Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

The chapter intends to explore an innovative approach for a more inclusive and sustainable urban planning and governance through the use of the ICT matched with a participatory process. It describes the transition process from a pilot project (Crowdmapping Mirafiori Sud/CMMS) headed by the Politecnico di Torino in 2013 in the Mirafiori Sud district of Turin (Italy)—whose aim was to design and test an open-source crowdmapping platform to identify and categorize, aggregating large amounts of user-generated inputs, the nature, the location and the consistency of the obstacles, which prevent vulnerable categories to use the public space in their neighbourhood—to the set up of a proper governing tool (MiraMap) to enhance open policy-making and the integration of the citizens’ perspective through their effective engagement. Such platform is expected to have very concrete impacts both in empowering citizens, supporting grassroots processes and practices, sharing knowledge and in allowing policy options and design to become more informed and targeted. The methodology and the technological implementation supporting the creation of the platform have been developed by a multidisciplinary research team (urban planners, architects, sociologists, engineers, computer scientists, legal experts) in consultation with—and with the support of—the local public administration and the community-based organizations.

The accessibility to safe drinking water is a major challenge India faces as a developing nation. The condition is grimmer in rural areas where only 45% of the population has access to clean drinking water, a number significantly low when compared to urban areas (79%). The issue has become relevant and will continue to do so in the coming years as more and more water sources get contaminated with both biological and chemical pollutants. Annually, 1.5 million children die from diarrhoea after consuming contaminated water. Despite various technological breakthroughs and innovations, especially involving nanomaterials, the research benefits have not been percolated to the vulnerable communities at the Bottom of the Economic Pyramid (BoP). Experience suggests that this can be achieved through innovative approaches on behaviour change, service delivery models and sustainable supply chains. Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA) and Development Alternatives (DA) are involved in ensuring access to safe water to the BoP through testing innovative delivery models. The action research tested the potential for scalability of these sustainable and affordable solutions for a wider dissemination in the BoP market. Based on the end-user preference, the Tata Group introduced a product, Tata Swach filter, at an affordable rate of Rs. 999. Through design and implementation of a sustainable supply chain mechanism, the demand for the Swach filter has increased exponentially with consumers placing immediate orders for its procurement. The chapter will further elaborate on the features of the supply chains, delivery models, drivers and barriers within the larger scheme of sustainability.

The research analyzed the theoretical and methodological background of urban megaprojects (UMPs) as an instrument of urban planning and development, with specific reference to the Belgrade Waterfront Project (BWP). In the analysis, we combined a contextually appropriate approach, some elements of the phronetic planning approach and the benchmarking analysis of megaproject planning and development. BWP induced a change of the institutional framework (introduction of specific legal and policy instruments), as a key source of future changes in the metropolitan tissue. Preliminary impact assessment of the BWP indicates: slow development and economic effects, low transparency, social inequalities, marginal social mobilization and weak networks between the key actors, public funds overuse, impact on law-making, displacement impacts, high public financial risk, deep urban transformations, environmental impacts, medium-technological modernization, etc. This research highlights the differences in the political, institutional, social and economic environment that shape the BWP. It provides recommendations for future research and application, improvement of planning approach and continuing in-depth analysis for managing the undesirable consequences of the UMPs, including the determination of the interplay between different pools of power.

Over the course of the past 10 years, the urban population in the Global South has grown at a rate of 1.2 million people per week, putting developing countries at the center of urban development in the twenty-first century. This rapid urbanization resulted in the emergence of serious challenges, such as the provision of decent mobility, requiring innovative solutions. Currently, many northern cities use Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for answering urban challenges, but there are certain doubts about their applicability to southern cities. This paper aims at studying the transferability of IoT solutions from urban north to urban south. We first discuss the impacts of one prominent example of IoT solutions in the urban transportation sector, by presenting the ability of Seoul to manage the complexity of its public transportation system with the introduction of a smart transportation card. Then, we examine how Bogota used the same technology, originally designed for Seoul, for resolving the challenges they were facing in their transportation system. We ultimately compare both cases using a conceptual framework from the co-evolution between technology and institutions literature to understand the extent to which technological innovation can be a driver for institutional changes in urban transportation systems, and vice versa. This chapter, we hope, sheds more light on how to implement IoT solutions for cities, that might, if exploited successfully, help addressing the challenges of the urban South and ultimately reaching the Development Goals.

Accurate maps play a critical role in understanding human communities, particularly in post-disaster settings and for populations at risk. While open geospatial data has become more common over the past decade, additional work is necessary to map vulnerable communities before a disaster or crisis occurs. As part of their Missing Maps project, the American Red Cross and its partner organizations are actively working to map 200 million of the world’s vulnerable people by 2021, creating open map data for anyone to access, use, and update. This paper (1) describes the project’s remote and field mapping methods, (2) outlines the technical tools developed for the project, (3) highlights how humanitarian and development organizations can adapt these tools and methods to other initiatives, and (4) explores current challenges and research surrounding mapping initiatives focused on the Global South. In doing so, this paper provides an overview of current trends in crowdsourced mapping and emerging data collection methods, with the aim to share tools and experiences with others in the humanitarian community.

Glacial-related risks are a key issue in Peruvian high mountains. The April 2010 outburst of the glacial Laguna 513 in the Cordillera Blanca (Ancash), above the city of Carhuaz, is an emblematic example. In the context of the multidisciplinary project “Glaciares 513—Adapting to climate change and reducing disaster risks due to receding Andes glaciers”, a complex early warning system was designed and implemented in the Chucchún basin, where the Laguna 513 is located, as a component of an integrated risk reduction strategy. It aimed at supporting decision-makers, authorities, civil defense platforms, etc., in their response to this type of natural hazard. This paper presents the main features of the EWS installed in the Carhuaz region, its development, and the main lessons we learned from the project as a whole.

Recurring floods in the Terai belt of Nepal and eastern Uttar Pradesh in India cause extensive damage to the lives and livelihoods of the communities at risk and increase their vulnerability to external shocks. This is further aggravated due to the several evolving complex factors like unplanned development, marginalization, demographic growth, lack of access to essential services and growing uncertainty linked to changes in weather patterns. To address some of these concerns, Christian Aid along with partners is supporting a cross-border community-based early warning system . Cross-border early warning system being implemented in India and Nepal is equipped with information and communication technology that helps to create a bridge between India and Nepal following a community-to-community resilience approach. The ICT solutions reduce resource overuse and save energy and time. The proposed paper tries to understand the process involved in institutionalizing the cross-border early warning systems and underline some of the essentials of the regional information sharing to implement a system involving multiple and varied stakeholders in the region. This would also explore the ways in which early warning systems could be implemented in the context of larger disaster risk management. The paper also provides insights into strengthening and scaling up such pilots for larger resilience building in multi-hazard zones.

During the preparedness and response phase in regularly recurring natural disasters, the responding and professional communities have to decide which actions to take in order to support affected communities. We investigated the information needs of and the disaster management data available to both national and local decision-makers during the floods that affected the riverine islands of the Sirajganj district in Bangladesh in 2014. We conducted 13 semi-structured interviews and three focus group discussions, collecting in this way input from 51 people, transcribed and coded them so that clusters of information needs emerged. Subsequently, we mapped the information needs on the available data sets and identified the needs that are not well covered, of which the need for timely and location-based information is the most important. We recommend executing identification and mapping of available data sources on the information requirements as part of the preparedness phase. Data preparedness can solve to some extent the issue of data not being available timely enough in the initial response phase. Our future research aims at further closing these information gaps by linking and integrating disparate data sets to cover more information needs and by equipping disaster management volunteers at community level with a mobile data collection app to collect data before, during, and after the floods.