cities
DPU website
About DPU
Africa Brazil cities climate change communities conference disaster risk reduction dpu-ucl environment environmental justice health housing housing rights human rights India informal settlements infrastructure Lima mapping Mexico migration participation participatory methodologies participatory research placemaking planning politics public space refugees Research Right to the City social development social justice social movements students sustainability sustainable development Urban design urban development Urban Development Planning urbanisation urban planning urban resilience wellbeing women
The Bartlett Development Planning Unit »
How and in what ways can local-level risk information about health and disasters influence city government practices and policies?
By Cassidy A Johnson, on 28 February 2019
This blog is the fourth of the health in urban development blog series. View also:
Treat, contain, repeat: key links between water supply, sanitation and urban health
By Pascale Hofmann
Health in secondary urban centres: Insights from Karonga, Malawi
By Don Brown
Gaza: Cage Politics, Violence and Health
By Haim Yacobi
If you are interested in DPU's new MSc in Health in Urban Development, more information can be found on our website.
Over the last few years there have been several initiatives to develop practical and policy-relevant ways to measure environmental risks faced by low-income groups. This has been in response to a severe lack of information about disaster and health risks available for policy makers to draw on in most low- and middle-income nations. There is a need for both detailed settlement-level data, particularly for informal settlements, as well as for aggregated data needed to inform city-level or national interventions[i]. In this blog, I discuss innovative methodologies that are being developed in cities of the Global South to generate much needed data for action.
Innovative methodologies for understanding health and disaster risks at the urban scale
Innovative methods developed for understanding and measuring these risks range from profiling and mapping informal settlements with community-led or co-production approaches, to detailed analysis of hospital, police and newspaper records. Other methods seek to build consensus based on perceptions and experiences of risk with communities and local governments. DesInventar is a collection of national, regional and city-level databases, which use newspaper reports, as well as police, hospital and accident records to create a detailed portrait of both large or intensive disasters and small-scale extensive disaster events. Other methodologies such as Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI) settlement profiling and Action at the Frontline use community-generated information about resident's experiences of health and disaster risks in order to enter into dialogue with municipal governments about their needs. ReMapRisk uses community-generated risk information and offers a spatial analysis with maps to interrogate and visualise the information, there are maps for Lima (Peru), Karonga (Malawi) and Freetown (Sierra Leone). Other approaches, such CityRAP, The City Resilience Index and 10 Essentials for Making Cities Resilient focus on the municipal government's perspectives of risks and capacities for addressing risk at the city-level, and often in dialogue with communities.
Health and disaster risks faced by the urban poor
These studies have found that women, men and children living in informal settlements are disproportionally exposed to small and large-scale disaster risks such as flooding, landslides and fires, as well as everyday risks, such as water borne illnesses and poor air quality. For example, the AXA-funded research I have been involved in in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, used Action at the Frontline methodology, with household surveys, focus groups and action planning Mtambani settlement in Ilala municipality and Bonde la Mpunga settlement in Kinondoni municipality[ii]. The communities identified crime, poor solid management, lack of storm-water drainage infrastructure, lack of wastewater and toilet infrastructure, lack of basic health services and hospitals, flooding, high living costs and drug abuse as the main issues in their settlements. Many of these are directly related to health problems, such as malaria, diarrheal disease and personal safety. While big disasters, such a major floods, earthquakes, tsunami and windstorms do affect the health and welfare of millions across the globe every year, it is actually the smaller events and everyday risks that impact the greatest number of people's health and well-being.
These different methods of understanding risks have been employed in close partnerships between researchers, community organisations, municipal authorities and other research users in many cities across Asia, Africa and Latin America. While there are many innovative initiatives for understanding and measuring risks, the data still remains extremely patchy and limited in scope. Furthermore, and its uptake into municipal government operations and planning is not guaranteed.
Principles for the uptake of risk information in urban planning and policy making
Through the Urban Africa Risk Knowledge programme[iii], researchers have identified some principles related to the uptake of local-level risk information into planning and policy making: 1) It is important not just to provide the type of information that are assumed to be useful, but to work closely with partners in identifying data that will be useful for policy and practice[iv]. 2) The community-driven process can be more conducive to driving change in practice and policy in local government than expert-driven data. The use of local knowledge that comes through communities collaborating with local level decision-makers can capture the qualitative experiences of risks and measure the burdens arising from these risks, while enabling communities to engage with local governments/state about their needs[v]. 3) Small steps at collecting local data that are 'good-enough' can be valuable in the beginning.[vi] 4) Project-based risk measurement initiatives are rarely enough to make a difference in government practices and policies. What is required is long-term and sustained engagement with information that is regularly updated. 5) Improving official data collection, such as census, vital registration systems and healthcare records will be necessary to systematically address disaster and health risks in informal settlements[vii].
Many cities in low- and middle- income countries, and especially in sub-Saharan Africa, do not have functioning local governments, they lack a metropolitan structure or their resources are too meagre to take on new initiatives. While some progress has been made in developing methodologies that help us to better understand the everyday and small-scale disaster risks that underpin women's, men's and children's health in informal settlement, there is still much more to do to scale up these initiatives and to enable local governments to take actions to address risks.
[i] Satterthwaite, D and Sverdlik, A (2018). Assessing health risks in informal settlements in sub-Saharan African cities. Urban Africa Risk Knowledge Briefing, No. 10. June 2018. Available from: https://www.urbanark.org/assessing-health-risks-informal-settlements-sub-saharan-african-cities
[ii] Osuteye, E. at al. (2018). Communicating risk from the frontline: projecting community voices into disaster risk management policies across scales. Urban Africa Risk Knowledge Briefing, No. 19. October 2018. Available from:
[iii] See www.urbanark.org
[iv] Dodman, D., Leck, H. and F. Taylor (2017). Applying multiple methods to understand and address urban risk. Urban Africa Risk Knowledge Briefing, No. 7. July 2017. Available from: https://www.urbanark.org/applying-multiple-methods-understand-and-address-urban-risk
[v] Osuteye, E. at al. (2018). Communicating risk from the frontline: projecting community voices into disaster risk management policies across scales. Urban Africa Risk Knowledge Briefing, No. 19. October 2018. Available from: https://www.urbanark.org/communicating-risk-frontline-projecting-community-voices-disaster-risk-management-policies-across
[vi] Spaliviero, M. at al. (2019). Urban Resilience building in fast-growing African Cities. Urban Africa Risk Knowledge Briefing, No. 20, January 2019. Available from: https://www.urbanark.org/urban-resilience-building-fast-growing-african-cities
[vii][vii] Adelekan, I.O. and D. Satterthwaite (2019). Filling the data gaps on everyday and disaster risks in cities: The case of Ibadan. Urban Africa Risk Knowledge Briefing, No 22. January 2019. Available from: https://www.urbanark.org/filling-data-gaps-every-day-and-disaster-risks-cities-case-ibadan
Filed under Environmental Justice, Urbanisation & Resilience
Tags: Africa, crime, disasters, environmental, Freetown, global south, health, informal settlements, infrastructure, Karonga, Lima, Malawi, Peru, policy, Risk, Sierra Leone, sub-Saharan Africa, waste management, Water
By ucfupas, on 14 January 2019
This blog is the third of the health in urban development blog series. View also:
In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's main economic and administrative centre, high population densities, the accumulation of informal lower-income residents, lack of access to clean water and poor sanitary conditions have been associated with a range of water and sanitation-related diseases. Cholera outbreaks are a frequent occurrence during the rainy season and some settlements in the city are among the worst affected in the country. In this context, I argue that urban water poverty needs to be tackled using a proactive rather than reactive approach at the local level to yield long-lasting health benefits.
Main access road in an informal settlement in Dar es Salaam after an episode of heavy rainfall (Photo © P. Hofmann, 2015)
Tackling urban water poverty and community health promotion
Internationally, the link between urban water poverty – i.e. inadequate access to water supply and sanitation facilities, and public health – is widely recognised whereby improvements in accessing water and sanitation are deemed crucial in tackling a diverse range of diseases and improving the lives of the poor.
Such thinking calls for integrated and consistent approaches, which, as emphasised by a UNICEF WASH specialist in Tanzania are evidently lacking in most policy-driven practices on the ground.
"Hygiene and sanitation awareness, behaviour change, communication and empowerment are maybe done in urban areas but erratically, not systematically. When the rains are coming and there is threat of cholera etc. then you will find people will announce: 'food vendors cover properly your food and make sure it is hot and whatever, please clean your surroundings, no solid waste should be seen and liquid waste, please drain it out completely' etc. […] or there is a cholera outbreak in a certain locality in Dar es Salaam and it is feared that it might spread, so that happens but on a regular basis there is not a lot done" (quote from UNICEF WASH specialist).
During the recent cholera outbreak in 2015 government spending increased significantly to treat the affected population. While curative measures are vital, efforts to improve water supply and sanitation constitute essential steps towards future outbreaks. Similarly, some municipalities in Dar es Salaam have put continuous support into household fumigation programmes to impede the spread of malaria but fall short of investing in preventative measures to keep people healthy – i.e. reduce mosquito breeding sites through the provision of safe drinking water, improved sanitation and hygiene. Currently, the onus is predominantly on residents themselves to be pre-emptive in their everyday practices with regards to potential health implications but not everybody is equally aware or shares the same ability to act. In the absence of sufficient government action, those who can have invested in better access to water, improved sanitation facilities and even flood defences.
Drainage channel built by two neighbouring households to divert water from the Msimbazi river, which carries wastewater from nearby wastewater stabilisation ponds (Photo © P. Hofmann, 2015)
"In 2011 there was flooding and we lost our livestock and we had to start afresh. What actually happened is there has been increased silt in the Msimbazi river. At the same time, there is wastewater that comes from the ponds and where these meet, that impact pushes the water towards our land. […] we constructed this drainage channel jointly with my neighbour after the flooding to try and divert the water from coming in" (quote from a resident in an informal settlement in Dar es Salaam).
The need for a proactive, decentralised approach
Ward health officers are officially tasked with preventing water-related diseases and promoting environmental health in their jurisdiction through regular water quality tests at local water supply schemes and inspections of businesses and households with no equivalent paid staff at sub-ward level. However, with limited resources at ward level much of the action regarding water supply, sanitation and environmental health depends on voluntary efforts in the communities by residents themselves and facilitated through sub-ward committees, water committees and community representatives. Many health officers at the ward level understand the importance of sanitation, drainage and safely-managed water supply but struggle to influence the agenda at higher levels of government. The Decentralisation by Devolution Policy introduced in the 1990s transferred responsibilities to local government for service improvements but without fiscal decentralisation or devolution of decision-making power. Decentralisation should pave the way for bottom-up participatory planning processes but municipalities in Dar es Salaam focus on central government priorities while continuing to disregard lower levels of government and their efforts to address local challenges. Decentralised decision-making structures are therefore not a guarantee for more democratic processes.
The importance of engaging urban poor communities
To lower the burden of water and sanitation-related diseases, engagement of communities with the authorities (utility and municipal government) is crucial but often limited and slow. Until recently, one of Dar es Salaam's municipalities prohibited low-income communities living near wastewater stabilisation ponds to use them for safe sewage disposal. A lengthy period of continuous interaction between the local community, the municipality and the utility, facilitated by a local NGO, eventually led to a pilot initiative that connects household toilets to the nearby ponds using simplified technology. This has reduced the number of pits being informally emptied during the rainy season and led to a safer and healthier environment for residents.
Inspection chambers of the simplified sewerage pilot in an informal settlement of Dar es Salaam (Photo © P. Hofmann, 2015)
The utility seems keen to replicate the scheme elsewhere in the city, which shows potential that policy-driven practices can be transformed, scaled up and institutionalised in ways that are more integrated and sensitive towards the needs of the urban poor if sufficient consideration is given to the scope for scaling up and sharing the benefits more equally within a settlement.
Pascale is a Lecturer at the Development Planning Unit, UCL, where she leads the MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development Programme. Her current research is particularly concerned with the dialectics of urban water poverty, examining different policy-driven and everyday practices and their impact on everyday trajectories of the urban water poor. She is interested in generating knowledge towards developing feasible pathways out of urban water poverty.
Tags: dar-es-salaam, disease, health, MSc in Health in Urban Development, poverty, sanitation, tanzania, UNICEF WASH, urban water poverty, Water
The knot at the end of the rope: Violence, hope, and transformation in El Salvador and Mexico
By Ariana Markowitz, on 11 December 2018
I spent an afternoon in August with a group of young men in a skate park on the outskirts of San Salvador, El Salvador. The park was part of a larger recreational complex and more people drifted in as the hours passed. The day was stifling and even if shade in the park was limited, at least sometimes there was a breeze in the air, unlike inside the low-income housing blocks that ringed the park and the shacks that climbed up the surrounding streets, splintering into a labyrinth of dead-end alleys.
The young men in the skate park told me story after story about police and gang brutality. At one point I asked them to draw a picture of a place or a situation in which they felt unsafe, uncomfortable, or anxious and another place or situation where they felt the opposite. One person stared at a blank piece of paper for 10 minutes, unable to think of any time or place where he had ever felt safe. Another drew an imaginary safe place where there were no abuses of power, people interacted as equals, homes were dignified, and greenery was abundant. After leaving the park later that day, a taxi driver told me about almost joining a gang some 15 years earlier, but changing his mind at the last minute based on the somber regrets of someone who had decided to go through with it. Later that night on my way home, I saw a body on the street. No one stopped and when I slowed down to get a closer look, my car was almost hit from behind.
A drawing produced by one of the young men in the skate park. In his words, "What makes me feel unsafe, uncomfortable, or anxious is the police, corruption, murders, and interpersonal violence."
This situation is part of what is driving Central Americans, especially from the so-called 'Northern Triangle' countries of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala, to flee, seeking a better life or, in some cases, a life at all in the United States. More and more the migrants and displaced people are traveling in mass because most of their journey is through Mexico and the Mexican state has repeatedly demonstrated its unwillingness or inability to protect asylum seekers' human rights, leaving them vulnerable to opportunistic people and cartel violence while they travel, often with babies and children in tow. The poor treatment of migrants and displaced people is an extension of the Mexican state's similar unwillingness or inability to protect Mexican citizens' human rights. Nearly 250,000 Mexicans have been killed in the last 10 years and there are more disappearances now in Mexico than there were under the dictatorships in South America, including the still unresolved case of 43 students disappearing in 2014, apparently at the hands of state security agents with assistance from organized criminal groups under the protection of military forces. Just like I saw in El Salvador, poverty in Mexico is both a driver and a result of violence, and decades of repeated abuses have corroded Mexicans' confidence in each other and in their government. Several years ago when I was documenting police reform in Mexico, I was struck by how government insiders and partners recalled processes that were difficult but ultimately successful while outsiders saw failures and suspected conspiracies.
Amidst so much darkness, DPU's Étienne von Bertrab has opted to look for light. A few years ago he began developing what is now Albora, an initiative that traces Mexico's "geographies of hope" through identifying, studying, documenting, and showcasing transformative projects throughout the country. Spotlighting this work demonstrates the that there are other ways to develop, progress, and grow, ones in which no one mistakes violence for a solution, where access to water and other natural resources is universal, where citizens are informed and engaged, and where everyone strives for the greater good.
Luis Domínguez, an engineer working for Agua para Siempre, has dedicated decades of his life to assisting communities fight soil erosion and restore river basins in the impoverished Mixteca region.
One such project is Agua para Siempre ('water forever'), established 30 years ago by a then young couple, who decided that they would defend and support their poorest compatriots. They landed in the Sierra Mixteca in the Mexican state of Puebla, an arid and fast-eroding area that had been and continued to be hollowed out because of migration to large Mexican cities and the United States. With time, the couple understood that access to water was fundamental to addressing poverty and migration, so they began to study pre-Hispanic methods for soil retention and cultivation and advocate for their re-adoption in surrounding communities. Today, their organization, Alternativas y Procesos de Participación Social, AC ('alternatives and social participation processes'), has 300 people and thousands of local partners who are seeing the fruits of their sustained efforts. Communities are beginning to have access to water all year for small-scale cultivation, animal husbandry, and human consumption, and hundreds of small cooperatives have begun to produce amaranth, a pre-Columbian pseudo-grain that, like quinoa, is high in protein, vitamins, and minerals. Reversing previous trends, migration is falling, as is child malnutrition, thanks to the inclusion of amaranth in local diets.
The search for transformative initiatives also brought the Albora team, which includes five DPU alumni, to Mexico City where a Mexican historian and novelist, his family, and a dozen others have formed the Brigada para Leer en Libertad ('brigade to read in freedom'). The brigade has cultivated new readers through facilitating horizontal and informal access to authors, expanding the availability of books, and creating free places to read. So far, they have gifted or sold more than a million books at an affordable price to girls, boys, women, and men in a country where the high price of books makes bookstores elitist and inaccessible and public libraries are few. To that end, the brigade also establishes libraries, with a recent campaign resulting in the donation of nearly 70,000 books. These books have become the basis for carefully curated collections in formerly empty libraries in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The brigade promotes reading for pleasure but also as a political act—an essential step towards the full exercise of conscious citizenship.
Free public gatherings are central to the Brigada's book fairs in which women, men and children engage in dialogues with authors about their work and about the Mexican political conjuncture and ways out of the crises.
These projects and others are harnessing the power of hope to fuel alternative visions of their society. They demonstrate the fundamental importance of restoring and cultivating hope, necessary for active citizenship, and united, powerful communities, not just in Mexico or El Salvador but everywhere where injustice and inequality construct blocks for us to stumble over. The projects challenge us to look beyond our cynicism and apathy.
Before I left the skate park in August, one young man told me that he was glad I had come. "Most people don't come looking for us, and the people who do don't listen to what we have to say," he said. "I hope you've been able to hear us and that the stories of our lives help you do your work."
To learn more about Albora and contribute to its crowdfunding campaign, active until Tuesday, 18 December and only funded if it reaches 100% of its goal, go here.
Ariana Markowitz is a PhD student at DPU researching how fear and trauma manifest and become defining characteristics of urban landscapes. Taking cues from this damage, especially in marginalized communities, she looks for alternative ways of repairing frayed social fabric and healing.
Tags: Central America, displacement, El Salvador, hope, Mexico, Mexico City, migration, poverty, Water
'Women' and water inequality: why we need to look deeper into 'gender' to overcome water inequality
By ucfusul, on 27 July 2017
"This post was originally published on the London International Development Centre (LIDC) blog here, written by DPU student Rosa Sulley during her communications internship at LIDC".
The global water crisis is happening right now. WaterAid states that "a lack of safe water, proper toilets and good hygiene affects women and girls most" making water poverty undoubtedly a gender issue. However, if we are going to properly understand and account for all experiences of water poverty, we need to change the way we think about gender, women, and water.
Gender and Development Approaches to Water Poverty
The gendered nature of water poverty was brought to the world's attention by feminist critiques of gender inequality in development and access to natural resources. Through research, academia, and activism on gender inequality, the burden on women and girls of collecting water and carrying out domestic water tasks has become well-known, contributing to the continued promotion of 'Gender and Development' (GAD) approaches in international policy.
Borne out of critiques of 'Women in Development' (WID), which was the first attempt to integrate women into the international development agenda, GAD emerged in the late 1980s and has gained significant attention in academic research, development practice, and policy at all scales. It brought a new focus on the socially constructed differences between men and women to global development policy and discourse, and encouraged an analysis of gender roles and gender relations. In relation to water, GAD approaches therefore privileged investigation into how gender roles and relations influence uneven access to and control over water resources. Much of the work in the water sector is informed by this approach, meaning water programmes and initiatives, especially in the Global South, have increasingly had a gender focus.
However, there are many feminist authors who challenge the practical application of GAD approaches. Although GAD intended to move away from a focus just on women, in practice, 'gender' is still commonly synonymised with 'women' in policy and practice. As a result, gender approaches and gender mainstreaming in water programmes often slip back into single perspectives. Within gender mainstreaming, this focus on women also often results in the homogenisation of 'women' as a single category, suggesting that all who fall under that category experience water inequality in the same way.
I want to stress here that in writing this article I am no way trying to reduce or overlook the evident gender inequality and water struggles which many women and girls experience in their daily lives around the world. Rather, highlight the problems with the current way gender is commonly conceptualised in water projects; where generalised statements like 'poor women are more impacted' are common. Such statements perpetuate global narratives of a homogenous, vulnerable Global South woman suffering from water poverty, and render differing experiences of water inequality invisible. For example, images of water poverty are often of non-white women struggling to carry and collect water, as shown below.
However, it would be far too simplistic to say that these two women experience water inequality in the same way just because they are both women. What about other factors such as their age, where they live, their class? And how do all of these interconnect through different social relations? Nonetheless, inaccurate assumptions that all women suffer equally, and can therefore be empowered equally through targeted 'gendered' interventions, guide many water programmes.
The dominance of such simplified narratives is having negative consequences. Wider social relations can undermine programmes directed at women, and there are a number of examples of water interventions which actually resulted in further marginalisation due to a limited understanding of these other social factors and relations.
The Importance of Other Social Relations
The notion that gender constitutes something far more complex than simply 'male' or 'female' has gained significant ground in academic work. A feminist theory known as intersectionality has been at the forefront of such thinking, arguing that gender always intersects with other social identities and relations, including race, caste, class, age, ethnicity, sexuality, for example. Intersectionality suggests that it is all of these different identities and relations and how they come together in different ways which is important for determining how someone experiences (water) inequality and poverty.
Allen and Hofmann explain this clearly in their recent book chapter on urban water and sanitation poverty in Lima and Dar es Salaam. They use intersectional analysis to show how women and men go through dynamic trajectories in and out of water poverty due to factors such as whether they are renters or landowners and relations with other people in the community. For example, they follow the life of one entrepreneurial woman who lives in her family house and sells drinking water in reused plastic bottles that she fills with water from the pushcart vendors. She is able to sell water because she is well known in the community, giving her extra income to secure access to water for herself. Whereas another woman, also with her own business, is constrained by her position as a renter. Her landlord keeps raising rents and, despite her business, she struggles to find the money to meet the basic water needs of her family.
Understanding water poverty in this way and further exploring how water inequality is differentially experienced is extremely important. It not only sheds light on how micro-politics shape differing levels of empowerment and disempowerment, but also links such dynamics to broader structural issues through multi-scalar investigation. This helps to explain at multiple levels why and how some women can escape water poverty water whilst others cannot. Too much of a practical focus on 'women' as a homogenised, fixed, singular category clearly hides other significant factors through which water poverty is embedded and comes to be produced and experienced.
Therefore, this could, and should, have meaningful implications for policy and water practices for better targeted interventions. Although intersectionality is a well-known theory, currently there is little literature and even less policy focus on intersectional water poverty, or even in relation to socio-ecological inequality in the Global South more widely. The hope is that with the gradual increase in academic publications which attend to complex ideas of gender and social difference in relation to water, there will be a shift towards those who experience multi-layered water inequalities right now. We have begun to change the way we think about gender, women, and water, but now we need to question how we approach and overcome water inequalities in practice.
UNICEF/WHO (2015) https://www.wssinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/resources/JMP-Update-repor…
Photo credit for the image of two women carrying water: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adjourned/3069327644
Rosa is an LIDC intern and a Master's student of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Development Planning Unit, UCL. She is interested in water poverty and policy, gender, and development in urban contexts.
Tags: dar-es-salaam, gender, intersectionality, Lima, Water, women, Women in Development
Gender and sanitation: the hidden issue of gender-based violence
By Christopher Yap, on 11 March 2015
Trucks depositing liquid waste operate on the edge of the Vingunguti settlement in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Image: Adriana Allen
Access to safe, dignified and appropriate toilets and sanitation facilities is a basic right for women, men, boys and girls worldwide. However an estimated 2.5 billion people still do not have access to adequate sanitation facilities globally. This issue is most prevalent in the Global South, and in urban contexts a lack of appropriate sanitation facilities is a particular, commonplace condition of informal and unplanned settlements.
Sanitation in informal settlements
Lack of access to appropriate sanitation facilities is closely related to the complex reality of insecure living conditions facing informal urban inhabitants. Those living in 'slums' are often denied access to formal infrastructure due to their insecure tenure and livelihoods, and marginalised status within the city.
As a result, these citizens are forced to develop their own infrastructures for toilets and sanitation. Each solution, including communal, privately funded facilities, and pit latrines, comes with its own assemblage of risk, be it health or hygiene-related, environmental or social, or a combination of these.
The vast majority of toilets and sanitation facilities in informal settlements exist not in private homes, but in public spaces. The nature and degree of risk associated with these spaces reflects the broader social relations of power in the community. Central to this inequitable distribution of risk is the issue of gender inequality.
Image: Adriana Allen
Gendered differences in use of public space
In many patriarchal societies, a public/private space dichotomy exists by which women's access to public space is more restricted than men's. Women's mobility is restricted due to both time constraints associated with reproductive roles as well as 'symbolic dimensions surrounding the 'forbidden' and 'permitted' use of spaces governed by patriarchal power relations and norms of female propriety.' [1]
Gender-based violence is an expression of these unequal gender relations. It exists in a variety of forms, from physical abuse, assault and rape, to verbal insults and psychological trauma.
In this sense it might be understood as a response to perceived infractions of gendered ideologies (such as women moving freely in public spaces or earning more in a household than men). While the vast majority of gender-based violence is perpetrated by men against women, men and boys can also be victims. In Mumbai, for example, the practice of 'eve-teasing' is commonplace, with men targeting women with obscenities and in some instances throwing stones.
Women adapt to avoid risks – but where does the problem lie?
In informal settlements, women are often at greater risk of gender-based violence due to the lack of effective policing, and lack of access to formal recourse mechanisms, including the justice system itself. In many cases the onus is on women to alter their behaviour in order to avoid risk, rather than the perpetrators.
For example: WaterAid found that 94% of women they surveyed in Bhopal, India faced violence and harassment when going to defecate, and a third had been physically assaulted [2]. Communal toilets are often built near the peripheries of settlements, meaning that women are more vulnerable to assault, particularly at night and in areas with little or no public lighting.
The facilities themselves can be poorly maintained, unhygienic and lack privacy for women. These conditions drive the practice of open defecation in settlements, which increases the health risks to the community and further exposes women to violence amongst other risks.
The association between gender-based violence and toilet and sanitation facilities in informal settlements is only one manifestation of citywide injustices relating to gender, class, caste, and identity amongst others. Lack of access to adequate toilet and sanitation services can lead to an increased vulnerability to gender based violence in different forms.
Vingunguti in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Image: Pascale Hofmann
A right to safe and secure sanitation
Focusing on this issue makes it possible to identify ways of improving the everyday safety and well-being of women in informal settlements through better design and management of facilities. It also has the potential to confront the gendered ideologies driving the reproduction of risk and violence in informal settlements.
We must grasp the urgency of taking action to combat the disproportionately hostile experiences facing many women when accessing sanitation, particularly in informal settlements.
The realisation of the right to sanitation is a necessary but insufficient step towards addressing gendered inequalities, not least the elimination of violence against women. But it is only by recognising the daily challenges facing women around the world that we can begin to address them.
Indefensible Space: Gender based violence and sanitation in informal settlements
is a Project implemented by the DPU and the Institute of Child Health, UCL, and SNEHA, Mumbai and supported by the Institute for Global Health/UCL Grand Challenges.
On Tuesday 24th March practitioners and academics will host a half day Colloquium exploring the issues relating to gender-based violence facing women in slums; there will be a first London screening of a participatory film produced with slum communities in Dharavi, Mumbai as part of the Project. Read more about the project and book your place in the audience today.
Chant, S. and McIlwaine, C. (2013). "Gender, Urban Development and the Politics of Space", 4 June 2013.
WaterAid and National Confederation of Dalit Organisations (2013). Research on the DFID-supported IPAP programme in India in five states (unpublished).
Chris Yap is the Graduate Teaching Assistant for the MSc Urban Development Planning. He has worked with a number of organisations including the International Institute of Environment and Development, London International Development Centre, Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa, and Oxfam America on topics including the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda, communal and collective land tenure options for low income groups, participatory budgeting in a post-disaster context, community led-mapping and urban agriculture.
Filed under Diversity, social complexity & planned intervention
Tags: dharavi, gender equality, gender violence, human rights, India, informal settlements, Mumbai, public health, safety, sanitation, security, social justice, Toilets, Water
Multiple Dimensions of Risk in Lima
By Christopher Yap, on 4 May 2014
Every year students from MSc Environment and Sustainable Development at the Development Planning Unit embark on a fieldtrip to a country in the global South. Supported by prior research, the fieldwork synthesises hands-on experience with the skills, concepts, and theories of environmental justice for development.
This year the research aims to understand the relations between water, risk and urban development in Lima, Peru, and how environmental injustices are produced and can be addressed, by exploring scenarios and strategies embedded in the wider socio-political, economic and ecological processes, with the potential for transformative change.
Four case studies: Cantagallo, Barrios Altos, Jose Carlos Mariátegui and Huaycán were chosen with our local partners and offer unique readings of Lima.
The first days of fieldwork have started to reveal the complex structural conditions producing and reproducing social-spatial inequalities and precarious living conditions for citizens of Barrios Altos and Cantagallo in the centre of Lima.
A vacant plot in Cantagallo where the former residents accepted LAMSAC's offer of money to vacate the site immediately (c) Chris Yap
In Cantagallo, multiple groups, such as the indigenous Shipibo community, live in a high density settlement, directly on top of a former city dump-site. The entire district is marked for regeneration, and the community is engaged in long negotiations with the municipal authorities over their relocation. However the private company, LAMSAC, working in partnership with the municipality to manage the infrastructure megaproject, Via Parque Rimac, is also offering money to families to vacate their plots immediately. Some members of the community have already left their improvised properties, which were immediately demolished and the plots fenced off, to prevent others from taking their place.
For every family that vacates their plot during talks with the municipal authorities, the negotiating position of the remaining families is weakened. Those families that remain face a multitude of socio-environmental risks; unhygienic living conditions and tenure insecurity the most apparent.
In Barrios Altos, only a few hundred metres away from Cantagallo, residents face a different set of challenges and risks. The historic centre of Lima is characterised by its grand, dilapidated buildings. The current residents of the quintas – colonial-era buildings – some of which have lived in the area for generations and others that are new to the district, face daily risks from unstable, unsafe structures, land trafficking and forced displacement.
Buildings at risk of collapse in Barrios Altos (c) Chris Yap
The central location and cultural significance of the district and the quintas has attracted multiple actors with competing intentions for the area's regeneration. Private sector developers and municipal agencies, such as ProLima, are being pushed to find new solutions for urban regeneration.
The displacement or relocation of residents from the grand buildings is followed by the barricading of the room or building, just as the vacant plots are fenced off across the river in Cantagallo.
A bricked-up former residence in Barrios Altos (c) Chris Yap
Meanwhile, many local private developers are building illegally, without permits, behind the UNESCO-protected facades of the quintas. But whilst the municipal authorities are aware of the problem, they lack the capacity to prevent the developments.
Of greater concern are the cases where private developers have forcibly evicted tenants, or cut water pipes to hasten the collapse of the already fragile buildings in order to acquire the land for development.
The complex reality generated by multiple actors with different interests, capacities, resources and priorities, and multi dimensional realities of risk, are manifested differently in each of the two sites, yet the residents face comparable challenges. Over the next two weeks, students will explore the nature of risk in each of the sites, and the strategies that residents and other stakeholders are adopting to challenge inequitable urban development.
A quinta where the water pipes were illegally cut, forcing the residents to leave and causing the structure to collapse. (c) Chris Yap
Tags: Evictions, Regeneration, Risk, Water
Diversity, social complexity & planned intervention
Environmental Justice, Urbanisation & Resilience
State and Market: Governance and Policy for Development
Female genital mutilation and seeking asylum in Europe
Can global reporting bring about transformation?
Archiving border(ing) knowledge through networking
A home for Seiichi's family: Ninety-two-years of Japanese Housing History
Social Networks and Street Changes: A Lagosian Housing Story
Archives Select Month November 2022 (1) October 2022 (2) July 2022 (1) June 2022 (7) May 2022 (1) April 2022 (1) March 2022 (1) February 2022 (1) December 2021 (2) November 2021 (2) September 2021 (2) August 2021 (1) July 2021 (3) May 2021 (1) April 2021 (2) March 2021 (3) January 2021 (1) December 2020 (1) November 2020 (1) October 2020 (1) September 2020 (1) August 2020 (1) July 2020 (5) June 2020 (2) May 2020 (4) April 2020 (3) February 2020 (1) November 2019 (1) August 2019 (1) June 2019 (1) May 2019 (1) April 2019 (2) March 2019 (1) February 2019 (2) January 2019 (1) December 2018 (3) November 2018 (1) September 2018 (3) July 2018 (3) May 2018 (3) February 2018 (1) December 2017 (3) October 2017 (1) September 2017 (1) August 2017 (1) July 2017 (2) June 2017 (1) May 2017 (1) March 2017 (3) February 2017 (2) January 2017 (1) December 2016 (2) November 2016 (3) October 2016 (3) September 2016 (3) August 2016 (4) July 2016 (2) June 2016 (2) May 2016 (3) April 2016 (4) March 2016 (1) February 2016 (2) January 2016 (3) December 2015 (5) November 2015 (1) October 2015 (3) September 2015 (1) August 2015 (1) July 2015 (8) June 2015 (4) May 2015 (7) April 2015 (5) March 2015 (8) February 2015 (10) January 2015 (3) September 2014 (1) August 2014 (1) July 2014 (3) May 2014 (3) April 2014 (2) September 2013 (1) July 2013 (3) June 2013 (2) May 2013 (1) March 2013 (1) February 2013 (1) December 2012 (1) November 2012 (2) October 2012 (1) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (1) July 2012 (2) June 2012 (3) May 2012 (2) April 2012 (1) March 2012 (4) February 2012 (5) January 2012 (2) December 2011 (2) November 2011 (2) April 2011 (1) March 2011 (1) January 2011 (2) December 2010 (3) November 2010 (4) October 2010 (1) June 2010 (1) May 2010 (1)
Tweets by dpu_ucl


Locality: USA. Florida. Seminole Co.: Ca. 4 mi. SE of Oviedo. T21S, R31E, Sec. 36.
Habitat: Open sandy herbaceous areas in longleaf pine [Pinus palustris] - turkey oak [Quercus laevis] flatwoods; with Aristida beyrichiana [A. stricta var. beyrichiana], Licania michauxii, Liatris sp.
Locality: USA. Florida. Martin Co.: Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Near Kitching's Creek Nature Trail.
Habitat: Open places in the flat pine woods.
Description: Scape purple-mottled, somewhat glaucous; perianth yellow.
Habitat: Sandy soil of oak ridge.
Locality: USA. Florida. Pasco Co.: Ca. 1 mi. N of Wilson Haven, US 41.
Habitat: Secondary longleaf pine [Pinus palustris] - bluejack oak [Quercus incana] on low dry sandy ridge; with Eupatorium, Hieracium, Andropogon, Panicum spp.
Locality: USA. Florida. Sumter Co.: NW side of FL 44, 1.6 mi. W of its junction with FL 475, ca. 9 km ENE of the Withlacoochee River (where FL 44 crosses it), and 9.6 km W of Wildwood.
Locality: USA. Florida. Marion Co.: Ca. 0.1 mi. E of BM 52, S of Tishler Pond. T14S, R24E, Sec. 34.
Habitat: Disturbed area near young turkey oaks [Quercus laevis], with Croton and Berlandiera.
Habitat: Very dry soil of turkey oak [Quercus laevis] and bluejack oak [Q. incana] association, with Diospyros, Galactia, and Cyperus in understory.
Locality: USA. Florida. Citrus Co.: 0.5 mi. N of Inverness.
Locality: USA. Florida. Orange Co.: E of FL 435, ca. 1.6 km S of Kelly Park (Rock Springs), 7.5 km N of Apopka.
Habitat: Longleaf pine [Pinus palustris] sandhills.
Locality: USA. Florida. Lake Co.: T19S, R28E, Sec. 22.
Locality: USA. Florida. Citrus Co.: Hernando; 1 mi. W of FL 200 on C-39.
Locality: USA. Florida. Pasco Co.: Near the entrance building at the Concourse Park, ca. 4 mi. W of US 41 on FL 52.
Habitat: Slash pine [Pinus elliottii] - turkey oak [Quercus laevis] woods.
Habitat: Mature burned longleaf pine [Pinus palustris] sandhill. Soils - Lakeland (typic Quartzipsamments).
Locality: USA. Florida. Levy Co.: W side of C-336, 4.8 mi. N of its junction with C-40, near the Marion County line.
Description: Perianth light green, filaments rosy, anthers yellow.
Habitat: Moist edge of longleaf pine [Pinus palustris] woods.
Locality: USA. Florida. Martin Co.: Jonathan Dickinson State Park. Horse stable area.
Habitat: Sandhill system; with Pinus palustris, Quercus laevis, Aristida stricta, and other sandhill herbs.


Fairtransplant promotes the logo 'A Gift for Life' to manifest support to organ donation and transplantation. As a experimental initiative, Fairtransplant decided to allow a credit card to diffuse the logo, on the track of other examples associating a credit card to organizations, initiatives or associations of high moral value.
The logo 'A Gift for Life' is to be added as an option to a plastic credit cards to testify that the carrier supports organ donation. In the present project, it was decided to opt for a formula in which below the logo a sentence would appear asking the care-givers, in case of a fatal accident, to discuss organ donation with the family.
While the majority of the population is favourable to organ donation, only a minority owns a donor card and an even smaller number carries it regularly.
Plastic credit cards are ubiquitous, and are increasingly used to manifest support to a cause of high ethical value (e.g.WWF, UNICEF).
Even in countries with presumed consent, the advice/ support of the family is generally sought.
Family refusal often originates from the fact that the question had not been discussed previously with the deceased. Bearing of the logo expresses the support to organ donation, and the decision to add it to a plastic credit card is an occasion to address the issue within the family.
The firm Alberto Scotti - Twister - Milan, Italy, has graciously worked on the Logo. Cornèr Bank SA - one of the issuers of VISA credit cards in Switzerland, was chosen because of its previous association to similar initiatives (World Wildlife Fund: WWF).
Cornèr Bank SA offers it as an option on its VISA credit cards. The logo is freely available for download and participation of other countries/ organizations to similar initiatives is encouraged.


Cryogenics and Superconductivity play pivotal roles in modern scientific applications starting from modern accelerators to medical diagnostics. A "National Symposium on Cryogenics and Superconductivity (NSCS-27)" is being organized by Indian Cryogenic Council and IIT Bombay and will be held at IIT, Bombay during January 16-18, 2019. This Symposium provides opportunity for the professionals in the field of Cryogenics and Superconductivity to discuss latest trends and activities. A day of short courses is being planned as preconference activity in this edition. The Participants from all over the country are expected to present their latest research work in the form of invited talks, contributed lectures and poster presentations. The Symposium provides a important platform for young researchers, scientists and technologists to interact closely with the experts and practicing engineers from diverse background.
The Victor Menezes Convention Center (VMCC) hosts a well-equipped auditorium, seminar rooms, lounges, etc that can hold several parallel sessions and poster sessions.


text:
Family Fun Fishing Day sees record numbers of anglers and fun for all
Alternatives - June 2017 Fishing for fun and for prizes along the Blackstone River and Canal.
Annie, center, hands out prizes to winners.
Annie Negri loves to fish. So it was a natural connection when, three years ago, staff at the Alternatives' program for people with disabilities she attends conceived of a catch and release fishing contest open to the community and free for all. To offer such an event, they needed a community partner. The Blackstone River Watershed Association was another natural connection.
For three years Alternatives and the Blackstone River Watershed Association (BRWA), together with the Department of Conversation and Recreation (DCR) and the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, have invited people of all ages and abilities to take part in the Family Fun Fishing Day. The event's planning committee, of which Annie has been an active member since day one, has grown the Fishing Day each year, always striving to make it make it bigger, better and more accessible for those who participate. Experienced anglers are welcome, but so are first-timers. If you don't have a pole of your own, that's no problem; volunteers are there to literally "hook you up."
This year's Family Fun Fishing Day was held on May 20 at River Bend Farm in Uxbridge. Over one hundred and fifty people took part, a record for the event. In addition to fishing, the event included instruction on casting and tying techniques, face-painting, food from Uxbridge First Holiday Night, and opportunities to learn about the importance of building and maintaining a healthy watershed. New to the event this year was free ice cream from the Fidelity Bank Ice Cream Truck.
Prizes were donated by Dick's Sporting Goods, and Annie took on the role of handing them out to winners in three age groups. In the children's category, Brody Joyal won for "most fish caught" with 25 in total. Aidan Russell won "biggest fish" in the children's category with a 15" carp. Winners in the teen category were awarded for "biggest fish" and "runner up." They were Isaiah Twumasi with a 13.5" carp and Brendan Drobinski with a 13" carp. Sandra Christine won in the adult category for "most fish caught" at 8 fish. Martin Columbo won "biggest fish" in the adult category with an 18" carp.
"This event is remarkable in that it draws such support from the community," said Jennifer MacNeill of Alternatives. "But what's most special to me is that this partnership between Alternatives, the BRWA, and the DCR has enabled someone like Annie to take on a role and really be valued for it. Embracing the contributions of everyone and giving back to the community at the same time, is really what we're all about."
If you'd like to learn more about Alternatives, visit AlternativesNet.org. For information on the Blackstone River Watershed Association, visit BRWA.org.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ripple and XRP have been in the headlines a lot this year due to various achievements.
The company managed to gather more clients and partnerships, and XRP has been enjoying more and more listings.
All these support the XRP's goal which is mass adoption. With new listings, the coin becomes more popular and also much more accessible to a broader audience.
Now, Ripple's digital asset enjoys another achievement that supports mainstream adoption.
CoinField is a Canadian crypto exchange, and they have recently announced that they're adding 130 more coins.
The new digital assets will be available in fiat and XRP trading pairs.
UToday revealed that not too long ago, Ripple listed CoinField as one of the best places to buy XRP on its official website.
The platform has been teasing the launch of XRP-based trading pairs.
At the moment it's not clear yet what coins will be added, according to the same online magazine.
We recently reported that the XRP army of fans is enjoying more and more successful efforts that are being made these days towards the mass adoption of their favorite digital asset.
XPR gains in popularity, and it also becomes more accessible to the general public.
In other news, XRP has been enjoying a significant achievement lately: its integration into WooCommerce which powers about 3.3 million online shops. This was facilitated with the help of Wietse Wind.
More than that, Wind has another plan. He wants to create even more projects that are centered on making XRP a mainstream payment option all over the world.
He asked the crypto community for proposals that will be presented to the Ripple and XRP community for funding.


text:
Home / HP Lovecraft: The Myth of Cthulhu / Lovecraft: The Myth of Cthulhu
Lovecraft: The Myth of Cthulhu
Illustrated in haunting black and white over 30 years ago, these comics are re-presented in a new edition, adapting three of H.P. Lovecraft's most famous stories involving the Cthulhu Mythos.
"The Nameless City" is considered the first story of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, detailing the discovery of an ancient city in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula built by an unnamed race of reptilian beings. In "The Festival," a man arrives at the sea town of Kingsport, Massachusetts during Christmas but finds a place eerily empty and centuries out of date. "The Call of Cthulhu" is perhaps Lovecraft's most famous story, describing a man who, after finding the notes of his granduncle, is lead on a journey around the world in search of a mysterious and disturbing phenomenon.
DIAMOND CODE: OCT170525
Esteban Maroto (Author, Artist, Cover Artist) Santi Casas (Colorist)
COLOR: B&W
CATEGORIES: HP Lovecraft: The Myth of Cthulhu , Horror for the Holidays: 2018 Gift Guide , Uncategorized
TAGS: Esteban Maroto, Horror Comics, Santi Casas, Sci-Fi
H.P. Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror TP
The Lovecraft Library, Vol. 1: Horror Out of Arkham
Locke & Key Master Edition, Vol. 1


text:
Obama: Election Day Write Stuff
By Roger Friedman, | Fox News
Obama: Election Day Write Stuff | Valkyrie: Now Starring … Kenneth Branagh? | Def Jam Tragedy
Whatever happens today with the presidential election, this much is a result: Barack Obama is a bestselling author.
And if the results of book sales translate into electoral votes, we could guess who wins today's election without having to wait until polls close.
Obama's words are interesting enough that he has not one but two books on the Amazon.com bestseller's list. His "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" stands at No. 96 overall, of all books. That's pretty impressive considering it's hardcover only and sells on Amazon for $15.57. (The retail price is $25.95.)
Obama's paperback, "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream," sells for just $7.99, which is like, almost free. That puts it at No. 39 for all books.
By contrast, John McCain's "Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir," also priced on Amazon at $7.99, is holding steady at No. 1,393.
McCain's other paperback, "Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life," is at No. 10,736. It also sells for $7.99.
Meanwhile, Obama's chief naysayer, Jerome Corsi, would like just a few of those readers. His "Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality," registers at only No. 1,271 as of last night.
On the vice presidential side, things aren't so good for either candidate. But Sarah Palin's freshness to the national political stage gives her some advantage. A biography of her by Kaylene Johnson called "Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment Upside Down" is at No. 669. Joe Biden's most recent book, "Promises to Keep," is sitting largely unread and unloved at No. 43,523.
Valkyrie: Now Starring … Kenneth Branagh?
There's yet a new trailer for Bryan Singer's "Valkyrie," and this one seems to star … Kenneth Branagh.
That's right. This is in a continuing effort — and I must say well executed one — to distance this troubled movie from earlier pictures of Tom Cruise and his unfortunate eye patch.
In the latest trailer, it's Branagh who is seen first, along with well known British actors Tom Wilkinson and Terence Stamp. Heart pounding pulsating drum punctuating music plays as these actors describe what "Valkyrie" is about.
Only then is Cruise seen, but not in his original image with an eye patch and injury. Instead, it's the "Lawrence of Arabia" version of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg that was introduced in the second trailer. And then, capitalizing on Cruise's "Top Gun" persona that made him an international star, a fighter plan soars over Cruise's head.
The new "Valkyrie" trailer, in fact, downplays Cruise as von Stauffenberg so much that at its conclusion a voice over introduces his character to Adolf Hitler as "Col. Stauffenberg," dropping the "von" part of his name and the very German-ness of it.
All of this goes along with the movie's new Web site, which features a new, very creative poster. In it, not only is Cruise lacking von Stauffenberg's eye patch, but all sign that the actors are playing Nazi soldiers. Indeed, Stamp seems to be wearing nothing but a dark business suit and tie. The way the other actors' costumes are shadowed and airbrushed they could be nothing more than airline pilots.
But all is fair in war and film marketing when it comes to trailers and Web sites. And MGM, which is fighting for its life with "Valkyrie" and the new James Bond movie, is free to be as creative as it needs to be this fall.
With "Valkyrie" it has special problems, too, since there are no fewer than four movies this December with Nazi storylines. The most promising one is "The Reader," which at least has a romance at its core and a naked Kate Winslet!
Def Jam Tragedy
The folks at Island/DefJam Records are mourning the loss of Shakir Stewart, the 34-year-old executive vice president of the label overseen by L.A. Reid.
Stewart committed suicide over the weekend, shocking his colleagues, friends, and the recording artists he was close to including Beyonce and Jay Z.
I'm told drugs were not a factor, and that Stewart didn't leave any kind of note.
His fiancée issued a statement that read in part: "It is difficult to express or explain in words what led to the tragic occurrence on Saturday. Over the past several weeks, Shakir's behavior was inconsistent with the man we all know and love. As much as we all tried to help him, Shakir was in deep pain and largely suffering in silence. Please remember Shakir for who he was ... a wonderful father, partner, son and friend."


There are a lot of positive reviews on this book, and yes people like different things but im sitting here like "Did i miss something?" "Did i read the same book?". To be completely honest I was disappointed. I have read a lot of mystery thrillers and I can name a lot more captivating and suspenseful books. I didn't realize this was a debut novel, or that the writer was Australian but should this change my opinion? No. I still didn't enjoy it like I thought I would, and to like something simply based on it being a debut novel from an Australian author (Im an Australian), that shouldn't deter my opinion although we dont have enough Australian authors.
Federal Agent Aaron Falk is headed back to his hometown for the first time in decades. Being chased out of town with his father after being accused of murder, Aaron has never looked back. 20 years ago when he was accused, Luke was his alibi. Now Luke is the reason he is returning, accused of murdering his family in cold blood before turning the gun on himself, conspiracy and doubt clouds the man everyone thought they knew.
In the midst of a terrible drought, with anger and tempers running high all around him, Aaron and the local detective will try to work out what really happened. Did Luke change so much as a person that he murdered his entire family? Who really killed that girl 20 years ago? And how far are they willing to go to uncover the truth about everything that's happened in this small Victorian town.
I, unfortunately, didn't enjoy the plot. It felt like it has been done before only this time in Victoria in the midst of a drought. There was no real wow factor for me, and it was more my curiosity that kept me reading. Mystery thriller has to be the only genre I have never dnf'd.
There wasn't anything wrong with the writing per say, in fact, there were some really good sentences and paragraphs; I just needed more suspense, something original and more wow factor in the plot to really draw me in. I did feel like it was a little slow at points, and the 'reveal' wasn't as POW! as it could have been.
The characters were okay, I feel like a lot of them weren't meant to be likable. My problem was that there wasn't anything interesting about them, if anything I found them slightly boring and one dimensional. I did feel for Lukes family and for Aaron back when he was accused of murdering that girl and being run out of town, but the murdered girl for me was the most interesting of them all and the girl was dead besides the flashbacks.
Overall im rather disappointed in this book. I dont hate it, but i am a little meh. I expected more than what I got, but im not sure if its because I've read so many good mystery thrillers or because I've read too many good ones recently or if it just wasn't the book for me.
I will read Jane Harper's next book, which I think is already out? because im not quite ready to say im not a fan of her writing, and authors tend to get better the more they write.
Recommended for: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller.
I totally agree with you. I feel bad as well because I feel like I should like it as it is an Australian author but I just couldn't connect with it! It wasn't thrilling or interesting for me.
THANK YOU! Im glad im not the only one who felt like this.


Keep the ear ache away on those cold windy days with a warm and cosy pure wool headwarmer. One..
Keep the ear ache away with a warm and cosy pure wool headwarmer. One size fits all and can be..
Gorgeous 100% Pure Tasmanian Merino Wool Beanies can be worn two ways 'the Slouch' or by folding the..


(FOX 2) - The Government is shutdown and employees are furloughed - but members of Congress are still working on introducing important laws. One of which is the federal legalization of marijuana - also known as House Resolution 420.
In a hat tip to the marijuana culture, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the resolution on Wednesday, amid the Government shutdown. Of course, by now, you're probably familiar with 420 - a special number in the marijuana scene.
The Oregon Rep. Blumenaur's bill is actually titled the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act and would remove cannabis from the federal controlled substances act. Michigan voters passed a similar law in November that legalizes the possession of 2.5 ounces of marijuana outside the home - plus possession of 10 ounces inside a home. Residents can also grow up to 12 plants.
The bill introduced in U.S. Congress on Wednesday would take marijuana off the federal controlled substances list and establish a nationally regulated industry overseen by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Will HR 420 pass? The Government has to reopen first. For now, it's been referred to several House committees including Judiciary, Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Natural Resources, and Agriculture.
William 'Ray' Painter is turning 100 on May 5, 2019. He is a current resident at the Mayflower Assisted Living in Lexington, Virginia. Described as a 'shining light' by staff, Painter is loved by all, so for his birthday they wanted do something extra special.


text:
Artist Spotlight: Andrea Di Giovanni
by Gabby Fabrizio October 18, 2017, 8:16 pm
We love an upcoming artist and our latest artist spotlight goes to Andrea Di Giovanni, who is an up and coming electro/pop artist. Born and raised in Italy, Andrea is currently living in London and is finishing his BA Degree in Creative Musicianship at The British Institute Of Modern Music.
Andrea has been passionate about music from a very young age and has continued to pursue his music dreams, and has had many of opportunities to perform his original music alongside his band in various prestigious venues such as The O2 Shepard's Bush, The O2 Islington to name a few.
The past few years have seen nothing but success for Andrea, including winning numerous awards such as The Akademia Music Awards (May 2016) and MTV News Generation (Italy) Best New Artist of the Week (August/September 2016).
Got To Blame is a beautiful representation of confidence in a song, and is also a very catchy song that we can guarantee you will LOVE!
Got To Blame is set to be released on the 20th October, and you can pre-order Got To Blame on iTunes.
Make sure you keep up to date with Andrea and what he is doing, because he is certainly on of our artists to watch!
Written by Gabby Fabrizio
You'll probably find me drinking a very strong coffee or swaying away at a gig!
Artist Spotlight: Not Ur Girlfrenz
Artist Spotlight: Lily Kershaw
Artist Spotlight: Conan Gray
Exclusive interview with soul-pop artist JSTYC
Artist Spotlight: Ross Harris
Artist Spotlight: Kris Evans
Cheryl's Debut Lip Kit Range With L'Oreal Paris Is Finally Here!
App Love: Pinterest


Piazza dewwa Repubbwica is a semi-circuwar piazza in Rome, at de summit of de Viminaw Hiww, next to de Termini station. On it is to be found Santa Maria degwi Angewi e dei Martiri. It is served by de Repubbwica – Teatro deww'Opera Metro station, uh-hah-hah-hah. From de sqware starts one of de main streets of Rome, Via Nazionawe.
The former name of de piazza, Piazza deww'Esedra, stiww very common today, originates in de warge exedra of de bads of Diocwetian, which gives de piazza its shape. The exedra present in de bads of Diocwetian was incorporated into de gardens buiwt Cardinaw Jean du Bewway; on his deaf in 1560, de wand was purchased by Cardinaw Carwo Borromeo, and eventuawwy came into de possession of Cardinaw Awessandro Sforza in 1579. Between 1598 and 1600 de exedra was converted into a church. Then, in 1885, de Via Nazionawe cut drough de centre of dis structure.
The porticos around de piazza, buiwt in 1887–98 by Gaetano Koch, were in memory of de ancient buiwdings on de same sites, whiwe de basiwica of Santa Maria degwi Angewi e dei Martiri on de piazza is based on a wing of de bads (wif its architect Michewangewo, using de tepidarium as one of de wings of its spacious Greek cross pwan).
The fountain in dis sqware was originawwy de fountain of de Acqwa Pia (connected to de aqwa Marcia aqweduct), commissioned dis site by Pope Pius IX in 1870. Compweted in 1888, it originawwy showed four chawk wions designed by Awessandro Guerrieri. These were den repwaced in 1901 wif scuwptures of Naiads by Mario Rutewwi from Pawermo, de great-grandfader of de powitician and former mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutewwi.
The naiads represented are de Nymph of de Lakes (recognisabwe by de swan she howds), de Nymph of de Rivers (stretched out on a monster of de rivers), de Nymph of de Oceans (riding a horse symbowising of de sea), and de Nymph of de Underground Waters (weaning over a mysterious dragon). In de centre is Rutewwi's Gwauco group (1911/12), symbowizing de dominion of de man over naturaw force and repwacing a previous scuwpture.
^ David Coffin, Gardens and Gardening in Papaw Rome(Princeton University Press, 1991), p.69.
This page was wast edited on 9 Apriw 2019, at 15:07 (UTC).


text:
Laboratory Investigations (3)
Cardiovascular Anesthesia (17)
Endocrine and Metabolic Systems (2)
Gastrointestinal and Hepatic Systems (2)
Radiological and Other Imaging (1)
Renal and Urinary Systems / Electrolyte Balance (1)
dobutamine (19)
hemodynamics (4)
myocardium (4)
cardiac surgery procedures (3)
doppler hemodynamics (3)
infusion procedures (3)
dog, domestic (2)
dopexamine (2)
Images in Anesthesiology (1)
dobutamine
Dobutamine-induced Intraventricular Obstruction: A "Dagger" to the Anesthetized Heart?
Maria D. Fritock, M.D., Megan N. Manento, M.D., Leal G. Segura, M.D.
Anesthesiology. June 2015: 122(6):1414
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000000387
Perioperative Use of Dobutamine in Cardiac Surgery and Adverse Cardiac Outcome: Propensity-adjusted Analyses
Jean-Luc Fellahi, M.D., Jean-Jacques Parienti, M.D., Jean-Luc Hanouz, M.D., Ph.D., Benoît Plaud, M.D., Ph.D., Bruno Riou, M.D., Ph.D., Alexandre Ouattara, M.D., Ph.D.
Anesthesiology. June 2008: 108(6):979–987
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e318173026f
Dobutamine: Too Dangerous for "Routine" Administration?
John Butterworth, M.D.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e318172fb98
Optimal Adrenergic Support in Septic Shock Due to Peritonitis
Qinghua Sun, M.D., Ph.D., Zizhi Tu, M.D., Suzana Lobo, M.D., George Dimopoulos, M.D., Nathalie Nagy, M.D., Peter Rogiers, M.D., Daniel De Backer, M.D., Ph.D., Jean-Louis Vincent, M.D., Ph.D.
Attenuation of Lung Inflammation by Adrenergic Agonists in Murine Acute Lung Injury
Vinay K. Dhingra, M.D., Ari Uusaro, M.D., Ph.D., Cheryl L. Holmes, M.D., Keith R. Walley, M.D.
Anesthesiology. October 2001: 95(4):947–953
Changes in Regional Myocardial Function after Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery Are Predicted by Intraoperative Low-dose Dobutamine Echocardiography
Solomon Aronson, M.D., F.A.C.C., F.C.C.P., Frank Dupont, M.D., Robert Savage, M.D., F.A.C.C., Melinda Drum, Ph.D., William Gunnar, M.D., F.A.C.S., Valluvan Jeevanandam, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Anesthesiology. September 2000: 93(3):685–692
Effect of Dobutamine on Splanchnic Carbohydrate Metabolism and Amino Acid Balance after Cardiac Surgery
Hermann Ensinger, M.D., Arto Rantala, M.D., Josef Vogt, Ph.D., Michael Georgieff, M.D., Jukka Takala, M.D., Ph.D.
Anesthesiology. December 1999: 91(6):1587
Effects of Dobutamine on Hemodynamics and Left Ventricular Performance after Cardiopulmonary Bypass in Cardiac Surgical Patients
Joseph L. Romson, M.D., Ph.D., Jacqueline M. Leung, M.D., M.P.H., Wayne H. Bellows, M.D., Merrill Bronstein, M.D., Fraser Keith, M.D., William Moores, M.D., Keith Flachsbart, M.D., Richard Richter, M.D., Darwin Pastor, Dennis M. Fisher, M.D.
Anesthesiology. November 1999: 91(5):1318
Interaction of Halogenated Anesthetics with Dobutamine in Rat Myocardium
Pierre-Yves Gueugniaud, MD, PhD, Jean-Luc Hanouz, MD, Jean-Marc Martino, MD, Yves Lecarpentier, MD, PhD, Pierre Coriat, MD, Bruno Riou, MD, PhD
Dobutamine Antagonizes Epinephrine's Biochemical and Cardiotonic Effects : Results of an In Vitro Model Using Human Lymphocytes and a Clinical Study in Patients Recovering from Cardiac Surgery
Richard C. Prielipp, MD, Drew A. MacGregor, MD, Roger L. Royster, MD, Neal D. Kon, MD, Michael H. Hines, MD, John F. Butterworth, MD
Anesthesiology. July 1998: 89(1):49–57
Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography to Detect Inducible Demand Ischemia in Anesthetized Patients with Coronary Artery Disease
Manfred D. Seeberger, MD, Karl Skarvan, MD, Peter Buser, MD, Wolfgang Brett, MD, Reinhard Rohlfs, RN, Jean-Jacques Erne, RN, Cyril Rosenthaler, MD, Matthias Pfisterer, MD, Dan Atar, MD
Is Calcium a Coronary Vasoconstrictor In Vivo?
George J. Crystal, PhD, Xiping Zhou, MD, Ramez M. Salem, MD
Anesthesiology. March 1998: 88(3):735–743
Effects of a Dobutamine-induced Increase in Splanchnic Blood Flow on Hepatic Metabolic Activity in Patients with Septic Shock
Helmut Reinelt, MD, Peter Radermacher, MD, Gunther Fischer, Wolfgang Geisser, MD, Ulrich Wachter, Heidemarie Wiedeck, MD, Michael Georgieff, MD, Josef Vogt, PhD
Dopamine, Dobutamine, and Dopexamine A Comparison of Renal Effects in Unanesthetized Human Volunteers
Niels Vidiendal Olsen, M.D., Jorgen Lund, M.D., Per Foge Jensen, M.D., Kurt Espersen, M.D., Inge-Lis Kanstrup, M.D. Ph.D., Inger Plum, B.S., Paul P. Leyssac, M.D. Ph.D.
The Effect of Dobutamine on Hepatic Blood Flow and Oxygen Supply–Uptake Ratio during Enflurane Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia in Humans Undergoing Liver Resection
Motoshi Kainuma, M.D., Nobuyuki Kimura, M.D., Toshiaki Nonami, M.D., Tsuyoshi Kurokawa, M.D., Takafumi Ito, M.D., Koichi Nakashima, M.D., Yashuhiro Shimada, M.D.
A665 AMRINONE, DOBUTAMINE, AND INTERACTION EFFECTS ON GUINEAPIG HEART MUSCLE
R. C. CORK, M.D., S. BEHR, J. GALLO
Anesthesiology. September 1990: 73(3A):NA
Altered Hemodynamic Response to Dobutamine in Relation to the Degree of Preoperative β-Adrenoceplor Blockade
Jörg Tarnow, M.D., Krystof Komar
Anesthesiology. June 1988: 68(6):912–919
Pulmonary Hemodynamic Response to Dopamine and Dobutamine in Hyperoxic and in Hypoxic Dogs
Philippe Lejeune, M.D., Marc Leeman, M.D., Thierry Deloof, M.D., Robert Naeije, M.D., Ph.D.
Anesthesiology. January 1987: 66(1):49–54
DOBUTAMINE: HEMODYNAMIC EFFECTS IN PATIENTS TREATED WITH & WITHOUT PROPRANOLOL
Tadikonda L.K. Rao, M.D., Adel A. El-Etr, M.D., Kanteerava Balasaraswathi, M.D., Henry Sullivan, M.D.
Anesthesiology. September 1979: 51(3):S155


From 11 - 13 of September WENZEL Poland invited present and potential customers to Aparthotel Czarna Gora for the annual Coordinate Measuring Technology (CMT) Seminar. The participants represented various industries including automotive, automotive suppliers, aerospace and machine construction. We are proud to announce that this year we counted a record turnout of 70 guests.
As usual the meeting was comprised of interesting lectures and workshops. The Keynote speaker was Professor Zbigniew Humienny from the Warsaw University of Technology, who gave a talk about geometric dimensioning and tolerancing. We devoted the second day to workshops run by experts with hands-on experience in measuring technology.
The seminar gave us an excellent opportunity to share our professional knowledge with the customers and also created a platform for the customers to share their experience with one another. The fruitful discussions and networking make us believe that it is worth planning the next event and we are looking forward to suggestions about topics and presentations for the future.


The Bible is the foundation of all we do. It is the basis of our study and fellowship. As we gather each week, we open the precious pages of scripture to study the truth of God's word. Our goal and and desire is to know God better and to become more like Jesus for the glory of God.
While the bible is most certainly the subject matter and the foundation for our study, we seek to practically apply the truth of that teaching to our lives and everyday situations. We seek to understand the author's meaning of the text and apply that truth to our current situation and lives.
We desire to create an environment of mutual interactive and sharing as we discuss the truth of God's word and make practical application to our lives. We encourage class participation and desire to build strong relationships through our study of God's word.
Prayer is more than our means of making requests of God and getting things from Him. Prayer is the means by which we find develop a deep and loving relationship with our Heavenly Father who sent His own Son to die for us. We desire to cultivate a culture of prayer, praying for and with one another.


Don't Listen To Your Clients, Really?
"The customer is always right." How often have we heard that expression? In fact, it's become rule number one or an unofficial mantra for good client relations.
If that's the case, and it is indeed true that the customer is always right, then we should probably just poll our clients and ask them what they want from us, right? Then we can simply deliver on those promises to ensure the ideal client services relationship.
He proposes that instead of simply responding to your clients' concerns and being reactionary, the real goal should be to anticipate what your customers are going to want and deliver it to them proactively.
"Someone is always out there who thinks they have a better idea than you have. A better solution than you have. A better or more efficient product than you have," says Cuban.
He closes by saying that your customers can only "tell you the things that are broken and how they want to be made happy." However, this is not something to bet the farm (or your business) on.
As marketing, public and client relations professionals, how are you listening to your clients and incorporating their feedback to meet their needs while balancing those of your company or agency and remaining proactive? Are you utilizing CRM systems, surveys, or social media communities, among others tools to help you get to the heart of what clients really want? Please share your thoughts with me and the readers of BurrellesLuce Fresh Ideas.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 9:04 am	and is filed under Advertising/Marketing, Client Services, Public Relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Nice post, David. Thanks for including my comments.
Great post, David. And a touchy topic, too!
In my career, I've seen that clients usually fall in one of two buckets.
Obviously, I think everyone prefers #2.
I've always been amused by the fact that EVERYONE thinks they can be a good PR pro. Everyone reading this probably has dealt with a client who picked up the phone and cold-called a newspaper, or met a TV anchor at a cocktail party and thinks they're best friends.
The situation almost always leads to, "why do I need a PR agency if I can do this myself?" Needless to say, I have never really appreciated those clients.
But the topic at hand is listening to clients. A strong pro/firm will listen to what the client wants to see and come back to them with a recommendation of the best way to handle it and use their experience and skills to remind the client who the expert is. It's not about winning and losing, it's about leveraging skills to give the client what they REALLY want…not just what they SAY they want.
I agree 100% I think it's more about understanding the industry as a whole and leading your clients.