tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/communities-2665/articles
Communities – The Conversation
2024-03-11T13:10:44Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/224680
2024-03-11T13:10:44Z
2024-03-11T13:10:44Z
How alternative communities have evolved – from pacifist communes to a solution to the ageing population
<p>People have sought solace and strength in communal living for thousands of years. But unlike traditional villages bound by kinship or geography, “intentional communities” are deliberately constructed by people who choose to share not just space, but also a specific set of values, beliefs or goals. Such forging of a collective path is often in response to times of social change. </p>
<p>Here are three instances where people have turned to intentional communities to seek sanctuary, purpose and alternative ways of living. </p>
<h2>Second world war</h2>
<p>As the war raged across Europe, one particular group of people was looking for alternative solutions. Conscientious objectors were people who refused to fight for moral or religious reasons. </p>
<p>It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwy002">estimated</a> that there were around 60,000 male conscientious objectors in Britain. Some took up non-combatant roles, such as medics, but others sought out less conventional opportunities. With farming identified as an exempt occupation, some conscientious objectors joined pacifist “back to the land” communities. </p>
<p>One such community was <a href="https://www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/little-toller/no-matter-how-many-skies-have-fallen-by-ken-worpole/">Frating Hall Farm</a> in Essex. It provided a safe haven for those who did not wish to fight in the war. As well as farming, the community lived, ate and worked together. </p>
<p>Another such community was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/dec/05/conscientious-objectors-lincolnshire-collow-abbey-farm-play-remembrance">Collow Abbey Farm</a> in Lincolnshire. This was a farming cooperative set up by a different set of conscientious objectors. Again, the principles of pacifism, farming and community brought individuals and families together in a time of need. </p>
<p>Many of these communities dissipated after the war ended, having served their purpose as safe havens for pacifists. </p>
<h2>1960s</h2>
<p>Still in the shadow of the second world war, the 1960s blossomed into a more permissive era which allowed for a freer sense of self and expression. This decade heralded a sense of social change with movements such as civil rights and women’s rights emerging. As the decade progressed, so did the different types of intentional communities. </p>
<p>The 1960s commune movement has been described by some experts as a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203615171-18/sixties-era-communes-timothy-miller">hotbed</a> of free love, drug taking and loose morals. But others <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203790656-7/collective-profile-communes-intentional-communities-yaacov-oved">argue</a> they embodied something much more important and were representative of the social changes under way at the time. </p>
<p>In an attempt to escape “straight” society, many young people sought out spaces that allowed them to experiment with alternative forms of living and identity. These were communities that often embraced the non-nuclear family alongside other “counter cultural” ideas such as veganism and non-gendered childrearing. </p>
<p>One well documented example of this is <a href="https://www.braziers.org.uk/buildings-and-land/main-house/">Braziers Park</a> in Oxfordshire. It was a community that formed in the 1950s but flourished in the 1960s and 70s. Braziers was initially set up as an educational community. </p>
<p>Its alternative nature attracted the likes of Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger, and his then girlfriend <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Faithfull/wLGpJ_8I6WYC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">Marianne Faithfull</a>, who had lived there during her early life.
She described it as “otherworldly” in her memoir. Braziers still exists today and now offers courses, workshops and retreats.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-to-consider-co-housing-and-housing-cooperatives-for-alternative-living-99097">Four reasons to consider co-housing and housing cooperatives for alternative living</a>
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<p>Another example was <a href="https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-a-beautiful-way-to-live-1971-online">Crow Hall</a> in Norfolk, which was founded in 1965. Although they denied they were a commune, it had all of the marks of being one, with elements such as shared accommodation and collective child rearing. The community operated an open door policy, inviting others to “come find themselves”. It eventually dispersed in 1997. </p>
<p>Like Braziers, some communities set up during the 1960s are still in place today such as <a href="https://www.postliphall.org.uk/">Postlip Hall</a> near Cheltenham, or the <a href="http://www.ashram.org.uk/">Ashram Community</a> near Sheffield. But many others ended as society moved on. Experts who have <a href="https://westminsterresearch.westminster.ac.uk/item/911v7/nineteen-sixties-radicalism-and-its-critics-radical-utopians-liberal-realists-and-postmodern-sceptics">reflected</a> on this period describe it as both a time of freedom and, for others, mistakenly liberal.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p9Ilvsza8IE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">New Ground Cohousing in High Barnet, north London.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Today</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/#">communities scene</a> continues to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/17/is-the-boom-in-communal-living-really-the-good-life">flourish</a> but this time under new challenges such as an ageing population and climate change. It’s difficult to estimate how many such communities exist in the UK, as nobody keeps official figures. </p>
<p>Arguably, some of the same generation who were “tuning in and dropping out” in the 1960s are now seeking equally alternative solutions for their older age. For some, this is to be found in the phenomenon of <a href="https://cohousing.org.uk/news/how-the-rise-of-cohousing-is-enriching-seniors-lives/">“senior cohousing”</a>. These are intentional communities run by their residents where each household is a self-contained home alongside shared community space and facilities. </p>
<p>One example of senior cohousing is <a href="https://newgroundcohousing.uk">New Ground</a> in north London. This is a community of older women, founded in 1998, who took their housing situation into their own hands. Defying some of the more traditional models of housing for older people, such as sheltered accommodation, New Ground is an intentional community for women over 50. They live by the ethos of “looking out for, rather than looking after each other”.</p>
<p>For others, the solution involves joining an intergenerational community such as <a href="https://www.oldhall.org.uk/old-hall-community/">Old Hall</a> in Suffolk where octogenarians live alongside children and adults under one roof. This is a community of around 50 people who farm the land, share their meals and manage the manor house in which they live.</p>
<p>As society evolves, so too do the forms that intentional communities take.
While the specific challenges may change, the human desire for connection and a sense of belonging remains constant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kirsten Stevens-Wood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From conscientious objectors to hippies and seniors, intentional communities offer refuge and purpose for people seeking a different way of life.
Kirsten Stevens-Wood, Senior Lecturer, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198349
2023-04-24T16:18:12Z
2023-04-24T16:18:12Z
From horseback to motorbike: inside the motorcycle boom in Indigenous South America
<p>With their tropical climate, flowing rivers and dense forests, the vast plains and basins that make up <a href="https://www.berose.fr/article2131.html?lang=fr#:%7E:text=Since%20the%20first%20contacts%2C%20the,Patagonia%20and%20the%20Atlantic%20coast.">South America’s lowlands</a> cover a significant portion of the continent’s surface. Indeed, the Amazon rainforest covers approximately seven million square kilometres or around 40% of the total land area of South America.</p>
<p>These lowlands are primarily located in the eastern part of South America, stretching from the Andes mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Two of the main lowland regions are the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Amazon-Basin">Amazon basin</a> and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Gran-Chaco">Gran Chaco</a> – both diverse landscapes that are home to a wide variety of Indigenous cultures and communities.</p>
<p>As varied as the region is, much of its exuberant landscape has been drastically changed over the past 150 years by the arrival of mechanical machinery. And this is especially the case in territories inhabited by Indigenous people, who have been forced to adapt to new ways of living, with their traditional life transformed or disrupted. </p>
<p>Steamships, railways and trucks used for transportation arrived over the last century – followed by guns, used for both hunting and warfare. The arrival of bulldozers and chainsaws, used by the logging industry, has changed the rainforest forever. Meanwhile, electric generators hum constantly in the background. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521710/original/file-20230418-14-2kcsd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Chacobo man works on his motorbike.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.isrf.org/fellows-projects/motoboom/">Motorbikes</a> are one of the latest machines to hit the lowlands. Over the last two decades, there has been a huge motorbike boom in Indigenous South America, with more and more people buying bikes from the money they make trading rubber, <a href="https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-are-hearts-of-palm-4777298">palm hearts</a> (the pale white inner core from the palm tree), and Brazil nuts. And I have seen firsthand how motorbikes have drastically changed Indigenous people’s lives.</p>
<p>I have spent the last 20 years working with the Chacobo – an Indigenous group from Bolivia – and have seen how for them, having a motorcycle is more than just a way to get around. It represents a sense of belonging and citizenship. </p>
<p>Owning a motorcycle is a symbol of how Indigenous people have adapted successfully to the changing world around them. The motorbike is considered such an icon of development and progress that in the Bolivian city of Riberalta, you can even find a monument of a motorbike. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521390/original/file-20230417-24-e4vvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Monument to the Motorbike, Riberalta, Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>For many people, motorbikes are more than just a way to travel. In South America, especially in regions like the Bolivian Amazon, motorcycles have become a way of life. </p>
<h2>Bikes and beliefs</h2>
<p>In the past, the Indigenous people of these regions spent hours decorating body ornaments, bows and arrows. Now they spend most of their free time polishing, dismantling or reassembling their motorcycles. </p>
<p>Most of these bikes are cheap Chinese brands (Dayun, Wanxin, TianMa, Haojue), while their Japanese equivalents (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki) remain a lusted-after status symbol. </p>
<p>At the same time, the arrival of the motorbike has led to these local landscapes being littered with mechanical “ruins” or “fossils”. Wheels, handlebars, fuel tanks and exhaust pipes all line the villages, gathering dust. </p>
<p>With proper spare parts not easily available, the inevitable repairs and upgrades must rely on “cannibalization” – using parts of old vehicles or whatever items are at hand to sort the issue. This obviously changes the way the lowland motorbikes look.</p>
<p>Bikes are named and considered to have a gender. Indigenous people also believe their motorbikes can be influenced by spiritual or supernatural forces that can cause them to behave in unusual or unexpected ways. </p>
<p>For instance, according to these <a href="https://theconversation.com/shamanism-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-fastest-growing-religion-in-england-and-wales-196438">beliefs</a>, a motorbike may suddenly accelerate or stop working altogether without any physical or mechanical explanation. It’s thought that such episodes happen sometimes with the intent of causing harm or misfortune to the owner of the bike. </p>
<h2>Passion v safety</h2>
<p>The motorcycle boom has also led to a rise in traffic accidents. Road accidents involving motorbikes are now a leading cause of death among the Chacobo – even more so since Chinese companies began paving the road that runs across their territory. </p>
<p>Things that many of us take for granted, such as insurance, speed limits, regular MOTs or services alongside helmets and protective clothing, do not figure here. So, a lot of the <a href="https://velocidades.sciencesconf.org/">road accidents</a> that happen in this region end up being fatal. </p>
<p>This has led to a number of communities forming road blockades and burning commercial trucks that have run over motorcyclists. Local authorities are starting to demand legal compensation for the families of the dead or injured. Dealing with road accidents has become an increasingly important topic for Indigenous leaders and communities.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521389/original/file-20230417-22-3xjf9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A burnt-out truck that ran over an Indigenous motorcyclist in Bolivia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, motorbikes have significantly transformed the relationship Indigenous people have with nature and society. They have made hunting, fishing and horticultural work much easier and more productive. And it’s not just the men: many Indigenous women have become motorbike riders and are using their bikes to challenge traditional gender roles.</p>
<p>While the increasing amount of motorbike accidents is concerning, it’s clear that this passion for motorcycles has become an integral part of Indigenous people’s lives that will likely be passed down through generations. Indeed, it’s quite common to see whole Indigenous families on bikes – including pets and tiny children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diego Villar has received funding for this article from Independent Social Research Foundation (Small Group Projects) and Horizon Europe programme (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship).</span></em></p>
It’s quite common to see whole Indigenous families on bikes – including pets and tiny children.
Diego Villar, Marie-Skłodowska Curie Fellow in Anthropology, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197388
2023-04-04T12:16:34Z
2023-04-04T12:16:34Z
Food forests are bringing shade and sustenance to US cities, one parcel of land at a time
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518800/original/file-20230331-28-ayzg5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C12%2C4019%2C2939&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Uphams Corner Food Forest in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood was built on a vacant lot.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boston Food Forest Coalition</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than half of all people on Earth live in cities, and that share <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview">could reach 70% by 2050</a>. But except for public parks, there aren’t many models for nature conservation that focus on caring for nature in urban areas. </p>
<p>One new idea that’s gaining attention is the concept of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/08/its-like-a-place-of-healing-the-growth-of-americas-food-forests">food forests</a> – essentially, edible parks. These projects, often sited on vacant lots, grow <a href="https://www.gardencityharvest.org/the-real-dirt-garden-city-harvest-blog/2020/12/26/what-is-a-food-forest">large and small trees, vines, shrubs and plants</a> that produce fruits, nuts and other edible products. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9IYpXA0CxXg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Atlanta’s Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill is the nation’s largest such project, covering more than 7 acres.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike community gardens or urban farms, food forests are designed to mimic ecosystems found in nature, with many vertical layers. They shade and cool the land, protecting soil from erosion and providing habitat for insects, animals, birds and bees. Many community gardens and urban farms have limited membership, but <a href="https://www.brightvibes.com/atlanta-creates-first-free-food-forest-to-fight-food-insecurity/">most food forests are open to the community</a> from sunup to sundown. </p>
<p>As scholars who focus on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SRC3hyMAAAAJ&hl=en">conservation, social justice</a> and <a href="http://otheringandbelonging.org/equity-common-cause-sustainable-food-system-network-cultivating-commitment-racial-justice/">sustainable food systems</a>, we see food forests as an exciting new way to protect nature without displacing people. Food forests don’t just conserve biodiversity – they also promote community well-being and offer deep insights about fostering urban nature in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-irony-of-the-anthropocene-people-dominate-a-planet-beyond-our-control-64948">Anthropocene</a>, as environmentally destructive forms of economic development and consumption alter Earth’s climate and ecosystems. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two adults and a young girl plant a tree seedling in an urban park." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Community stewards planting a tree at Boston’s Edgewater Food Forest at River Street, July 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boston Food Forest Coalition/Hope Kelley</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Protecting nature without pushing people away</h2>
<p>Many scientists and world leaders agree that to <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-solve-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss-we-need-a-global-deal-for-nature-115557">slow climate change and reduce losses of wild species</a>, it’s critical to protect a large share of Earth’s lands and waters for nature. Under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, 188 nations have <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/cop15-ends-landmark-biodiversity-agreement">agreed on a target</a> of conserving at least 30% of land and sea areas globally by 2030 – an agenda known popularly as 30x30. </p>
<p>But there’s fierce debate over how to achieve that goal. In many cases, creating protected areas has <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-environmentalisms-racist-roots-have-shaped-global-thinking-about-conservation-143783">displaced Indigenous peoples</a> from their homelands. What’s more, protected areas are disproportionately located in countries with high levels of economic inequality and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.08.018">poorly functioning political institutions</a> that don’t effectively protect the rights of poor and marginalized citizens in most cases.</p>
<p>In contrast, food forests promote civic engagement. At <a href="https://beaconfoodforest.org/">Beacon Food Forest</a> in Seattle, volunteers worked with professional landscape architects and organized public meetings to seek community input on the project’s design and development. The city of Atlanta’s Urban Agriculture Team partners with neighborhood residents, volunteers, community groups and nonprofit partners to manage the <a href="https://www.aglanta.org/2021-uffbm-partnership-applications">Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1641551380367257602"}"></div></p>
<h2>Block by block in Boston</h2>
<p>Boston is famous for its <a href="https://www.boston.gov/parks-and-playgrounds">parks and green spaces</a>, including some designed by renowned landscape architect <a href="https://www.olmsted.org/the-olmsted-legacy/frederick-law-olmsted-sr">Frederick Law Olmsted</a>. But it also has a history of systemic racism and segregation that created <a href="https://www.boston.gov/environment-and-energy/heat-resilience-solutions-boston">drastic inequities in access to green spaces</a>.</p>
<p>And those gaps still exist. In 2021, the city reported that communities of color that had been subjected to redlining in the past had <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7EPNw7hL-Ct7SkKXEaTUjmVJmoZuOe6/view">16% less parkland and 7% less tree cover</a> than the citywide median. These neighborhoods were 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 degrees Celsius) hotter during the day and 1.9 F (1 C) hotter at night, making residents more vulnerable to <a href="https://theconversation.com/dangerous-urban-heat-exposure-has-tripled-since-the-1980s-with-the-poor-most-at-risk-169153">urban heat waves</a> that are becoming increasingly common with climate change. </p>
<p>Encouragingly, Boston has been at the forefront of the national expansion of food forests. The unique approach here places ownership of these parcels in a community trust. Neighborhood stewards manage the sites’ routine care and maintenance.</p>
<p>The nonprofit <a href="https://www.bostonfoodforest.org/">Boston Food Forest Coalition</a>, which launched in 2015, is working to develop 30 community-driven food forests by 2030. The <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1PDQqrbIDZJ9qyGjYCoU5vYuo5hOhTYQx&ll=42.282422051643174%2C-71.07159202632803&z=12">existing nine projects</a> are helping to conserve over 60,000 square feet (5,600 square meters) of formerly vacant urban land – an area slightly larger than a football field.</p>
<p>Neighborhood volunteers choose what to grow, plan events and share harvested crops with food banks, nonprofit and faith-based meal programs and neighbors. Local collective action is central to repurposing open spaces, including lawns, yards and vacant lots, into food forests that are linked together into a citywide network. The coalition, a community land trust that partners with the city government, holds Boston food forests as permanently protected lands. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of a city lot planted with fruit trees, vines and raised flower beds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial view of the Ellington Community Food Forest in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boston Food Forest Coalition</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Boston’s food forests are small in size: They average 7,000 square feet (650 square meters) of reclaimed land, about <a href="https://www.hoopsaddict.com/how-many-square-feet-is-a-basketball-court/">50% larger than an NBA basketball court</a>. But they produce a wide range of vegetables, fruit and herbs, including Roxbury Russet apples, native blueberries and pawpaws, a nutritious fruit native to North America. The forests also serve as gathering spaces, contribute to rainwater harvesting and help beautify neighborhoods.</p>
<p>The Boston Food Forest Coalition provides technical assistance and fundraising support. It also hires experts for tasks such as soil remediation, removing invasive plants and installing accessible pathways, benches and fences. </p>
<p>Hundreds of volunteers take part in community work days and educational workshops on topics such as <a href="https://www.bostonfoodforest.org/workshops/winter-pruning-bnc-march12">pruning fruit trees in winter</a>. Gardening classes and cultural events connect neighbors across urban divides of class, race, language and culture. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mWGM-3ZKMrg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Boston residents explain what the city’s food forests mean to them.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A growing movement</h2>
<p>According to a crowd-sourced repository, the U.S. has <a href="https://communityfoodforests.com/community-food-forests-map/">more than 85 community food forests</a> in public spaces from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South. Currently, most of these sites are in larger cities. In a 2021 survey, mayors from 176 small cities (with populations under 25,000) reported that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20011">long-term maintenance</a> was the biggest challenge of sustaining food forests in their communities. </p>
<p>From our experience observing Boston’s approach close up, we believe its model of community-driven food forests is promising. The city sold land to the Boston Food Forest Coalition’s community land trust for $100 per parcel in 2015 and also funded initial construction and planting operations. Since then, the city has made food forests an important part of the city’s open spaces program as it continues to sell parcels to the community land trust at the same price. </p>
<p>Smaller cities with much lower tax bases may not be able to make the same sort of investments. But Boston’s community-driven model offers a viable approach for maintaining these projects without burdening city governments. The city has adopted <a href="https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/FINAL_Boston%20Urban%20Agriculture%20Guide_Ground-Level%20Less%20than%20One%20Acre_March%202014_Complete%20Final_tcm3-43849.pdf">innovative zoning and permitting ordinances</a> to support small-scale urban agriculture. </p>
<p>Building a food forest brings together neighbors, neighborhood associations, community-based organizations and city agencies. It represents a grassroots response to the interconnected crises of climate change, environmental degradation and social and racial inequity. We believe food forests show how to build a just and sustainable future, one person, seedling and neighborhood at a time.</p>
<p><em>Orion Kriegman, the founding executive director of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen is Principal of KAS Consulting, which works with health and equity-focused initiatives. She serves on the Steering Committee and as Massachusetts Ambassador for the Food Solutions New England network and on the boards of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association: Massachusetts Chapter. Also serves on the Advisory Council of Global Council of Science and the Environment; founding member of Southern New England Farmers of Color Collaborative; committee work with Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and member of Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prakash Kashwan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Food forests are urban oases that pack a lot into small spaces, including food production, local cooling and social connections.
Karen A. Spiller, Thomas W. Haas Professor in Sustainable Food Systems, University of New Hampshire
Prakash Kashwan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Brandeis University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198231
2023-03-09T19:04:40Z
2023-03-09T19:04:40Z
Fairy-wrens are more likely to help their closest friends but not strangers, just like us humans
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512800/original/file-20230301-20-xdhza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C502%2C3129%2C1832&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jenna Diehl</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Multilevel societies are among the most complex societies known in nature. They are organised like Russian nesting dolls – individuals belong to family groups, which belong to clans, which belong to tribes.</p>
<p>At each level, the relationships between these social units (individuals, families, clans and tribes) are stable and predictable.</p>
<p>Such a social structure, which has been described in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3456921/">some primates</a> , <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9091">whales</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347205000667">elephants</a> and more recently <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982219312631">in birds</a>, has likely characterised much of human evolution. In fact, it’s still common among many <a href="https://books.google.it/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CDAWBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR11&dq=Kelly,+R.L.+(2013)+The+Lifeways+of+Hunter-Gatherers:+The+Foraging+Spectrum,+Cambridge+University+Press&ots=usltTJIZNc&sig=loEmkMIhjlWwyZXSI67JZNzOUIc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Kelly%2C%20R.L.%20(2013)%20The%20Lifeways%20of%20Hunter-Gatherers%3A%20The%20Foraging%20Spectrum%2C%20Cambridge%20University%20Press&f=false">hunter-gatherer societies around the world</a>.</p>
<p>Even though multilevel societies are documented across the animal world, it’s not entirely clear what their benefits are.</p>
<p>One hypothesis, based on observations of two populations of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982216305644">contemporary hunter-gatherer people</a>, is that living in a multilevel society allows people to simultaneously have different types (levels) of cooperative relationships. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-share-is-human-to-collaborate-divine-2432">To share is human, to collaborate divine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In our research, <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00190-2">published today in Current Biology</a>, we tested this hypothesis in a wild population of superb fairy-wrens, a familiar little songbird across southeastern Australia’s parks and gardens.</p>
<h2>Living together means helping each other out</h2>
<p>Superb fairy-wrens live in multilevel societies in which breeding groups – between two and six birds – represent the lowest social level, with tight social bonds among individuals.</p>
<p>During the non-breeding season, neighbouring breeding groups associate closely with a few other breeding groups, and these “supergroups” then associate to form communities (the highest social level). As a result, these birds develop social relationships of varying levels of intensity. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513363/original/file-20230303-26-4dntg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Male and female superb fairy-wrens singing. Kaspar Delhey.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-most-social-bird-of-the-year-why-superb-fairy-wren-societies-may-be-as-complex-as-our-own-171494">(The most social) bird of the year: why superb fairy-wren societies may be as complex as our own</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To make it possible to track those complex relationships, we attached different-coloured leg bands to superb fairy-wrens in our study population so we could recognise all individuals through binoculars. While we are attaching their bands, we recorded any birds that gave distress calls, distinctive calls that individuals use to seek help when they’re in imminent danger, for example from a predator.</p>
<p>Other wrens commonly respond to such calls and try to help, for example by approaching the predator and giving alarm calls. They may also use a distraction tactic called a “rodent-run”. To do this, birds approach the threat to within striking range, assume a hunched posture, and scurry back and forth like a mouse. This distracts the predator, and this “altruistic distraction display” places the bird that performs it at high risk.</p>
<p>Here we tested whether altruistic responses to calls for help vary across the distinct social levels of the society, akin to food sharing among hunter-gatherers, but with much higher stakes. </p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nbp60CHztRs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Male and female superb fairy-wrens performing rodent-run distraction displays, a striking transformation from a bird to a mouse (which isn’t easy if you are blue). Amber Hodgson, Eliza Campbell & Abigail Robinson.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/it-isnt-easy-being-blue-the-cost-of-colour-in-fairy-wrens-80006">It isn't easy being blue – the cost of colour in fairy wrens</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To simulate a predator threatening a fellow wren, we presented a stuffed kookaburra – a fierce predator of small birds, including fairy-wrens – while playing back a distress call recorded from a local fairy-wren. We then recorded the responses of all wren-witnesses.</p>
<p>For each breeding group, we tested if social relatedness affected how willing birds were to help another in distress. We played back, on different occasions, a distress call from an individual within the same breeding group, one from the same community, or one from an unfamiliar individual outside the community. </p>
<p>We found that superb fairy-wrens were more likely to heed the calls for help from birds of the same breeding group. They responded less fervently, taking fewer risks and never performing rodent-runs, when a merely familiar wren – from the same community – called for help.</p>
<p>As for strangers? They ignored them completely. So being part of a complex society lets the birds carefully “dose” their cooperative assistance.</p>
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<h2>Like birds, like people</h2>
<p>This pattern mirrors what was previously found in hunter-gatherers. Here, food is shared mostly by people from the same household, followed by members of the same cluster of households. The least sharing happens between members of the same camp – the highest social level of their multilevel society.</p>
<p>Similarly, living in a multilevel society helps the wrens to distinguish whom to cooperate with and how much. The cooperation at different social levels likely has different social functions, too.</p>
<p>For example, cooperative relationships between breeding group members might increase group cohesion, survival and reproduction. At the community level, alliances between neighbouring breeding groups are likely to help the birds defend against predators better, and to have less aggression between groups.</p>
<p>Humans and superb fairy-wrens belong to very distant branches within the tree of life (our common ancestor lived at least <a href="https://birdfact.com/articles/are-birds-mammals">200 million years ago</a>. Nevertheless, the pattern of cooperative behaviour shown by these little songbirds is astonishingly similar to ours.</p>
<p>This suggests the complex cooperative patterns we see in our own society may have emerged independently many times in different species, and first appeared millions of years before we set the first foot on this planet.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Acknowledgements: we thank Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment and the Ecological Society of Australia, the Australian Research Council, The Australian National University (ANU), the University of Zurich, the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and Monash University for support. We are grateful to our colleagues Robert Magrath, Sergio Nolazco and Damien Farine who co-authored this study, and thank Robert Magrath for co-authoring this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198231/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Peters receives funding from Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ettore Camerlenghi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Despite their small size, fairy-wrens have surprisingly complex social ties. They’ll risk life and limb to help others – but only if they know them.
Ettore Camerlenghi, PhD student, Monash University
Anne Peters, Professor in Behaviour, Ecology and Conservation, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189890
2022-11-02T17:22:38Z
2022-11-02T17:22:38Z
Cohousing is empowering people to fight back against a global housing crisis
<p>The debate around how to fix <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/housing-crisis-rental-idea/">the global housing crisis</a> usually hinges on whether more market or more state is required. Some people stress the need for additional housing stock and less regulatory red tape, so that the market can create it. Others claim that stricter government measures – against ruthless developers and landlords, more rent control, and more public housing – are crucial. </p>
<p>Increasingly, policymakers are paying <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-reasons-to-consider-co-housing-and-housing-cooperatives-for-alternative-living-99097">attention</a> to what lies between the public and private sectors. The United Nations’ <a href="https://habitat3.org/wp-content/uploads/NUA-English.pdf">New Urban Agenda</a> – a key international policy framework to promote sustainable urban development – highlights the benefits of “cooperative solutions, such as cohousing, <a href="https://theconversation.com/community-land-trusts-could-help-heal-segregated-cities-144708">community land trusts</a> and other forms of collective tenure”. A slew of recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epub/10.1080/19463138.2019.1663525?needAccess=true">community-led</a> housing projects <a href="https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creating-community-led-and-self-build-homes">across Europe</a> and <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/CoHousing_Inclusive/M_VovgAACAAJ?hl=en">beyond</a> show how this can work. </p>
<p><a href="https://cohousing.org.uk/about-cohousing-2/">Cohousing</a> includes all kinds of edifices, new and existing. It is not tied to a particular type of tenure. And the groups of people it involves can vary considerably in size. At its heart are two key principles. Residents do not only live next to each other, but with each other, in buildings that comprise communal spaces and facilities. And they take the lead, or at least are involved in, the design and management of their communities. </p>
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<h2>Communal life</h2>
<p>German sociologist Anja Szypulski has lauded the “<a href="https://books.openedition.org/ksp/4219?lang=en">abundant potential</a>” cohousing proffers for sustainable housing and neighbourhood development. The first way it does this is by promoting an ethos of participation and sharing. </p>
<p>Residents are involved throughout the building process. When, in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, a developer pulled out of a state-owned site in Cambridge, the city council opted for a cohousing initiative to build on the land instead, precisely because of the social and community benefits that would bring. </p>
<p>The resulting <a href="https://www.marmaladelane.co.uk/">Marmalade Lane</a> project opened in 2018 after four years, during which the cohousing members developed the architectural brief, sought planning permission and contracted builders. </p>
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</figure>
<p>Residents also often take part in actually building their homes too. The <a href="https://www.theruss.org/about/">Church Grove project</a> in Lewisham, south London, is a community-led housing development on a old derelict school and industrial site. When completed it will count 36 homes designed to be permanently affordable. To keep the costs low, future residents are involved in this construction process. They have already built a <a href="https://www.theruss.org/about-the-community-hub/">communal hall</a> on the site. </p>
<p>Communality also shapes daily life in a cohousing project. Marmalade Lane residents share 42 homes – houses and flats, both – organised around a common house with a shared kitchen, refectory and fireplace, a pedestrianised lane, outdoor play area and garden, a laundry, a gym and a workshop. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/sustainable-building-sustainable-living-la-borda-barcelona-by-lacol">La Borda</a>, in Barcelona, is a cooperative housing block comprising 28 apartments, organised around a communal, open-plan atrium. Residents share a kitchen-dining area, a laundry room, guest rooms and generous outdoor spaces. Their flats were deliberately designed small, with movable walls, so that a room belonging to one flat could become part of another, as the need arose.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A building facade with columns, large windows and bikes out front." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/492546/original/file-20221031-24-oz45yp.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The facade of the La Borda cohousing development in Barcelona.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/La_Borda_building_-_front_facade_2.jpg">VELKEJ LED | Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Socially and architecturally sustainable</h2>
<p>The La Borda project contributes to the wider community, too, by organising events and sourcing goods from local cooperatives. It is based on a participatory planning process and costs have been kept low through the use of smart low-tech solutions and a lot of self-help during construction by its future users, who are also responsible for the maintenance and management of the project. Decisions are made collectively in a general assembly and all adults participate in various committees that deal with different issues, from financial matters to communal dinners</p>
<p>While the idea of committee meetings and doors facing each other won’t appeal to everyone, the benefits of knowing you’re not alone are clear. Residents at Marmalade Lane <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/08/marmalade-lane-co-housing-cambridge">have spoken</a> about children playing together, stay-at-home mothers not feeling isolated and retirees being engaged and occupied. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://cohousing.org.uk">UK Cohousing network</a> describes cohousing as a “way of resolving the isolation many people experience today, recreating the neighbourly support of the past”. And research bears this out. A <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2022.2077919">recent study</a> on the way cohousing dwellers in the UK coped with lockdown found that many residents experienced a level of mutual support and care that went well beyond the general good neighbourliness of the early days of the pandemic.</p>
<p>Cohousing projects also encourage sustainability by typically being built for the long term. The Marmalade Lane buildings used environmentally-friendly materials and designs that promote low-energy use for a small carbon footprint. </p>
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<p>Critics have lauded La Borda, meanwhile, for its <a href="https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/buildings/sustainable-building-sustainable-living-la-borda-barcelona-by-lacol">bold innovation</a> – the passive cooling and heating system; the fact that it does not include a car park and thus has a significantly lower projected carbon footprint; the way the architect-residents continue to improve the building as needs emerge. The project has been awarded the <a href="https://miesbcn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/ENG_Press-release-Winners.pdf">2022 Mies Van Der Rohe prize</a> for emerging architecture, with the jury noting its radical, “transgressive” approach to shared resources and capacities. It was deemed to be effecting “political and urban change from within the system.”</p>
<h2>Institutional support</h2>
<p>An EU-funded report on the right to housing highlights that cohousing has been <a href="https://right2housing.eu/collaborative-housing/">“coopted by the market”</a>. And it is true that cohousing nowadays can be less an alternative to market housing than <a href="https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/abe/article/view/1858/1978">an upmarket niche product of it</a>, with prices of entry often prohibitively high.</p>
<p>Grassroots initiatives can find it difficult get hold of suitable sites and to finance their projects, especially when their budgets are limited. In many countries, housing, tax and lending policies create a huge bias in favour of traditional <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309739841_The_ideology_of_home_ownership_Homeowner_societies_and_the_role_of_housing">homeownership</a>, while planning systems favour <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/30/fatcat-developers-created-our-housing-crisis-heres-how-to-stop-them">large developers</a>.</p>
<p>For cohousing to thrive, then, institutional support is key, from facilitating access to public land to providing grants as well as planning support and technical advice. It also helps for projects and initiatives to team up and support each other, as an initiative in Germany shows.</p>
<p>Founded in Freiburg, Germany, in 1992, the <a href="https://www.syndikat.org/en/">Miethäusersyndikat</a> or apartment-house syndicate, helps self-organised housing initiatives get off the ground, at scale. It is essentially a consortium of existing housing projects that acts as a non-profit, cooperatively run investment company, helping people to buy or build homes for cooperative use. </p>
<p>These projects are organised as limited liability companies, with both the syndicate and the respective residents as joint owners and the individual residents paying rent to the liability company they co-own. Residents also largely manage their properties themselves. </p>
<p>While residents are free to decide on most matters, including designs, the modalities of living together or rent levels, they are not able to convert their houses into traditional private property or to sell them. The syndicate’s approach is, at its core, about permanently removing housing from the market. </p>
<p>Similarly central to it is the idea of solidarity. Projects with more financial resources support those with less. All residents contribute to a syndicate-wide solidarity fund, that gradually increases over time as other burdens such as loans decrease. This in turn makes it possible to support new projects, of which it currently has <a href="https://www.syndikat.org/projekte/">at least 177</a> in the works, in Germany and elsewhere. </p>
<p>These 177 projects are not only enabling thousands of people to escape the vagaries of the housing market. In many cases they also demonstrate the innovative potential that comes with empowering people to take control of the creation of their homes and communities. </p>
<p>This article was amended on November 3 2022 to correct a typo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189890/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Johannes Novy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Sustainable urban development experts increasingly point to cohousing as a solution to the housing crisis. If governments are on board, it can work.
Johannes Novy, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/189772
2022-09-07T03:32:49Z
2022-09-07T03:32:49Z
We asked Australian children what they needed from their communities. Here’s what they said
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482654/original/file-20220905-22-kzqa5y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Francis Malasig/EPA/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What does a “fair go” look like for Australian children? We asked 130 children aged between seven and 13 years what makes <a href="https://www.napcan.org.au/get-involved-2022/">communities strong, supportive, and fair</a>.</p>
<p>Many felt communities are about care and connection. As one ten-year-old girl said, “a community is really just a group of people that help you and always look out for you”.</p>
<p>The children in our research identified five themes that matter in determining whether they have a fair go – or not.</p>
<p>1) <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2004/04/Young-Children-Develop-in-an-Environment-of-Relationships.pdf">Good relationships</a> are essential to children’s experiences of community. An 11-year-old boy said “I love my community, because I know people and everyone is friendly”.</p>
<p>When children know their neighbours and are treated with respect by caring people, they feel included, safe, and supported. But too many children mentioned adults who are rude or dismissive towards them – and they usually felt it was because they were young.</p>
<p>2) <a href="https://www.napcan.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/NAPCAN-AIFS-Stronger-Communities-Safer-Children.pdf">Feeling safe</a> is very important to children – but many described the frightening ways some adults behave in their communities, most often because of excessive alcohol or drug use. Aggressive and dangerous driving also makes children feel unsafe and vulnerable in their neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>3) <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/give-children-a-voice-in-the-design-of-our-urban-environments-unicef/news-story/950bc41c21364fb0107d7fa7b2aed6c6">Inclusive places</a> ensure children can actively participate in their communities, but many described feeling unwelcome in public places. Some talked about places designed for very young children and places for teenagers to hang out – but said there was very little for those in middle childhood. Children wanted a say in how public places were designed. As one nine-year-old girl said, “We – us kids – should decide what playground we get, because the adults who design it don’t play on it. It’s our equipment”.</p>
<p>Often, children described parks that are littered with broken glass or dog poo, making them unpleasant places to play. A common concern for children is a lack of footpaths, making it hard for them to safely move around their neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>4) <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-children-how-they-experienced-poverty-here-are-6-changes-needed-now-180567">Household resources</a> make an enormous difference to whether children can make the most of their communities. Some children said their family had to move regularly because rent is so expensive. As a result, they never feel part of any place they live. Many could not afford to take part in activities in their communities.</p>
<p>5) Children also spoke about public good and infrastructure – things that also <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5ae6de517c932736b15f2cc7/t/624bedfb0b949a0d50abb147/1649143305012/Public+Good+Report+online+-+April+2022.pdf">matter to adults</a>. Health care is high on children’s list of what is most important. This is not what we might expect young children to focus on, but many described long waits in emergency rooms when they or their families were ill or injured. Homelessness was also an issue that worried children. </p>
<p>A small number of those involved in the research had experienced homelessness directly – but many more observed it, and said it was deeply unfair. An eight-year-old boy said, when people are homeless “they don’t have stuff, and some people think they are not the same as us. But they are, and it’s not right”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-children-how-they-experienced-poverty-here-are-6-changes-needed-now-180567">We asked children how they experienced poverty. Here are 6 changes needed now</a>
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<p>Children described the complexities of communities and the many factors that determine whether they have a fair go or not. Analysing the themes children identified, and the detail within each, was challenging – until a nine-year-old girl said “communities are like a jigsaw puzzle. You need to have all the pieces in place to make them work”. </p>
<p>And so, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuYKO0ujN8I">community jigsaw</a> was born. The jigsaw presents the five major themes children identified, and the most important pieces within each. When all the pieces are in place, communities are strong and supportive – not only for children, but for people of all ages. As the pieces fall away, communities become less fair and children feel more vulnerable. </p>
<p>Our research was across communities with different socioeconomic profiles. While children in all communities raised similar issues – chidlren’s experiences varied greatly and <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/new-report-wealth-inequality-australia-and-rapid-rise-house-prices">reflected inequalities</a> in Australia. Those in more disadvantaged communities were far more likely to experience challenges. </p>
<p>Children living in less advantaged communities often talked about caring, friendly people who helped each other, but also described deep structural problems: a lack of public transport, poor services, few parks and playgrounds. Children from lower-income communities were more likely to describe not being able to participate in activities or visit places (such as movies or the local pool) due to the cost. </p>
<p>There are lessons from this research for how we can ensure every child, in every community really does have a fair go.</p>
<p>First, the way adults treat children, even in <a href="https://emergingminds.com.au/resources/the-role-of-neighbourhoods-in-young-childrens-mental-health-what-does-the-evidence-tell-us/">small, everyday encounters</a>, matters. For many children, the words and gestures used by adults make them feel vulnerable and excluded. </p>
<p>Second, there are structural and systemic issues that mean some children do not get a fair go. From policies that fail to address poverty and disadvantage to planning that is not child inclusive, too many children are being left behind. </p>
<p>Two initiatives would begin to address this immediately: the adoption of <a href="https://www.unicef.org.uk/publications/unicef-uk-cria-2017/">child rights impact statements</a> (already in place in <a href="https://hrc.act.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/130529-CIA-info-sheet-for-CMCD-Triple-Bottom-Line-process.pdf">some parts of Australia</a>) and <a href="https://childfriendlycities.org">child-friendly planning</a>. </p>
<p>Our research shows is it time for us to listen to children – and to act to ensure they are all safe and supported. In the process, we might make communities fairer for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189772/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharon Bessell receives funding from:
The Australian Research Council
The Norwegian Research Council
The Paul Ramsay Foundation
The Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade</span></em></p>
Children reported five key things they need from their communities, including better infrastructure and more inclusive spaces.
Sharon Bessell, Professor of Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/186105
2022-07-28T12:24:09Z
2022-07-28T12:24:09Z
Debunking stereotypes about mobile homes could make them a new face of affordable housing
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476156/original/file-20220726-10345-2fj3mm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3794%2C2514&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Saralake Estates Mobile Home Park in Sarasota, Florida.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/florida-sarasota-saralake-estates-mobile-home-park-news-photo/982645142">Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you hear the words “trailer park” or “mobile home park,” what comes to mind? Crime? Poverty? Vulnerability to natural disasters? These negative images reflect the stigma, reinforced by popular culture, that many U.S. residents assign to manufactured home parks – the official name for these dwellings under <a href="https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/rmra/mhs/faqs#:%7E:text=HUD%20does%20not%20inspect%20homes,with%20your%20state's%20housing%20code.">federal standards adopted in 1976</a>.</p>
<p>Over 20 million Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2022.2038238">live in manufactured housing</a> – more than in public housing and federally subsidized rental housing combined. Yet many people, including urban planners and affordable housing researchers, <a href="https://prosperitynow.org/blog/cost-and-quality-breaking-down-stigma-manufactured-housing">see manufactured housing parks as problems</a>. In contrast, we see them as part of the solution to housing crises. </p>
<p>We are urban planning scholars who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RXZEj-YAAAAJ&hl=en">climate vulnerability</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=0LDWVWAAAAAJ&hl=en">community economic development</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NBCtqiIAAAAJ&hl=en">equity in urban land use</a>. Our research suggests that misguided stereotypes blind scholars and policymakers to the possibility that mobile homes can help address the affordable housing crisis and climate change. Here are some misperceptions about this widespread form of housing.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1544331516104392707"}"></div></p>
<h2>Stereotype 1: Manufactured housing is shoddy</h2>
<p>Many people think manufactured homes are poorly built, even though these structures, unlike site-built houses, have had to meet federal safety standards since 1976. These safety standards have been periodically updated, often in response to disasters. Today, new well-installed factory-built homes are comparable to site-built homes when it comes to <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/WinterSpring20/highlight1.html">standing up to wind, fire and other disaster threats</a>.</p>
<p>Compared to homes built on-site, manufactured housing costs half as much per square foot – partly because it’s easier, more predictable and cheaper to build homes in factories. Many quality problems associated with manufactured housing arise from home installation, park maintenance and infrastructure issues. No matter how well-built homes are, residents can suffer if they are installed on unstable foundations, or if park owners allow water, sewer or power utility infrastructure to crumble.</p>
<h2>Stereotype 2: Manufactured housing parks are always exploitative</h2>
<p>While many manufactured housing residents own their homes, they may not own the land the homes sit on. This can leave them at the mercy of predatory park owners and investors. Moving manufactured homes is difficult and expensive, despite the “mobile” label, so residents of manufactured home parks <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520295667/manufactured-insecurit">can’t easily relocate</a> when park owners allow conditions to deteriorate, raise rents or evict residents. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/glpwBfNAbPE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Residents of a Gunnison, Colorado, mobile home park fight a 70% lot fee increase by a new owner.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But there are alternatives. Residents at over 1,000 manufactured housing parks in the U.S. have <a href="https://mf.freddiemac.com/docs/dts_mhroc_report.pdf">jointly bought their land</a>, creating <a href="https://rocusa.org/">Resident Owned Communities</a>. </p>
<p>This cooperative model gives residents control over their homes and neighborhoods. Resident-owned parks <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/07/21/metro/manufactured-home-can-be-where-heart-is/">preserve affordability</a> and help residents address their own problems, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2021.2013284">vulnerability to climate-driven disasters</a>.</p>
<h2>Stereotype 3: Manufactured housing parks aren’t urban or dense</h2>
<p>Manufactured home parks are often dismissed as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/29/why-trailer-parks-are-all-over-rural-america-but-not-iowa/">rural and low-density</a>, and therefore irrelevant to urban housing needs. However, 61% of all manufactured housing is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2022.2038238">located in a metro area, and 8% is in urban centers</a>. </p>
<p>The density of these communities, typically eight to 15 homes per acre, is often greater than nearby neighborhoods. In Houston, for example, many manufactured housing parks are located in <a href="https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2021/10/07/mobile-home-parks-houston-study">suburban areas close to the central business district</a>. If anything, local zoning in many cities limits the density of manufactured housing parks. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of a suburban neighborhood and an adjoining manufactured housing park." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476317/original/file-20220727-7627-rh9aec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Rancho La Mesa Mobile Home Park in Sunnyvale, California (right), is more densely developed than adjacent single-family residential neighborhoods (left).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google Earth</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stereotype 4: Manufactured housing parks are uniquely disconnected</h2>
<p>Critics often assert that manufactured housing parks are disconnected from surrounding neighborhoods. In reality, this pattern applies to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01944369308975880">most U.S. residential neighborhoods built since World War II</a>, including gated communities and cul-de-sacs. Residents of these communities value the privacy, safety and neighborhood cohesion their street patterns provide. </p>
<p>Biased local <a href="https://www.codepublishing.com/CA/SantaClara/html/SantaClara18/SantaClara1824.html">zoning regulations</a> also frequently reinforce manufactured housing parks’ isolation by requiring them to be separated and hidden behind tall privacy fencing. Where fragmented street networks create problems for residents, like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9488(2005)131:4(246)">reduced walkability</a>, they can be <a href="https://retrofittingsuburbia.com/">retrofitted</a> by reconnecting streets. </p>
<h2>The real challenges</h2>
<p>While these stereotypes often don’t reflect reality, manufactured housing communities face real challenges.</p>
<p>Local governments and park owners often are eager to convert parks to what they describe as “higher and better uses,” which frequently means evicting residents for commercial development or more expensive housing. Private equity investors, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/us/mobile-home-park-ownership-costs.html">buying up manufactured housing parks</a>, which they view as reliably profitable investments. When owners redevelop parks, they can evict residents with little recourse. </p>
<p>Residents of manufactured home parks are also increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts. Biased zoning rules have forced many of these communities to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.05.001">locate on less desirable land</a>, including flood-prone sites, industrial areas and highway fringes. In a 2021 review, we found that 22% of manufactured housing parks across nine states were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2021.2013284">located within current 100-year floodplains</a> – zones with a 1% chance of flooding every year. </p>
<p>Manufactured housing is especially common in hurricane-prone regions like Florida, Louisiana and Texas. While updated building standards have substantially <a href="http://www.iawe.org/Proceedings/11ACWE/11ACWE-Hebert2.pdf">improved safety</a>, increasingly ferocious storms still <a href="https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10206043">pose a real threat</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man walks past large puddles and manufactured homes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476161/original/file-20220726-15-482v4u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Angel Flores checks the condition of friends’ manufactured homes on Sept. 17, 2018, in Kinston, North Carolina, three days after Hurricane Florence made landfall in the state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/auto-mechanic-angel-flores-walks-past-flood-waters-as-he-news-photo/1034838886">Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aging manufactured home park infrastructure, including sewer, water and electricity systems, is highly vulnerable to extreme <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2020.1768574">heat</a>, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/articles/17-deaths-highlight-tornado-danger-to-mobile-homes/">wind</a>, drought, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000112">flooding</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01340-2">wildfires</a>. And since residents typically have lower incomes, they have fewer resources to respond when extreme events strike. </p>
<h2>Manufactured housing, resilience and justice</h2>
<p>With economic, political and technical support, evidence shows that manufactured housing can overcome these challenges.</p>
<p>To date, <a href="https://www.nclc.org/images/pdf/manufactured_housing/cfed-purchase_guide.pdf">20 states</a> have adopted laws that help residents purchase the manufactured home parks where they live. These policies have helped <a href="https://www.rocusa.org/">ROC USA</a>, a nonprofit social venture, create a network of over 280 <a href="https://ncbaclusa.coop/what-is-a-cooperative/">cooperatively owned</a>, <a href="https://rocusa.org/market-rate-and-limited-equity-co-ops-explained/">limited-equity</a> resident-owned communities that are home to over 18,000 households.</p>
<p>ROC USA provides low-cost loans to resident cooperatives to buy land and make needed capital improvements such as upgrading water, sewer and electric systems. Their network of regional housing experts then works with communities for at least a decade to develop and sustain their ability to manage their parks. </p>
<p>Over three decades, no ROC USA community has ever defaulted on a loan or sold their park. A growing number have adopted climate-responsive measures, such as building storm shelters and community centers, upgrading drainage infrastructure and providing emergency post-storm tree clearance and other forms of mutual aid. Other resident-owned communities are investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, <a href="https://rocusa.org/news/mascoma-meadows-is-first-n-h-roc-to-go-solar/">reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs</a> for their residents.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Manufactured homes facing a tree-lined street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476318/original/file-20220727-25-pbblvm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rustic Pines in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, is a limited-equity resident-owned community for those over 55. Established in 2015, it is run by a democratically elected board.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ROC USA</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Policymakers are paying attention. The Biden administration’s 2022 <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/05/16/president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-ease-the-burden-of-housing-costs/">housing plan</a> includes extensive support for manufactured housing parks. </p>
<p>California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for <a href="https://nlihc.org/resource/california-governor-proposes-4-billion-affordable-housing-and-homelessness-programs">increasing state funding</a> to preserve manufactured housing parks as affordable housing. The U.S. Department of Energy recently adopted more ambitious <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/doe-updates-mobile-home-efficiency-standards-lower-household-energy-bills">efficiency standards</a> to reduce energy costs for residents of manufactured housing. </p>
<p>In our view, these efforts should be coupled with legislation that protects manufactured housing park tenants and expands the limited-equity ROC model. Governments could enact laws that offer tenants opportunities to purchase their rental units and provide subsidized loans and grants to resident cooperatives. Decades of experience shows that resident ownership can transform manufactured home parks from sites of stigma and vulnerability into stable and resilient communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zachary Lamb receives funding from The Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Spicer and Linda Shi do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Manufactured housing – the preferred name for what were once called mobile homes – has changed dramatically in recent decades. Three planning experts call for giving it a new look.
Zachary Lamb, Assistant Professor of City & Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Jason Spicer, Assistant Professor of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto
Linda Shi, Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/185946
2022-07-20T12:20:24Z
2022-07-20T12:20:24Z
Schools are the ‘hubs and hearts’ of neighborhoods – here’s how they can strengthen the communities around them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474980/original/file-20220719-10097-fbzwr5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C8%2C2982%2C1953&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New schools can spur neighborhood growth.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/exterior-view-of-a-typical-american-school-building-royalty-free-image/1317007945">littleny / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Food deserts. Poor housing conditions. Lack of community investment.</p>
<p>These challenges may not always come to mind when people think about how to improve America’s public schools.</p>
<p>But when my colleagues and I <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221107615">studied</a> the 21st Century School Buildings Program, a <a href="https://mdstad.com/21st-century-schools">US$1.1 billion school building and renovation</a> initiative in Baltimore, these were the kinds of issues that staff from community-based organizations, schools, philanthropic organizations and city agencies hoped to address through improved school facilities. </p>
<p>Schools are the “hubs and hearts” of neighborhoods, as one community member told us during our research in the Southeast, Southwest and Cherry Hill sections of Baltimore. If, as one community school coordinator shared, schools want to achieve their goals to educate students, they should strengthen the communities that surround them.</p>
<p>Our research suggests four ways schools might play a more meaningful role in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085914549366">supporting community development</a>:</p>
<h2>1. Open schools to the wider community</h2>
<p>Making schools accessible to residents can strengthen the connection between schools and neighborhoods.</p>
<p>In Southeast, one school included space to host programs for <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/newcomers-toolkit/chap1.pdf">newcomers</a> to the United States. Those programs provided English language classes for students, as well as academic and social supports to help students and their families understand U.S. schools’ culture. </p>
<p>As a community school coordinator in Cherry Hill told us: “We can promote events and workshops and services to the entire community because they’re all happening here.” </p>
<p>However, although schools in our study were open in theory, they were not always easily accessible. Organizations sometimes encountered barriers, such as needing permits or having to pay fees to cover custodians or security, to host public events at schools. Our research suggests that collaboration between school districts and other city agencies can help make shared spaces more accessible by using a broader definition of community beyond just the school community, such as parents and teachers. They can also eliminate required permits and fees.</p>
<h2>2. Meet community needs</h2>
<p>Schools in our study partnered with community-based organizations and governmental agencies to provide services to meet their community’s needs. </p>
<p>In Southwest, a school partnered with local organizations to offer families a food pantry and adult education, including GED preparation.</p>
<p>In Cherry Hill, where <a href="https://planning.baltimorecity.gov/baltimore-food-policy-initiative/food-environment">access to full-service grocery stores is limited</a>, a community school coordinator reached out to a local organization to host a morning produce market at the school once per week. A representative from the city housing authority also visited the school to make it easier for families to file complaints about poor housing conditions, such as mold.</p>
<h2>3. Engage the community</h2>
<p>Across all three communities, officials sought input from students, families and residents about the renovation plans or designs for new schools. They also provided updates about the construction process.</p>
<p>Other projects included creating a walking school bus – where adult volunteers walked with children to school – in Southwest to help students travel to and from school safely.</p>
<p>In Southeast, parents’ advocacy to improve school facilities – such as heating and cooling systems – helped them become more involved in their neighborhoods. Families from the schools have participated in neighborhood beautification projects, community cleanups and other activities.</p>
<p>Strong family and community engagement, however, is not a given. Successful partnerships also require <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/trust-schools-0">trust</a> among schools, families and community members. In Southwest, one school’s construction resulted in another school’s closure. The students from the old school would be sent to the new school. Families from the closed school saw their school as a safe haven and fought to prevent its closure. According to one community advocate, the process of closing the school led some families to lose faith in community organizations, the school district and city agencies.</p>
<h2>4. Attract new residents and development</h2>
<p>Many stakeholders that we talked to saw the new and renovated schools as a way to bring new residents, businesses and development to their communities.</p>
<p>In Southwest, one stakeholder told us that the new school building has led to greater interest among residents to invest in the neighborhood. “There’s a lot of residents who are organized and involved in these neighborhoods. They’re saying, ‘Hey, we got a new school. Let’s build up this neighborhood.’” Similarly, families in Southeast have become more excited about the renovated schools. A nonprofit representative said, “We see it on Facebook feeds. Because we put the [school] designs out there as much as we can, they’re starting to think, ‘Maybe I’ll put my child there.’”</p>
<p>However, as schools attract more residents, people in Cherry Hill and Southeast wanted to be sure existing residents weren’t pushed out. In both neighborhoods, school and community partners are creating pathways to help existing residents to purchase homes in their neighborhoods. This includes home ownership counseling and loan programs for qualifying residents.</p>
<p>Education will always be the primary function of America’s public schools. But as our research suggests, schools need not only concern themselves with what takes place in the classroom – they can also play an important part in improving the conditions in the surrounding community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185946/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was supported through funding from the Maryland Philanthropy Network.</span></em></p>
Community members want their schools to address issues beyond academics, new research suggests.
Alisha Butler, Provost's Equity Fellow, Wesleyan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176610
2022-04-07T10:16:34Z
2022-04-07T10:16:34Z
Farmers are finding a new following on social media – our research suggests it could help with isolation
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456576/original/file-20220406-24-ngzw8f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C18%2C4126%2C3069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Farmers are at increased risk of loneliness and isolation.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/VBkijqR9xVM">David George/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of a chaotic <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-a-sheep-and-cattle-farmer-in-england-and-brexit-has-left-farmers-in-fear-for-their-futures-165843">Brexit</a> and an ongoing <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/coronavirus-farmers-remain-key-workers-in-third-lockdown">pandemic</a>, farmers in the UK are experiencing high levels of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-59319869">isolation and loneliness</a>. A poll in Farmers Guardian found that <a href="https://www.fginsight.com/farmersstrivetothrive/strive-to-thrive---articles/loneliness-is-a-key-factor-in-feeling-depressed-farmers-confirm--110876">94% of UK farmers</a> felt this isolation was harming their mental health.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721002643">research</a> funded by the British Academy, we looked at how farmers engage with social media to understand whether it can help overcome isolation. To do this, we analysed 5,000 tweets by farmers and interviewed 25 farmers who use social media. </p>
<p>Our findings showed that social media provides farmers with a way of connecting to others and reaffirming positivity about their identity as a farmer. For example, the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Farming365">#Farming365</a> started life as an annual social media event to bring farmers together online. Now, it’s become a way for farmers to <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/farm-life/five-farmers-share-their-social-media-stories">share</a> their everyday lives online all year round to show that farming requires constant commitment.</p>
<p>Given the <a href="https://www.exeter.ac.uk/research/news/articles/longworkinghoursandlone-w.html">long hours</a> spent in remote locations and the number of social events in the farming calendar <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/events/viability-fears-grow-as-more-shows-fall-victim-to-covid-19">cancelled</a> thanks to the pandemic, this sense of positivity is crucial to prevent plummeting job satisfaction or even a mass <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/aug/25/the-anxiety-is-off-the-scale-uk-farm-sector-worried-by-labour-shortages">exodus</a> of farmers from their jobs. So anything that can be done to increase it could be worthwhile.</p>
<h2>Connecting with community</h2>
<p>Social media – especially Facebook and Twitter – can help farmers learn about new technologies, equipment and practices. And information shared on social media can offer immediate answers to farming questions ranging from upcoming weather forecasts to fixing farm machinery. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-field-to-store-to-plate-farmers-are-worried-about-climate-change-178885">From field to store to plate, farmers are worried about climate change</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But farmers’ social media use goes beyond simple information gathering. We found that Twitter is often used by farmers as a diary to map out farm work as it progresses, using <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0743016721002643">photos and videos</a>. </p>
<p>As farming is shaped by annual rhythms, it’s common for farmers to reflect on their decisions in relation to previous seasons – for example, by comparing pictures of their current crops with last year’s. Documenting farming online allows farmers to receive empathy and encouragement in real time.</p>
<p>Farmers also use social media to interact with the public. In particular, many advertise their skills and products – such as meat and vegetables – through sharing stories about the journey from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-fate-of-our-planets-environment-depends-on-the-state-of-its-soil-170985">field to fork</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iTBBPxDncP8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Vlogger and farmer Tom Pemberton has achieved online visibility and support sharing his experience of life on a farm.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Farming vloggers such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/TomPembertonFarmLife">Tom Pemberton</a> have even found an alternative <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/business/diversification/how-a-young-farmers-youtube-income-paid-for-new-sprayer">stream of income</a> by making YouTube videos discussing their everyday struggles and achievements. As part of the online event <a href="https://www.morrisons-farming.com/backing-british/farm24/">#farm24</a> run by Farmers Guardian and supermarket Morrisons, Tom <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyzkpCdNRjc&t=757s">shares with viewers</a> the typical tasks he accomplishes in a day’s farming: including milking, calf-rearing and running the family’s farm shop. </p>
<p>Alongside marketing benefits, our findings suggest that social media is an important way for farmers to respond to <a href="https://twitter.com/HawfordFarm/status/1503426803943329792">news items</a> and <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/environment/farmers-reject-monbiot-claims-that-livestock-are-killing-the-planet">farming debates</a>. One farmer we interviewed commented that social media offers “a chance to give our side of the story”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-how-the-global-fertiliser-shortage-is-going-to-affect-food-179061">Ukraine: how the global fertiliser shortage is going to affect food</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This might involve revealing unseen aspects of farming to the public, such as routine activities like milking which take place inside <a href="https://twitter.com/AshTreeFarm42/status/1444015242787360774">farm buildings</a> during the <a href="https://twitter.com/cups_on/status/1389323193727569923">early morning</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23farming%20AND%20night&src=typed_query&f=live">late night</a>. We found that receiving <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=farmers%20AND%20%20%23keyworker&src=typed_query&f=video">positive responses</a> to these posts, particularly during the <a href="https://www.nffn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NFFN-Report-1.pdf">pandemic</a>, helped to boost farmers’ sense of pride in their work. </p>
<p>On the flipside, <a href="https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/country-sports-fans-face-online-death-threats">negativity</a> was commonly reported by farmers on social media: especially around issues of <a href="https://sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/online-abuse-and-farm-protests-the-vegans-impacting-on-farmers-mental-health/">animal welfare</a>, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/red-shepherdess-farmer-fights-male-chauvinist-pigs-0cm39spwq">gender</a> and environmental issues. Our research found that this potential for criticism meant social media posts are often heavily curated and stylised.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A lamb peers over a farm gate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456579/original/file-20220406-26-f0qgt4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Posts showing the lighter side of farming often avoid its dirtier realities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/-DdbQGZEkZM">Harry Grout/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This can lead other farmers to feel that such posts give a “rose-tinted” view of farming, masking some of the <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHornedBeefCo/status/1117772425176002561">harsher truths</a> of the occupation such as animal death and disease. Such a bias towards <a href="https://www.farmersguide.co.uk/ally-hunter-blair-talks-farm-life-social-media-and-covid-19/">positivity</a> can be detrimental to farmers’ wellbeing, with one commenting that “it makes you feel that everyone is doing a better job than you.” </p>
<p>Social media cannot replace face-to-face contact or in-person networking opportunities, both from a personal and professional perspective. But online platforms can play a big part in bridging the gap between rural and urban communities, offering avenues for support beyond one’s immediate farming network, and helping farmers work together with the public to build a more sustainable food system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Riley receives funding from the British Academy for this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bethany Robertson receives funding from the British Academy for this research.</span></em></p>
New research shows using social media can provide a much-needed boost to UK farmers’ wellbeing, connectedness and mental health, and even bank balances.
Mark Riley, Reader in Geography, University of Liverpool
Bethany Robertson, Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/157933
2021-04-07T16:24:05Z
2021-04-07T16:24:05Z
COVID-19 amplifies the complexity of disability and race
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392947/original/file-20210331-17-wlwbpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2991%2C1935&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Veronica Lopez, who has spina bifida, gets vaccinated at COVID-19 vaccination site at the East Los Angeles Civic Center in Los Angeles. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In Canada, COVID-19 has exacerbated long-standing institutional and systemic inequalities for disabled people. And these inequalities are rooted in ableism. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.accessliving.org/newsroom/blog/ableism-101/">Ableism represents beliefs</a>, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230579286">social practices and policies</a> that (re)produce and privilege <a href="https://dsq-sds.org/article/view/60/60">expectations of able-bodiedness</a> and able-mindedness. Resulting in the marginalization, exclusion and oppression of people with mind/body differences. </p>
<p>Disabled people’s identities are also intersectional — they may be <a href="https://radssite.wordpress.com/2020/06/29/covid-19-race-discrimination-stigma-and-impacts-on-health/">racialized</a>, gendered, elderly, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01313-9">may live in poverty</a> and/or are part of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-asylum-seekers-1.5575905">newcomer communities</a>. This viewpoint further reveals the persistent and <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2020/4/4/21204261/coronavirus-covid-19-disabled-people-disabilities-triage">invisible injustices disabled people experience</a> and is important for developing policies, resources and supports for those affected by the pandemic.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-intersectionality-all-of-who-i-am-105639">What is intersectionality? All of who I am</a>
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<p>The term <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionality?language=en">intersectionality</a>, coined by <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039">Black feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw</a>, illustrates how the systemic oppression Black women experience differs from that of Black men or white women because of the intertwining effects of various systems of oppression (such as racism, ableism, sexism, ageism and others). </p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/5/20/18542843/intersectionality-conservatism-law-race-gender-discrimination">intersectional lens</a> allows us to examine how peoples’ different social identities (race, ability, gender and age) <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-coronavirus-cerb-unemployment-1.5610404">are interconnected</a>. How <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Black-Feminist-Thought-Knowledge-Consciousness-and-the-Politics-of-Empowerment/Collins/p/book/9780415964722">different contexts</a> create privilege (circumstances of visibility, value, access to resources and opportunities for upward movement), and/or oppression (circumstances of invisibility, devaluation, lack of resources/access to them and limited opportunities).</p>
<h2>Experiences and the intersectionality of disability</h2>
<p>The following are stories our colleagues have shared with us.</p>
<p>Jeff Preston is a white man who has lived with disability all his life. He grew up with the support of his family, attended school and earned his PhD. He is now an assistant professor in Disability Studies at King’s University College at Western University in London, Ont. He uses an electric wheelchair and requires assistance from his attendants. This assistance allows him to get out of bed, get dressed and get to work. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What has been important here is my day to day. My attendants and access to resources. On Day 1 of the pandemic one of my attendants resigned as they were heading home. Another one … now is not coming back, so I am down two attendants. If I lose another, I will be in a tight spot. How will I get out of bed? How can I work? What happens if I get sick?”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Preston is privileged as a white man and a university professor who was raised in a family with financial and social resources to support him and his education. He receives direct funding to hire <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-75-white-coat-black-art/clip/15822896-people-disabilities-need-move-front-line">attendants to support</a> his daily activities, which the pandemic complicated. </p>
<p>Government mandates to stay at home and follow strict physical and social distancing guidelines assume that everyone can abide by them. For Preston, like other disabled persons, these mandates do not consider his need for attendants to get on with his daily life. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/partisanship-fuels-what-people-with-disabilities-think-about-covid-19-response-156607">Partisanship fuels what people with disabilities think about COVID-19 response</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Jheanelle Anderson is a Black disabled immigrant woman with a congenital disability and autoimmune disease. When her family immigrated to Canada, she was left behind due to being labelled medically inadmissible under Canada’s ableist <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/section-38.html">Immigration Act</a>. After receiving surgery to amputate her leg, she was able to rejoin her family in Canada. </p>
<p>Her initial <a href="https://doi.org/10.31274/jctp-180810-96">inadmissibility to Canada</a> reflects the entanglement of racism and ableism to keep some bodies out. While Jheanelle feels that she had an easier transition than most immigrants given her familial support, the feeling of burden has stayed with her. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’m a disabled Black woman, you know, where all of that works in tandem with each other and it’s almost as if <strong>because like</strong> people are only focusing on a single story, I have to choose between either my Blackness or my disability. But I do not move in life like that. It is really important to highlight a holistic experience because … there are multiple things going on at the same time as I move through life. These structures are … very violent and they affect each and every one of my identities.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the realities of COVID-19 set in, Jheanelle was finishing up her master’s in social work and waiting to be refitted for a new prosthesis. Her new prothesis was put on hold as it was not deemed an essential service during the pandemic. Jheanelle’s story provides insight into the complexity of navigating health services. Most organizations focus services and programs on single identity issues, viewing disability as a monolithic experience without an understanding of the ongoing impact of racism and ableism embedded in these programs. </p>
<p>Her experiences as a service user during this pandemic cannot be broken apart and separated into “disabled,” “Black” and “woman” — they are intertwined.</p>
<h2>Ableist assumptions and COVID-19</h2>
<p>Ableist assumptions that everyone can abide by social and physical distancing mandates, or that health and support services can be put on hold without any consequences, create <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1473325020981755">dangerous situations for disabled people</a>. </p>
<p>Media reports have documented the negative impact of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-june-4-2020-1.5598110/thursday-june-4-2020-full-transcript-1.5598962">ableist pandemic policies on disabled people’s lives</a>. Many face living in isolation to protect themselves and others, despite no longer having adequate supports related to personal care, food access, communication, etc. </p>
<p>Parents of disabled children coping with school closures <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/03/28/families-of-children-with-special-needs-are-in-crisis-mode-says-milton-mother.html">are frustrated by the lack of resources for their children</a>. And fear from parents with disabled children that <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/03/31/should-the-life-of-down-syndrome-daughter-be-valued-less.html">ventilator shortages</a> may mean their child’s ventilator will go to an abled-bodied person instead. </p>
<p>These stories demonstrate the devaluation of disabled lives. Yet they are just the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p>While they are very important, the diversity within the disability community, the intersectional stories of disability, race and other social locations are not always presented. Disabled people, BIPOC, women, LGBTQ2S+ and other communities —all marginalized before the pandemic — are experiencing even greater inequities as a result of COVID-19. Pandemic planning has not taken them into consideration. </p>
<p>Using an intersectional approach will help bring visibility to diverse disability communities and provide the support they need to be safe, recover and rebuild their lives. Now, and going forward, we need to attend carefully and critically to the effects of the pandemic on diverse disability communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157933/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen Kume Yoshida receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. . </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ann Fudge Schormans receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chavon Niles and Susan Mahipaul do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Using an intersectional approach will help bring visibility to diverse disability communities and provide the support they need to be safe, recover and rebuild their lives.
Karen Kume Yoshida, Professor, Critical Disability Studies, University of Toronto
Ann Fudge Schormans, Associate Professor of Social Work, McMaster University
Chavon Niles, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Susan Mahipaul, Lecturer, Disability Studies at King's University College, Western University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/157655
2021-03-29T15:05:08Z
2021-03-29T15:05:08Z
Death-friendly communities ease fear of aging and dying
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391839/original/file-20210325-23-193ezbo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=633%2C0%2C4981%2C3249&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Improving death-friendliness offers further opportunity to improve social inclusion. A death-friendly approach could lay the groundwork for people to stop fearing getting old or alienating those who have.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Death looms larger than usual during a global pandemic. An <a href="https://www.who.int/ageing/age-friendly-world/en/">age-friendly community</a> works to make sure people are connected, healthy and active throughout their lives, but it doesn’t pay as much attention to the end of life.</p>
<p>What might a death-friendly community ensure?</p>
<p>In today’s context, the suggestion to become friendly with death may sound strange. But as scholars doing research <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/aging-seniors/friendly-communities.html">on age-friendly communities</a>, we wonder what it would mean for a community to be friendly towards death, dying, grief and bereavement. </p>
<p>There’s a lot we can learn from the palliative care movement: it considers death as <a href="https://doi.org/10.2190%2FYT9D-12Y2-54LY-TCMN">meaningful and dying as a stage of life to be valued, supported and lived</a>. Welcoming mortality might actually help us live better lives and support communities — rather than relying on medical systems — to care for people at the end of their lives.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DYbosNFtAmk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In the context of age-friendly communities where the focus is on active living, this video invites viewers to think about the role that death plays in their lives and their communities.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The medicalization of death</h2>
<p>Until the 1950s, most Canadians died in their homes. More recently, death has moved to <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310071501">hospitals, hospices, long-term care homes or other health-care institutions</a>. </p>
<p>The societal implications of this shift are profound: fewer people witness death. The dying process has become less familiar and more frightening because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0742-969X.1993.11882761">we don’t get a chance to be part of it</a>, until we face our own.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-shows-how-ageism-is-harmful-to-health-of-older-adults-138249">Coronavirus shows how ageism is harmful to health of older adults</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Fear of death, of aging and social inclusion</h2>
<p>In western cultures, death is often associated with aging, and vice versa. And a fear of death contributes to a fear of aging. One study found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2016.1247063">psychology students with death-anxiety were less willing to work with older adults</a> in their practice. Another study found that <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915003566">worries about death and aging led to ageism</a>. In other words, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03601277.2018.1537163">younger adults push older adults away because they don’t want to think about death</a>. </p>
<p>A clear example of ageism being borne out of a fear of death can be seen through COVID-19; the disease gained the nickname “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32719851/">boomer remover</a>” because it seemed to link aging with death.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Grandparents with masks seen pressing hands against window looking at granddaughter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391798/original/file-20210325-21-eg9vvv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">COVID-19 gained the nickname ‘boomer remover’ because it seemed to link aging with death.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The World Health Organization’s (WHO) <a href="https://www.who.int/ageing/publications/Global_age_friendly_cities_Guide_English.pdf">framework for age-friendly communities</a> includes “respect and social inclusion” as one of its eight focuses. The movement fights ageism via educational efforts and intergenerational activities. </p>
<p>Improving death-friendliness offers further opportunities to improve social inclusion. A death-friendly approach could lay the groundwork for people to stop fearing getting old or alienating those who have. Greater openness about mortality also creates more space for grief. </p>
<p>During COVID-19, it’s become clearer than ever that grief is both personal and collective. It’s especially relevant to older adults who outlive many of their peers and experience multiple losses.</p>
<h2>The compassionate communities approach</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.hpco.ca/compassionate-communities">compassionate communities approach</a> came from the fields of palliative care and critical public health. It focuses on community development related to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qjmed/article/106/12/1071/1633982">end-of-life planning, bereavement support and improved understandings</a> about aging, dying, death, loss and care. </p>
<p>The age-friendly and compassionate communities initiatives share several goals, but they don’t yet share practices. We think they should.</p>
<p>Originating with the <a href="https://www.who.int/healthpromotion/healthy-cities/en/">WHO’s concept of healthy cities</a>, the compassionate communities charter responds to criticisms that public health has fallen short in responding to death and loss. <a href="https://www.compassionate-communitiesuk.co.uk/the-compassionate-city-charter">The charter</a> makes recommendations for addressing death and grief in schools, workplaces, trade unions, places of worship, hospices and nursing homes, museums, art galleries and municipal governments. It also accounts for diverse experiences of death and dying — for instance, for those who are unhoused, imprisoned, refugees or experiencing other forms of social marginalization. </p>
<p>The charter calls not only for efforts to raise awareness and improve planning, but also for accountability related to death and grief. It highlights the need to review and test a city’s initiatives (for instance, review of local policy and planning, annual emergency services roundtable, public forums, art exhibits and more). Much like the age-friendly framework, the compassionate communities charter uses a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29764178/">best practice framework, adaptable to any city</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Multigenerational family, walking, holding hands on the beach." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391821/original/file-20210325-17-1lzmw6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Age-friendly initiatives could converge with the work of compassionate communities in their efforts to make a community a good place to live, age and, ultimately, die.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s a lot to like about the compassionate communities approach.</p>
<p>First, it comes from the community, rather than from medicine. It brings death back from the hospitals and into the public eye. It acknowledges that when one person dies, it affects a community. And it offers space and outlets for bereavement.</p>
<p>Second, the compassionate communities approach makes death a normal part of life whether by connecting school children with hospices, integrating end-of-life discussions into workplaces, providing bereavement supports or creating opportunities for creative expression about grief and mortality. This can demystify the dying process and lead to more productive conversations about death and grief.</p>
<p>Third, this approach acknowledges diverse settings and cultural contexts for responding to death. It doesn’t tell us what death rituals or grief practices should be. Instead, it holds space for a variety of approaches and experiences.</p>
<h2>Age-friendly compassionate communities</h2>
<p>We propose that age-friendly initiatives could converge with the work of compassionate communities in their efforts to make a community a good place to to live, age and, ultimately, die. We envision death-friendly communities including some, or all, of the elements mentioned above. One of the benefits of death-friendly communities is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all model; they can vary across jurisdictions, allowing each community to imagine and create their own approach to death-friendliness.</p>
<p>Those who are working to build age-friendly communities should reflect on how people prepare for death in their cities: Where do people go to die? Where and how do people grieve? To what extent, and in which ways, does a community prepare for death and bereavement?</p>
<p>If age-friendly initiatives contend with mortality, anticipate diverse end-of-life needs, and seek to understand how communities can indeed become more death-friendly, they could make even more of a difference.</p>
<p>That’s an idea worth exploring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157655/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Brassolotto receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Alberta Innovates. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Albert Banerjee receives funding from the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation and The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Chivers receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p>
Death-friendly communities that welcome mortality might help us live better lives and provide better care for people at the end of their lives.
Julia Brassolotto, Assistant Professor, Public Health and Alberta Innovates Research Chair, University of Lethbridge
Albert Banerjee, NBHRF Research Chair in Community Health and Aging, St. Thomas University (Canada)
Sally Chivers, Professor of English and Gender & Women's Studies, Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142573
2020-07-16T16:03:05Z
2020-07-16T16:03:05Z
South Africa’s leaders have had a crack at COVID-19: it’s time to give the people a go
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347338/original/file-20200714-139969-6hxw6h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Government has failed; let the people have a go at managing COVID-19</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa is now <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/">ranked</a> 5th in the world for COVID-19 active cases, 9th for cumulative cases, and 23rd for cumulative deaths.</p>
<p>The nation’s leadership was initially widely praised for reacting decisively and early by implementing stringent lockdown regulations. These have been successively eased since they became unsustainable.</p>
<p>The president has recently announced new regulations. Some, like the ban on alcohol sales, are designed to alleviate the burden on the healthcare system. These make sense. But those regulations designed to slow transmission do not. They are variations on familiar themes: curfews, continued restrictions on social and economic activities, regulations on taxi operation, and similar. </p>
<p>Regulation is entirely the wrong approach. Lockdown failed in South Africa, despite its huge cost. The emphasis should never have been on imposing restrictions. It should have been on asking people in different parts of the fantastically complex mosaic of South African society to participate in coming up with solutions.</p>
<p>People know their own way of life, and can identify solutions that work for them. Even if there are none, we all deserve a say in how to balance the risks we face. There is no avoiding the coming storm, but the country can prepare for it by settling on a strategy informed by realism – about what has and hasn’t worked, and about what is feasible in South Africa.</p>
<h2>What hasn’t worked</h2>
<p>It is obvious that lockdown failed to avert the current situation, since we are in it. It is less widely appreciated that there were no changes in the trajectory of COVID-19 either during the locking down or in the unlocking phases. The infection rate, viewed on a logarithmic scale (because the linear scale makes changes harder to spot), is roughly a straight line from about 28 March onwards. That was Day 2 of lockdown – far too soon for an effect. This means that the reproduction number has remained approximately the same for over three months. (Deaths look similar, with a time lag.) This is obscured on a linear scale, because it is hard to spot changes in a curve. But when viewed with a logarithmic y-axis, it is obvious that the line is approximately straight. Lockdown didn’t make a difference, and nor did unlocking, as Figure 1 shows.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347064/original/file-20200713-46-1p0xlyi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Source: Author.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>South Africa’s current predicament is a continued, steady growth in incidence rate. This on the back of the <a href="https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/coronavirus/socio-economic-impact-of-covid-19.html">huge socioeconomic impact</a> of lockdown: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>decimation of the <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/publication/impact-covid-19-south-african-economy-initial-analysis">economy</a>; </p></li>
<li><p>loss of <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/SUPPLEMENTARY-BUDGET-REVIEW-2020.pdf">employment and livelihoods</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>collapse of many <a href="https://www.cde.org.za/covid-19-the-impact-on-small-businesses-and-gaps-in-current-solutions/">small, micro and medium-sized businesses</a>; </p></li>
<li><p>growing <a href="https://pmbejd.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PMBEJD-Research-Report-26052020.pdf">hunger</a>;</p></li>
<li><p>disruption to important <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-00-80-02/Report-00-80-022020.pdf">existing health programmes</a>; and </p></li>
<li><p>enormous psychological pressure felt by nearly everyone in the country. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Given these consequences, the last thing South African lawmakers should be considering is a further lockdown.</p>
<p>So is the country out of options? </p>
<p>Not exactly. </p>
<h2>Ask the people</h2>
<p>The road not taken was a considered mitigation strategy, instead of a <a href="https://newzwire.live/world-bank-africa-coronavirus-recession/">copycat</a> approach – one that persists as the country unlocks in step with the rest of the world. </p>
<p>The approach, advocated unsuccessfully by some both <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-one-size-fits-all-approach-to-covid-19-could-have-lethal-consequences-134252">before</a> and <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2020-04-08-is-lockdown-wrong-for-africa/">nearer the time</a> of locking down, is to identify context-specific measures that result in reduced infection rates while permitting as much normal activity to proceed as possible.</p>
<p>How does one devise a context-specific mitigation strategy? One doesn’t. Instead, one asks the people who actually live in that context.</p>
<p>Some months ago, I was involved in making a <a href="https://philosepi.org/2020/04/26/covid-on-the-breadline-documentary-7-min-and-30-min-versions-in-one-place/">documentary</a> about the effects of lockdown in low-income settings. Interviews were conducted with people living in poverty in both urban and rural settings in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and India. The common thread in these interviews was their frustration at not being heard.</p>
<p>Most of them feared starvation more than COVID-19. Something else was apparent too. Several people had their own ideas about how to deal with the threat.</p>
<p>In particular, the leadership of a Malawian village came up with a solution to protect older people by locating them in one part of the village. Malawi never locked down but, with a very poor population, half of whom are <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/520659/average-age-of-the-population-in-malawi/#:%7E:text=Median%20age%20of%20the%20population%20in%20Malawi%202015&text=In%202015%2C%20the%20median%20age,Malawian%20population%20was%2017.2%20years.">17 or under</a>, it is really not clear why it should. Had Malawi’s then-leaders consulted, they might never have suffered the ignominy of having their obviously inappropriate lockdown regulations <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52471276">thrown out by a court</a>.</p>
<p>The road not taken, then, is consultation. It sounds watery, but it’s not. Humans are problem-solvers: that’s our special skill. But we have to know what the problem is, and what tools are available in the context. So long as the people who understand the problem don’t talk to the people who know the context, the chances of solutions are small.</p>
<p>It’s not too late. South Africa’s best bet now is to provide communities with accurate information about how COVID-19 spreads and whom it threatens, exactly as happened in the interaction in Malawi, and then ask them what they want to do about it.</p>
<h2>Different steps for different circumstances</h2>
<p>Nobody wants to catch coronavirus, and people will take reasonable steps to avoid it. But in this most unequal of countries, those steps will be quite different for different people. </p>
<p>For an office worker living in the suburbs on an uninterrupted salary, working from home and having food delivered and avoiding public places makes sense. </p>
<p>Waste-pickers, hawkers, restaurateurs, taxi-drivers, hairdressers, and domestic workers all live differently. They are all exposed to different risks. They are also faced with different imperatives against which to balance those risks. </p>
<p>By consulting communities, government would also begin the process of rebuilding trust, which was squandered in the attempt to enforce a strategy that was obviously impossible here. </p>
<p>“Suppression” of the virus, as defined in the influential <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/mrc-global-infectious-disease-analysis/covid-19/report-12-global-impact-covid-19/">report from Imperial College London</a>, is the reduction of the reproduction number below one, achieved by a 60% reduction in social contact. </p>
<p>That was <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-covid-19-lockdown-cigarettes-and-outdoor-exercise-could-ease-the-tension-134931">never on the cards</a> for South Africa. And ordinary South Africans knew it.</p>
<p>South Africa’s initial response to COVID-19 was confident, but wrong. Now it has stalled. But the country is not out of options. The trick is for the chattering classes to stop telling each other what the solution is, and instead ask some of those who haven’t been heard. The leaders have had their chance. It’s only fair that the people have a go. </p>
<p>It’s unlikely they will perform worse.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Broadbent has received funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.</span></em></p>
The trick is for the chattering classes to stop telling each other what the solution is, and instead to ask those who haven’t been heard.
Alex Broadbent, Director of the Institute for the Future of Knowledge and Professor of Philosophy, University of Johannesburg
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142027
2020-07-14T16:32:15Z
2020-07-14T16:32:15Z
Indigenous communities at increased risk during the coronavirus pandemic
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346722/original/file-20200709-87076-1vco4az.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1356%2C667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Canada's Indigenous leaders are concerned that the federal government's promised support to help First Nations, Inuit and Métis people deal with the impacts of COVID-19 may not be sufficient. Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde, second from right, makes the point during a news conference in Ottawa with First Nations leaders.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>After implementing strict measures to protect themselves from COVID-19 and thereby asserting their sovereignty over their territories, First Nations have been largely spared from the feared coronavirus outbreak. However, the threat posed by the possibility of a second wave <a href="https://www.afn.ca/coronavirus/">remains very real</a>.</p>
<p>Historical and contemporary forms of colonialism predispose First Nations to increased risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>As researchers and experts in human rights and Indigenous Peoples’ rights, we argue that the landmark 2016 Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision in the case between the federal government and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations sets the legal standard for Canada in the provision and funding of services to address COVID-19. Canada’s funding measures to date to address the risk of an outbreak do not meet this standard.</p>
<h2>From White Plague to COVID-19</h2>
<p>On Nov. 15, 1907, a headline in the <em>Ottawa Evening Citizen</em> stated, “Schools Aid White Plague: Surprising Death Rolls Among Indians Revealed. Absolute Inattention To Bare Necessities of Health.”</p>
<p>The article described the findings of federal Indian Affairs Department Chief Medical Officer Dr. Peter Bryce on the link between inequities in health care funding for “Indians” and the alarming mortality rates of residential school students. In the century that followed, many other credible voices, such as the <a href="https://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/parl_oag_201805_05_e_43037.html">Auditor General of Canada</a> and the <a href="http://nctr.ca/assets/reports/Calls_to_Action_English2.pdf">Truth and Reconciliation Commission</a>, denounced the inequality in public services to First Nations and proposed solutions to address it. Canada has failed to act.</p>
<p>Canada’s failure to take adequate action has resulted in disparities, including in access to housing, health care and safe drinking water. These inequalities increase the risks to First Nations in health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<h2>Confusing instructions</h2>
<p>For example, while public health authorities consider hand-washing to be the most effective way to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, many First Nations communities on reserves still lack access to clean, safe water. </p>
<p>The chronic housing crisis also exacerbates the situation. Nearly one-quarter (23.1 per cent) of First Nations people living on-reserve are in overcrowded housing, which prevents families from following public health guidelines regarding physical distancing and isolation of the sick. It also puts women and children at risk of domestic violence.</p>
<p>These structural inequities, combined with discrimination in access to health care, healthy and affordable food and effective telecommunications infrastructure, severely limit First Nations’ ability to respond to health crises.</p>
<h2>Legal standards</h2>
<p>The pandemic poses distinct and unforeseen challenges in First Nations communities across Canada. Yet there are valuable lessons to be learned from past experiences. The <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/chrt/doc/2016/2016chrt2/2016chrt2.html">tribunal’s 2016 decision</a>, which deals with government services for First Nations children, clarifies the legal standard that Canada must meet in order to fulfil its obligations under the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA).</p>
<p>First, the decision establishes that Canada must provide sufficient funding to enable the provision of services that take into account the needs and cultural, historical and geographic distinctiveness of different communities. Second, the additional costs associated with responding to emerging public health crises cannot be offset by reducing existing services and programs for First Nations.</p>
<p>Finally, measures taken in the context of the pandemic will invariably prove to be useless if they are not accompanied by effective strategies to address inequalities in government services and programs for First Nations in a comprehensive manner.</p>
<h2>Inequitable measures</h2>
<p>As of June 25, Canada’s specific measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 in First Nations communities in Canada represent less than one per cent of the federal government’s funding to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, even though First Nations represent nearly five per cent of the population of Canada.</p>
<p>In other words, <a href="https://www.timescolonist.com/indigenous-group-files-legal-challenge-over-inadequate-covid-19-funding-1.24134269">the measures do not meet even the modest standard of formal equality</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, the federal government has yet to announce measures to address the systemic inequalities experienced by First Nations communities that predispose them to increased risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As Dr. Bryce pointed out 113 years ago, effective public health care interventions for First Nations must include remedial action and substantive equality in the delivery of public services. One without the other is doomed to failure.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344105/original/file-20200625-33511-rvyv1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde addresses reporters at a news conference in Ottawa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For decades, Canada has been aware of the inequities in funding for First Nations services and programs, but has not acted. According to evidence presented before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal in 2005, the federal government estimated that <a href="https://fncaringsociety.com/pre-tribunal-timeline-history-first-nations-child-and-family-services-funding">it provided at least 22 per cent less funding to First Nations</a> for children’s services compared to funding for other children. Instead, the federal government has encouraged First Nations to be patient as it makes negligible changes to inequitable government services for First Nations. Indeed, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/ottawa-ordered-to-compensate-first-nations-children-denied-of-welfare-services-1.4581208">the tribunal had to issue nine orders</a> after its landmark 2016 decision in order to hold Canada to its legal obligations to First Nations children.</p>
<p>In the case of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations against the Government of Canada, the Human Rights Tribunal ruled that it is illegal for Canada to put financial considerations ahead of the best interests of First Nations children. The decision echoes what First Nations people have long asserted: that <a href="https://www.broadbentinstitute.ca/annastanley/indigenous_children_racial_discrimination_fiscal_policy">discrimination as a tax policy is a manifestation of racism and colonialism</a> rooted in Canadian society.</p>
<p>If there is one thing we have learned from Canada’s response to the pandemic crisis, it is that various levels of government can move quickly to deliver billions of dollars in social programs and economic support when they are deemed priorities. If substantive equality is not seen as an immediate policy objective in government programs and services, Canada’s colonialist policies will once again have predictable and fatal consequences for First Nations people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142027/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Levesque is one of the lawyers representing the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society in its litigation against the Government of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sophie Thériault ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>
Measures to control the spread of COVID-19 within Indigenous communities represent less than one per cent of Canada’s funding to limit the impacts of the virus.
Anne Levesque, Assistant professor, Faculty of Law, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Sophie Thériault, Professeure titulaire, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/136431
2020-05-12T10:48:40Z
2020-05-12T10:48:40Z
Coronavirus has revealed the power of social networks in a crisis
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331760/original/file-20200430-42935-1u6jhco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C994%2C851&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/social-network-media-internet-www-web-344218490">Rawpixel.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The declaration of the novel coronavirus <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51839944">as a pandemic</a> was a call to arms for governments to take urgent and immediate action. However, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/20/coronavirus-did-europe-lockdown-too-late-amid-the-covid-19-outbreak-culture-clash">many feel</a> the response from some countries was <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/stanchart-boss-says-u-k-and-u-s-acted-too-late-on-coronavirus">too little, too late</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this, people took early action to protect themselves, their families and their communities. Some reacted by panic buying and stockpiling goods, revealing how fragile supply chains were (although Brexit <a href="https://ukandeu.ac.uk/has-brexit-helped-business-prepare-for-the-coronavirus">previously raised this issue</a>). Communities also mobilised themselves to reach out to vulnerable and isolated people and to help solve their problems, often using social network platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp to create groups centred around a geographical location to coordinate activities.</p>
<p><a href="http://jonchamberlain.com/media/doc/Chamberlain2014Groupsourcing.pdf">“Groupsourcing”</a> is a term derived from “outsourcing” that has been used to describe this phenomenon, where groups on social networks are created around user needs by the users themselves, rather than being coordinated centrally. Unlike micro-volunteering platforms, such as <a href="https://nextdoor.co.uk/">NextDoor</a>, <a href="https://www.neighbourly.com/">Neighbourly</a> or <a href="https://www.taskrabbit.co.uk/">TaskRabbit</a>, where people who require tasks to be completed (either online or in the real world) advertise their task and remuneration, organic collaboration through social network groups has several advantages. Users are already familiar with the communication systems of social networks such as Facebook (for example, through Messenger) and the friend networks they need are already in place. </p>
<p>Also, the group reach can easily be expanded by its members to include skills and knowledge from other users that are not known to the person requesting the task (for example, by tagging people who may be able to help on the post). The groupsourcing approach has shown value in the coordination of <a href="http://jonchamberlain.com/media/doc/Chamberlain2020Designing_preprint.pdf">community resilience</a> to disruption, as well as citizen science in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0065250418300217">wildlife monitoring</a>. </p>
<p>Communities with existing groups are better placed to respond to disruptive events such as COVID-19 and many around the UK have been utilised to help and offer services; however, it is not without its challenges. How would a vulnerable person know if the person who was doing their shopping <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/18/elderly-conned-cash-doorstep-fraudsters-preying-self-isolation/">would not just take their money</a> and never come back? Could chemists dispense drugs to volunteers and trust them <a href="https://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/news-and-analysis/news/community-pharmacies-to-use-volunteers-for-patient-medication-deliveries/20207854.article?firstPass=false">to deliver the prescription</a>? To address these issues the UK government issued <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-factsheet-community-volunteers-during-covid-19-outbreak">guidelines for volunteers</a> and national efforts were created to facilitate trust in <a href="https://covidmutualaid.org/">the volunteering service</a>. </p>
<p>Facebook is also promoting new ways to support communities in this way, such as the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/coronavirus_info/request_offer_help/">“community help” feature</a>, originally launched in 2017 and now marketed as part of its crisis response to users who request or offer help. The feature attempts to emulate a micro-volunteering platform’s approach to community support (with a structured “request and respond” protocol); however, Facebook’s community is already using the platform for this purpose in an unstructured way – and this allows those requesting tasks maximum flexibility in their use of the system. The value of any engineered help features may ultimately be more limited in reach. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/331761/original/file-20200430-42903-1ovom0r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Social network platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp enable communities to coordinate action during crises such as COVID-19 without central control.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/april-5-2020-brazil-this-photo-1698774685">rafapress/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The community networks that social platforms host go much deeper than the technology. They have enabled a shift in the way we communicate with each other: to be faster; more seamless; and with greater reach than anything that has come before. Platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp enable rapid proliferation of filtered news, advice, task requests and real-world support that a centralised organisation is not capable of on this scale. </p>
<p>This is how local communities have been able to respond so effectively and rapidly when reports of lockdowns, travel restrictions and, ultimately, death tolls were shared during the early stages of the pandemic. Although authorities <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/09/uk-police-tool-report-covid-19-rule-breakers-risks-fuelling-social-division">enabled people to “snitch” on their neighbours</a> to enforce safety measures, it’s the establishment of social norms at a local level during abnormal times that helps people know how to act when advice is conflicting and rapidly changing – although there is a <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid19-social-media-both-a-blessing-and-a-curse-during-coronavirus-pandemic-133596">responsibility to ensure mis-information does not endanger lives</a>. </p>
<p>Using Facebook for group coordination is not without its problems and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/22/cambridge-analytica-scandal-the-biggest-revelations-so-far">the misuse of user data</a> resulted in many users <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17145200/brian-acton-delete-facebook-whatsapp">leaving the platform</a>. But when the dust settles from the COVID-19 crisis there must be a conversation as to the role of social network platforms in modern life, in particular during times of worldwide crisis. </p>
<p>To establish trust in the systems used for communication social network platforms should be open and transparent, especially if it is being used in preference to centralised control of information. Facilitating community resilience through social media platforms with <a href="http://jonchamberlain.com/media/doc/Chamberlain2020Designing_preprint.pdf">lightweight applications</a> may be part of <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/05/five-ways-collective-intelligence-can-help-beat-coronavirus-in-developing-countries/">a broader collective intelligence approach</a> to future disruptive events on a similar scale to COVID-19.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136431/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Chamberlain received funding to work with Essex County Council on community resilience from the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account ES/M500537/1.</span></em></p>
The community networks that social platforms host go much deeper than the technology. They have enabled a shift in the way we communicate with each other – especially in a crisis.
Jon Chamberlain, Lecturer in Computer Science, University of Essex
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/134967
2020-04-23T11:47:44Z
2020-04-23T11:47:44Z
Coronavirus aftermath: how do communities recover from trauma?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/328121/original/file-20200415-153308-18p8k0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C38%2C5184%2C3406&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/northampton-uk-april-thursday-2nd-2020-1695120610">Adam Blakemore/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/italians-sing-patriotic-songs-from-their-balconies-during-coronavirus-lockdown">singing on balconies</a>, to <a href="https://www.today.com/parents/choirs-inspire-virtual-covid-19-performances-t176605">online choirs</a>, communities have come together – often through the use of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/22/818337019/in-oregon-neighbors-use-social-media-to-offer-and-ask-for-help?t=1585164882565">social media groups</a> – to support others around them in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. </p>
<p>These are many more <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/mar/24/from-bingo-to-ballet-communities-find-ways-to-connect-during-coronavirus-lockdown-video-report">amazing examples</a> of communities connecting and coping during the acute phase of this pandemic. But what we don’t know is how communities will respond in the aftermath – when resources may be drained, people tired and communities have experienced a collective loss. </p>
<p>My research looks at social inclusion and community engagement. As part of my work, I’ve looked at <a href="https://www.uclan.ac.uk/research/explore/groups/assets/communities-for-change-seminar-26th-june-2019-wilsonwilliamsonv2.pdf">community resilience</a> – the sustained ability of a community to use available resources to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations. </p>
<p>How communities <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/coping-after-disaster-trauma">respond to trauma</a> is an area of research that has grown considerably over recent decades, with traumatic events impacting people all over the world. These include events caused by humans, such as the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks in 2001, after which traditional notions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-dont-londoners-remember-7-7-like-new-york-remembers-9-11-44214">community were enhanced throughout New York</a>, and natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, where feelings of belonging to a wider community were destroyed in some affected neighbourhoods, but <a href="https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1201&context=nlr">smaller group identities were enhanced</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920.2012.736605">Research</a> has found that people and communities respond in different ways to devastating events. This is not only influenced by the type of event, but also by the characteristics of communities. It also seems that while trauma can help some communities pull together, in other cases, it can pull them apart. </p>
<h2>The difference with COVID-19</h2>
<p>Most people will have never experienced anything like COVID-19 in their lifetime. And although the world has experienced viral outbreaks before – such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-historians-ignored-the-spanish-flu-101950">Spanish flu</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-defoes-account-of-the-great-plague-of-1665-has-startling-parallels-with-today-135579">the plague</a> – it is very uncertain how communities will respond to the COVID-19 pandemic long-term.</p>
<p>COVID-19 presents a unique challenge as it is both natural and human in character. The threat of the virus is also invisible. During manmade traumas, such as <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-40666-001">shootings</a>, for example, people know where the threat is coming from. But people infected with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic and can potentially infect friends and loved ones. With COVID-19, everyone is a threat.</p>
<p>This, along with the biological nature of the crisis, may mean that it is seen as beyond the control of individuals and communities – with healthcare systems seen as being responsible for treating the virus.</p>
<p>The threat of COVID-19 is also universal. Natural disasters such as floods only tend to affect a discrete number of people and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0899764016654222">unaffected communities</a> can help with volunteering efforts. But COVID-19 is unprecedented in scale: impacting communities, health systems and economies across the globe. This makes it much harder for communities to rally together and support those in need.</p>
<p>Communities are also unable to meet in person. Research shows that social contact can bring a wealth of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2729718/">health and emotional benefits</a>. But as meeting in groups is not possible under strict social distancing polices, this poses a number of challenges for community recovery.</p>
<h2>The power of connection</h2>
<p>The future is uncertain and raises a number of questions in terms of the aftermath of the pandemic. Will we identify community on a micro level – in terms of our neighbourhoods or perhaps who we supported – or a macro level, perceiving this as a collective trauma on a global scale?</p>
<p>What is clear is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ConnectedCommunitiesWestCumbria/">the internet and social media</a> will play a central role in connecting and <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-29/february/storm-desmond-and-social-capital">mobilising communities to take up collective action</a> to support those in most need – as has been the case during other collective traumas. This is backed up by evidence which shows how <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279861590_Using_Social_Media_to_Build_Community_Disaster_Resilience">social media can support community development</a> and provide support to people during and after a disaster. </p>
<p>While social media may be at fault for fuelling fear and influencing behaviours like panic buying, it has also given many people the ability to socialise when other methods are not possible. During this crisis, there have already has been a wealth of examples of social media saving the day, for example, through Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/641606456669395">COVID-19 Mutual Aid Groups</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/CumbScrubVolunteers/?multi_permalinks=639762359912302%2C639343609954177%2C638387923383079%2C638099433411928%2C637846856770519&notif_id=1586951907523137&notif_t=group_activity&ref=notif">NHS Scrub Volunteer Groups</a>. Social media is also helping people to keep previous connections with communities, for example though <a href="https://www.facebook.com/woodbankchurch">online church services</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/phoenixyouthproject">youth groups</a>. </p>
<p>This highlights the importance of connection. Which is why, in the wake of the pandemic, <a href="https://theconversation.com/free-broadband-internet-access-is-now-a-human-right-no-matter-who-pays-the-bills-127267">internet access must be made available to everyone</a> and should be considered an essential resource, like water or electricity. In a precarious time, when physical connections are not possible and societal <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-already-increasing-inequality-135992">inequalities will be exacerbated</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-full-public-service-internet-state-owned-infrastructure-is-just-the-start-127458">the internet is a vital tool</a> to ensure everyone in society is connected and supported.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzanne Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When resources are drained, people are tired and communities are recovering from trauma, social connection is vital.
Suzanne Wilson, Research Fellow in Social Inclusion and Community Engagement, University of Central Lancashire
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135806
2020-04-21T20:06:37Z
2020-04-21T20:06:37Z
Coronavirus reminds us how liveable neighbourhoods matter for our well-being
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329287/original/file-20200420-51966-1q031b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C36%2C7971%2C5211&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/7FAhq93_Ir8">Chanan Greenblatt/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are witnessing changes in the ways we use our cities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-create-liveable-cities-first-we-must-work-out-the-key-ingredients-50898">liveability</a> of our local neighbourhoods has never been more important. </p>
<p>Right now, we are working together to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-flatten-the-curve-of-coronavirus-a-mathematician-explains-133514">flatten the curve</a> by staying home to control the spread of COVID-19 and reduce demand on health services. This means spending a lot more time at home and in our local neighbourhoods. We are all finding out about the strengths and weaknesses in the liveability of our neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>This experience can teach us some lessons about how to live and plan our communities in the future. A liveable neighbourhood promotes <a href="https://theconversation.com/your-local-train-station-can-predict-health-and-death-54946">good health</a> and social cohesion, both now and after this pandemic passes. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-create-liveable-cities-first-we-must-work-out-the-key-ingredients-50898">How do we create liveable cities? First, we must work out the key ingredients</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Heavy use of local open space</h2>
<p>Anybody who has left their home in the past few weeks will have noticed more people are using local streets and public open spaces. Parks and other public spaces are more popular than ever. Some are becoming <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/too-close-for-comfort-when-a-walk-in-the-park-is-no-walk-in-the-park-20200415-p54k46.html">too crowded for comfort</a>.</p>
<p>Accessible public space is a key ingredient of healthy and liveable places. Public <a href="https://www.healthyactivebydesign.com.au/design-features/public-open-spaces">green spaces provide multiple benefits</a> for mental and physical health, urban cooling, biodiversity, air pollution and stormwater runoff as identified in a previous review for the Heart Foundation. </p>
<p>Access to local <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">public open spaces has become even more important</a> as the current need to stay home adds to the impacts of increased density in the form of smaller houses, lot sizes and apartment living. Yet not everyone has access to local parks. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We looked at neighbourhood access to public open space using our liveability indicators included in the <a href="https://auo.org.au/">Australian Urban Observatory</a>. Not all neighbourhoods have access to public open space within 400 metres. We see this in neighbourhoods just north of the beach in North Bondi, Sydney, as the liveability map below shows. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329023/original/file-20200420-152571-rx4vtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Residents of neighbourhoods north of Bondi Beach in Sydney lack good access to nearby public open space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://auo.org.au/">Australian Urban Observatory</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found a similar pattern in neighbourhoods of St Kilda East in Melbourne. It’s a pattern repeated in many neighbourhoods across cities in Australia. </p>
<p>Private green spaces and backyards are also being appreciated more than ever. Many people are rushing to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/coronavirus-panic-buying-of-edible-plants-at-nurseries/12082988">plant fruits and vegetables at home</a>. </p>
<p>The private green spaces and biodiversity found in backyards are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1353829218307780">important influences on subjective well-being</a>. Connecting with nature in the garden is a <a href="https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/c53a850041a5a964af0fbfdb31a1ff3d/HPHP+MH+Discussion+Paper+Summary.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-c53a850041a5a964af0fbfdb31a1ff3d-mN5Nxe0">great way to support mental health</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-ways-nature-in-the-city-can-do-you-good-even-in-self-isolation-133150">3 ways nature in the city can do you good, even in self-isolation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Dogs are also enjoying more time with their owners in local green spaces and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-05/demand-for-pets-surge-as-australians-stay-at-home/12118888">pet ownership is increasing</a>. Office video conferences often <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/mar/18/working-like-a-dog-an-instagram-account-capturing-the-bright-side-of-social-distance">feature furry friends at home</a>. Let’s hope the increase in pet adoptions helps people cope with social distancing but also provides the animals with good long-term homes. </p>
<h2>Fewer cars, more cycling and walking</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/329022/original/file-20200420-152567-py5qss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reduced car traffic is making local streets safer and more usable for residents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dad-teaching-his-daughter-ride-bike-84488449">Tony Bowler/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the noticeable differences in our cities right now is the reduced car traffic in typically busy neighbourhoods where more people (including children) are out on bicycles and walking. Walkable environments with paths and cycleways are providing supportive and safe spaces for both recreational physical activity and for getting to places such as local shops and <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-017-0621-9">supermarkets</a> and offices without unnecessary exposure to other people. </p>
<p>The benefits are greatest for people living in <a href="https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/policy-and-strategy/planning-for-melbourne/plan-melbourne/20-minute-neighbourhoods">high-amenity walkable areas with access to such places within 800 metres</a>. Having services and facilities close by has been <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140516302729">shown to support walking for transport to shops and services</a>, promote health and <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-019-0775-8">reduce non-communicable diseases such as heart attacks and strokes</a>. </p>
<p>However, our new lives during this pandemic also highlight inequities in local access to health, community and social services. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2018.1443620">Research</a> shows access to these services is poorer in the low-density outer suburbs that are <a href="https://auo.org.au/measure/scorecards/">common across Australian cities</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-average-regional-city-resident-lacks-good-access-to-two-thirds-of-community-services-and-liveability-suffers-131910">The average regional city resident lacks good access to two-thirds of community services, and liveability suffers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Better air quality</h2>
<p>Reduced car traffic and industrial emissions are undoubtedly <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/covid-19-drop-in-pollution-to-be-short-lived">improving air quality in our cities</a>. In 2018, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/27/air-pollution-is-the-new-tobacco-warns-who-head">World Health Organisation declared air quality was the “new smoking”</a> as it increases respiratory problems and cardiovascular disease. The transport sector also contributes <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/series/urban-design">about 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions</a> . </p>
<p>Homes, schools and care facilities located within 300 metres of major roads are more exposed to air pollution and risk of disease. Those risks are likely to have decreased during the COVID-19 crisis. </p>
<p>At the moment, many of us are living and shopping locally and enjoying the co-benefits of the “slow walkable city”: less traffic, more active modes of transport, better air quality and less noise. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-access-is-good-for-new-housing-but-beware-the-pollution-77790">Transport access is good for new housing, but beware the pollution</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Valuing social cohesion</h2>
<p>Loneliness is a <a href="https://www.psychology.org.au/for-members/publications/inpsych/2018/August-Issue-4/Is-loneliness-Australia%E2%80%99s-next-public-health-epide">serious public health problem</a>. It causes premature deaths on a scale similar to that of smoking or obesity. </p>
<p>Pre-pandemic lifestyles involved time-poor people travelling widely to destinations for employment, education, recreation, socialising and extracurricular activities. The suburbs were <a href="https://theconversation.com/lonely-over-christmas-a-snapshot-of-social-isolation-in-the-suburbs-34810">places of much social isolation</a>. </p>
<p>With these activities now reined in, are we are seeing a rise in neighbourhood social connections due to people staying at home? Anecdotally, yes. It’s emerging through new or reinvigorated conversations with neighbours, support and sharing of goods (toilet paper anyone?), and coordinated neighbourhood support systems, such as WhatsApp groups and neighbourhood happy hours. Across the world, we can see this sense of neighbourhood belonging in the form of <a href="https://www.insider.com/coronavirus-pandemic-sparked-worldwide-bear-hunt-to-entertain-kids-2020-4">bear hunts</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-02/coronavirus-covid-19-chalk-messages-on-streets-around-australia/12102778">rainbow chalk drawings</a>. </p>
<p>It is well documented that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3109/09540261.2014.928270">feeling part of the community is good for your mental health</a>. Local support networks become even more important and valued during crises such as COVID-19. </p>
<p>These are just some of the more obvious reflections about the liveability of our neighbourhoods as we stay home to help contain the spread of COVID-19. No doubt there will be many more lessons to come that we need to remember and act on after the pandemic passes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melanie Davern receives funding from RMIT University and the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub funded by the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Billie Giles-Corti receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council for a Senior Principal Research Fellowship and the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities, the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, Clean Air and Urban Landscape Hub of the National Environment Science Program. She is a Fellow of the Public Health Association, an Honorary Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia and a member of Melbourne Forum. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Badland receives funding through an RMIT University Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Gunn receives funding from the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre and the NHMRC-funded Centre for Research Excellence in Healthy Liveable Communities. She is also funded by the RMIT Enabling Capability Platform-funded project on the 'Early delivery of equitable and healthy transport options in growth areas'.</span></em></p>
We are all finding out about neighbourhood liveability as we stay home for the coronavirus lockdown. What we learn about local strengths and weaknesses can help us improve our communities in future.
Melanie Davern, Senior Research Fellow, Director Australian Urban Observatory, Co-Director Healthy Liveable Cities Group, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University
Billie Giles-Corti, Distinguished Professor and Director, Urban Futures Enabling Capability Platform, and Director, Healthy Liveable Cities Group, RMIT University
Hannah Badland, Deputy Director, Centre for Urban Research; Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University
Lucy Gunn, Senior Research Fellow, Healthy Liveable Cities Group, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135477
2020-04-19T12:24:15Z
2020-04-19T12:24:15Z
Canada’s co-operatives: Helping communities during and after the coronavirus
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327350/original/file-20200412-196246-tr2prm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1279&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Post-pandemic, co-operatives can scale up to promote the values of mutuality, inclusivity, economic justice and organizational democracy towards a transitioned Canadian economy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the epidemiological impacts of COVID-19 grow exponentially, so do business closures, unemployment rates, poverty, housing and food insecurities. </p>
<p>It’s not surprising to <a href="http://www.coopresearch.coop/">researchers of co-operatives and community economic development</a> that the outbreak of COVID-19 spurred Canada’s co-operative sector to immediately step up and respond to the needs of communities — in many cases, sooner and more concretely than <a href="https://www.mccarthy.ca/en/insights/articles/covid-19-economic-relief-measures-announced-date">the federal, provincial and local governments</a> as well as large corporations. </p>
<p>For example, grocery co-ops innovated employee safety and salary top-up while worker co-ops quickly shifted to producing medical products, and credit unions offered far-reaching grants to community groups, loan deferrals and even <a href="https://www.vancity.com/AboutVancity/News/MediaReleases/VancityCutsCreditCardInterestRatesTo0_Apr08_2020/">zero-interest credit cards</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=342&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327863/original/file-20200414-117573-1ss80fs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Co-op Morell is a grocery co-op in Prince Edward Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The co-op sector can also be an integral part of the socio-economic rebuilding to come.</p>
<p>There are more than <a href="https://canada.coop/sites/canada.coop/files/factsheet_coop_success_en.pdf">31.8 million memberships</a> in co-operative enterprises in Canada that are present in most communities. Well-known Canadian co-ops include <a href="https://www.mec.ca/en/">MEC</a>, <a href="https://www.agropur.com/en">Agropur Coopérative</a> and <a href="https://www.cooperators.ca/">The Co-operators</a>.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/co-operative-movement">co-operatives have a significant history in this country</a>, their relevance during the current COVID-19 crisis has been especially consequential for members, communities and businesses. </p>
<p>Post-pandemic, will co-operatives and community economic organizations become leaders in rebuilding Canada’s economy to be more equitable and humane? Can the COVID-19 crisis be a call to a <a href="https://www.resilience.org/stories/2020-04-07/comparative-resilience-8-principles-for-post-covid-reconstruction/">much-needed economic transition</a>?</p>
<h2>Co-operatives for communities, by communities</h2>
<p>Canada’s co-operatives are a part of a global movement of <a href="https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/facts-and-figures">more than three million co-ops and a billion members</a>. Co-operatives are businesses co-owned by interested members rather than disconnected shareholders, rooting capital in local communities. Rather than prioritizing profit above all, co-operatives tend to <a href="http://dc.msvu.ca:8080/xmlui/handle/10587/1613">focus on member and community needs first</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-misunderstood-world-of-the-co-operative-enterprise-6015">The misunderstood world of the co-operative enterprise</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>They are <a href="https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity">guided by values and principles</a> of inclusivity, economic democracy, education and concern for community. They work towards fostering <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-013-9494-8">strong bonds of trust</a> with stakeholders and provide more equitable places <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-016-0083-2">to shop</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2437929">and work</a>. These features have been called “<a href="https://www.euricse.eu/jeod_articles/editorial-the-cooperative-advantage-for-community-development/">the co-operative advantage</a>.” </p>
<p><a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2196031">Community care</a> is at the heart of most of the millions of co-operatives the world over, including Canada’s. </p>
<p>Today, co-operatives are present across <a href="https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/106.nsf/eng/h_00151.html#section2">most of Canada’s economic sectors</a>, making up <a href="https://canada.coop/sites/canada.coop/files/factsheet_coop_success_en.pdf">3.4 per cent of its GDP</a> and generating almost <a href="https://canada.coop/sites/canada.coop/files/coop_gdp_report_english_web.pdf">$86 billion in business activity</a>.</p>
<h2>Co-ops’ quick responses during COVID-19</h2>
<p>By their very nature, co-operatives are already one step ahead of many other organizations for responding to crises because of the connected and action-oriented role they play in communities. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1245686212150558720"}"></div></p>
<p>Co-operatives are <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Cooperatives-and-the-World-of-Work-1st-Edition/Roelants-Eum-Esim-Novkovic-Katajamaki/p/book/9780367250850">stable employers</a>, communication conduits of communities’ needs, places where community members meet and create and venues for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/tsq.12138%22%22">participatory democracy</a>. This is why co-operatives have been able to rise quickly to the challenges COVID-19 has thrown at communities.</p>
<p>Canada’s consumer co-operatives — co-owned by people who buy and use their goods and services — were among the first businesses to secure employees’ incomes, set aside shopping time for vulnerable groups and contribute free goods and services to marginalized and at-risk people. </p>
<p>For instance, as early as mid-March, <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1689896/livraison-epicerie-covid19-alina-sainte-luce-bonenfant">Coopérative Alina in Rimouski, Qué.,</a> established bicycle-delivered lunch menus and nightly car-delivered services, whereas larger Canadian stores were still scaling up delivery in late March. </p>
<p>Also by mid-March, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6732377/coronavirus-calgary-co-op-safety-measures-hours/">Calgary Co-op</a>, one of the first grocery stores to offer differentiated hours for seniors shopping, raised front-line team members’ salaries by $2.50 an hour, retroactive to March 8. To compare, the federal government’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/economic-response-plan/wage-subsidy.html">Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy</a> was announced on April 1, and is retroactive to March 15.</p>
<p>Canada’s consumer co-ops are also leading inter-community co-operation. Québec’s <a href="https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2020/03/25/des-aides-pour-boucler-son-budget-en-temps-de-covid-19">Associations co-opératives d’économie familiale</a> have been working with local groups to help people who find themselves without pay and cash due to the COVID-19 crisis. The <a href="https://chfcanada.coop/housing-co-ops-and-covid-19/">Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada</a>, meanwhile, by March 17 had co-ordinated, along with the co-op housing sector, rental relief and mortgage payment assistance with credit unions.</p>
<h2>Helping vulnerable groups</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-26317-9_21">Worker co-ops</a> — businesses co-owned by employees — have been in step with <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/cooperatives/news/WCMS_740254/lang--en/index.htm">international trends</a> by supplying vulnerable groups and other local businesses or community associations with vital goods or services, often free of charge.</p>
<p>Montreal-based <a href="https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1681682/couturieres-couture-quebec-coronavirus-covid-masques-blouses">Co-op Couturières Pop</a> is now primarily producing much-needed hospital garments and face masks. Worker-owned microbrewery <a href="https://www.lhebdodustmaurice.com/covid-19-huit-initiatives-prises-par-le-trou-du-diable/">Le Trou du Diable</a> in Shawinigan, Qué., has topped up employee salaries by $5 an hour, continued to honour advertising purchases and even bought new ad space on local newspaper websites in order to help sustain the papers’ precarious revenue stream during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.ratehub.ca/blog/banks-vs-credit-unions-in-canada/">credit unions</a> — financial institutions co-owned by savers and service users — have also stepped up more significantly compared to the <a href="https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-banks-must-do-more-to-help-canadians-weather-covid-19/">commercial banking sector</a>, which has been more cautious responding to the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-covid-19-disruptions-could-send-many-canadian-households-into-a/">everyday financial difficulties brought on by COVID-19</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327462/original/file-20200413-125133-174z05a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Desjardins Group has offered credit relief to its members.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By March 16, <a href="https://www.journaldequebec.com/2020/04/02/covid-19-desjardins-baisse-le-taux-de-ses-cartes-de-credit">Desjardins Group</a>, North America’s largest credit union federation, offered credit relief on a per-needed basis to members in addition to reduced credit card rates. <a href="https://theprovince.com/news/covid-19-vancity-cuts-credit-card-interest-for-those-facing-financial-difficulty/wcm/f7686c76-b75f-41ba-bf72-e2083e466443">Vancity Credit Union</a> went even further, deferring payments and reducing credit card interest rates for people most affected by the pandemic to zero; as of April 9, no commercial bank in Canada had gone this far in offering credit relief.</p>
<p>By March 18, Vancity Credit Union had also partnered with charities to form the <a href="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/whats-new/communityresponsefund">Community Response Fund</a>; as of <a href="https://www.vancouverfoundation.ca/whats-new/community-response-fund-update">April 8</a>, donations to the relief fund totalled $6 million and helped 33 non-profits and charities.</p>
<p>And by March 19, <a href="https://www.interior-news.com/news/covid-19-northern-savings-credit-union-offers-deferrals-for-mortgages-other-loans/">Northern Savings Credit Union</a> was offering credit deferral, <a href="https://www.ladysmithchronicle.com/news/ldcu-offers-no-interest-loans-for-members-in-need/">Ladysmith Credit Union</a> offered interest-free loans by late March, and by April 3 <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4641901#ixzz6IwQOXsrR">Libro Credit Union</a> contributed $320,000 to United Way emergency response programs.</p>
<p>Co-operatives can respond quickly because they already know what their members and communities need and want. They already have in place the necessary values, systems and operations to meet those member and community needs.</p>
<h2>Imagining a more co-operative economy</h2>
<p>It’s possible for existing co-operatives and support organizations, and their community-based responses to the crisis, to scale up. They have during other periods of crisis <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/antigonish-movement">in Canada</a>. Post-pandemic, they can promote the values of mutuality, inclusivity, economic justice and organizational democracy towards a new Canadian economy.</p>
<p><a href="https://mailchi.mp/canada.coop/covid19">But that means co-operatives must continue to be included in supportive funding packages</a> during the pandemic. To scale up further also requires new business and economic development legislation and policies to facilitate co-operative start-ups, or the conversion of <a href="http://www.coopconvert.ca/">troubled businesses and those with succession challenges into new co-ops</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://canadianworker.coop/a-proposal-for-shining-light-into-this-darkness-with-the-solidarity-co-operative-movement/">worker co-operative</a> and <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQE_-Tfcq6t9lt_iVXaPT9gKP1Di5_JjTYnCMCdSw5NOSZ99NdGkzt_OaVwHU-5Ow/pub">community economic development</a> sectors have already delivered proposals <a href="https://mailchi.mp/canada.coop/covid19#EN">to the federal government to make this happen.</a></p>
<p>Co-operatives can and should be key to Canada’s economic rebuilding and rethinking — now and following the COVID-19 pandemic. <a href="https://canada.coop/en/news/release-study-co-operatives-and-mutuals-age-uncertainty">Canadians, in fact, are very open to co-operative business models and values</a>. </p>
<p>After addressing the immediate challenges of COVID-19 co-operatively, the time for a new and more co-operative economy for Canada is ready for seizing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcelo Vieta (University of Toronto) leads a Partnership Development Grant project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which includes a capacity-building partnership with Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada and IRECUS (Université de Sherbrooke ).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fiona Duguid (Cape Breton University) is a lead researcher on a Partnership Development Grant project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, which includes a capacity-building partnership with Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada and IRECUS (Université de Sherbrooke ). </span></em></p>
Co-operatives can and should be key to Canada’s economic rebuilding and rethinking — now and following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marcelo Vieta, Assistant Professor, Adult Education and Community Development, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Fiona Duguid, Adjunct Professor of Community Economic Development in the MBA Program, Cape Breton University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/129958
2020-01-27T17:36:29Z
2020-01-27T17:36:29Z
Co-working demystified: Behind the working world revolution
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310064/original/file-20200114-151862-giyuj0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1343%2C667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Co-working spaces have become an innovative way to work away from a central office without necessarily being alone at home.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/">(Shutterstock)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Co-working spaces have been growing in all the world’s major cities for 15 years. But what makes them so popular? Why and when did they appear? Who are their members?</p>
<p>New technologies such as artificial intelligence and robots are leading employers to rethink the way they work. At the same time, workers want more autonomy and flexibility. Many have chosen self-employment to escape organizational constraints and to determine where and when they will work. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/repenser-travail-2799.html">aspirations of workers as well as the expectations of employers</a> have therefore changed significantly in recent years. Many employees want to work from home; others want to work outside company headquarters but with other people.</p>
<p>As a specialist in human resources management and sociology of work, I have been researching co-working spaces for the past five years and have identified the main sources of interest and success of these places.</p>
<h2>A neutral and open place</h2>
<p>Co-working areas, fab labs and living labs are also called <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/The_Great_Good_Place.html?id=0aOjHGdSKLMC">third places</a>. The American sociologist Ray Oldenburg defines them as workplaces outside the office or usual place of work, but also outside the home, as is often the case with teleworking.</p>
<p>A third place is neutral (neither at home nor at the employer’s office), open to all, with free and unrestricted access (especially with regard to activities). It should facilitate conversations and meetings and should also provide meeting rooms and space for coffee breaks, lunch and dinner. Ideally, the space should be regularly used by the same users.</p>
<h2>Spaces for co-creation</h2>
<p>The first co-working space was created in 2005, in San Francisco, to allow users to develop their creativity, innovation and ideas. The total number of co-working spaces <a href="http://www.deskmag.com/en/coworking-space-members-how-when-why-are-people-working-in-coworking-spaces-statistics-market-report">now exceeds 14,000</a>. Some spaces disappear while others are created. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308931/original/file-20200108-107219-1lj817a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first co-working space appeared in 2005 in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A co-working space allows its users to share the same place with the type of equipment that can be found in an office (photocopier, printer, scanner). Workers can use this equipment and share expenses in exchange for weekly or monthly rental fees.</p>
<p>Offices may be in an open area to facilitate chance meetings. This is preferred by many self-employed workers, but small businesses or start-ups often prefer closed offices for more confidentiality. Both types of offices can be located in a co-working space, which helps to reduce isolation <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/tem/4200">through the presence of a kitchen or coffee corner, where workers meet</a>.</p>
<p>In this way, the co-working space has become an innovative solution to the desire to work away from a central office, without necessarily being alone at home. It is also attractive for self-employed workers who prefer to work in a space where there are other workers.</p>
<h2>Facilitating networking</h2>
<p>Ideally, a co-working space should go beyond cost-sharing or offering services. It should also be a place to share ideas and network, and allow members to develop professional co-operation.</p>
<p>Some co-working spaces bring together particular categories of workers, in the same sector or with professional links. The principle of a co-working space is to rent working space, which helps to reduce costs, but also to encourage networking and exchange of ideas.</p>
<p>To develop this collaboration, people must find a common interest to encourage exchanges. Some spaces emphasize proximity of mission or vocation (all social economy enterprises, for example), which can increase members’ interest and desire to collaborate with each other.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/308935/original/file-20200108-107249-1c8c8pb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Planners create shared places in co-working spaces with the aim to encourage meetings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By working together in the same space, users can find common solutions to facilitate knowledge sharing and face an increasingly competitive environment. Even though some self-employed workers prefer to work alone, they still have people to share coffee breaks and lunch with, and sometimes ideas and contacts to support their activity and exchanges.</p>
<p>There is not always an explicit strategy to encourage interaction, but many spaces have a facilitator whose role is precisely to ensure that people get to know each other and end up co-operating on projects.</p>
<p>Our research underscores the importance of available financial, material and human resources, particularly in terms of facilitation resources. A space created without these resources is less likely to encourage knowledge sharing, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-journal-of-innovation-economics-2019-0.htm">collaboration and may even have some difficulty surviving</a>.</p>
<h2>Diverse realities</h2>
<p>Co-working has become popular all over the world, but it refers to diverse realities. Indeed, depending on the city or region where it appears, one will find more individuals, self-employed workers or, on the contrary, small businesses or start-ups, <a href="https://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/tiers-lieux-3590.html">with different objectives in setting up there</a>.</p>
<p>Co-working spaces can be used by people who want a more professional business address than a home to receive their clients. In addition, they can often have a large meeting room, providing a more formal setting for meetings.</p>
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</p>
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<p>Some <em>co-workers</em> may use a space primarily for benefits such as cost reduction, sharing of human resources (administrative support) or equipment (printer, photocopier, meeting rooms), or simply for comfort and services (common kitchen, good coffee maker, comfortable sofas and chairs).</p>
<h2>Fear of competition</h2>
<p>It can sometimes be difficult to interact with colleagues in the same field. Some people may perceive these people as competitors who might steal their customers. Some co-working spaces refuse to accept people who could be seen as competitors of other members.</p>
<p>Collaboration does not always happen in a co-working space. Indeed, although it has often been presented as an advantage, no study has so far clearly demonstrated the advantage of co-working spaces to foster more collaboration. This remains to be documented.</p>
<p>Indeed, physical proximity does not necessarily lead to professional proximity, as some people prefer to work in isolation. For example, we have observed spaces that have wanted to specialize in a sector, such as the cultural or social economy sector, but that in fact got very few or no workers in this field.</p>
<p>Even if the discourse or objective is sometimes different, most managers of co-working spaces end up accommodating all categories of workers. Recent studies have shown that without this inclusive vision, there may not be enough clients to keep the space active, especially in small towns or outside the city.</p>
<p>A co-working space can stimulate creativity, innovation, initiative and a sense of belonging to the same community, but this is not always the case. In fact, exchanges and collaboration seem to be easier between self-employed workers than with employees of the same company, who sometimes tend to stay with each other in a co-working space. On the other hand, exchanges can often be helped by the presence of a facilitator.</p>
<p>Co-working spaces are therefore diversified and create opportunities for collaboration, but also certain challenges (profitability, development of exchanges). In any case, interest in this type of space is present in all major cities in the world and also in many small regional towns. This is clearly a new way of working, with the possibility of fostering exchanges, collaboration and networking.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129958/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>
Co-working spaces have become popular since they were created in 2005, allowing self-employed workers to have a professional space outside an office and avoid isolation. But does it really work?
Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay, Professeure à l'Université TELUQ, Université du Québec, directrice de l'ARUC sur la gestion des âges et des temps sociaux et de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur l'économie du savoir, Université TÉLUQ
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127745
2019-11-27T14:30:50Z
2019-11-27T14:30:50Z
Communities can make – or break – strategies to curb HIV
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303481/original/file-20191125-74576-1d7ol9y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The fight against AIDS can't be won without communities.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Narendra Shrestha/EPA-EFE</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Communities have long played a critical role in the fight against HIV. Their activism and advocacy have greatly influenced the response to HIV/AIDS over the past four decades. </p>
<p>From the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/14/health/aids-atlanta-emory-university-the-80s/index.html">early 1980s</a>, communities have fought for the rights and needs of those most affected. For example, faced with stigma and discrimination, gay communities in the US provided prevention advice, care and support. They also fought for treatment development and access. </p>
<p>By the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/02/09/689924838/how-to-demand-a-medical-breakthrough-lessons-from-the-aids-fight">mid-1980s</a> the extent of the pandemic elsewhere in the world was becoming apparent. International, regional and local community activism became instrumental in fighting for access to treatment and stronger policy-level interventions. </p>
<p><a href="https://tac.org.za/category/about/">Communities</a> across Africa, as well as those representing vulnerable groups such as sex workers, began to demand inclusion in the fight against HIV. </p>
<p>Nowhere was this more pronounced than in South Africa, which continues to carry the highest burden of HIV in the world. By the late 1990s community mobilisation and activism were at the heart of much of the debate around HIV/AIDS. </p>
<p>The victories they secured were particularly notable. Fighting against an administration that denied the existence of a link between HIV and AIDS, communities and <a href="https://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview">advocacy groups successfully mobilised</a> action on a <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/disease/news/south-african-activists-win-nevirapine-court-case.html">number of fronts</a>. They fought for – and won – the provision of <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/disease/news/south-african-activists-win-nevirapine-court-case.html">nevirapine</a> to HIV-positive pregnant women and later fought for the provision of <a href="https://tac.org.za/category/about/">ARV treatment</a> to all HIV positive people.</p>
<p>Communities continue to be vital in efforts to bring the pandemic under control, proving themselves as custodians and keepers of rich knowledge that creates the context in which HIV transmission occurs. They can also be the catalyst for the social change that is needed to reduce future HIV transmission in key populations. One such example is HIV infections among young women, who remain the most vulnerable group in southern Africa.</p>
<h2>Social norms</h2>
<p>Why are communities fundamental to future <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2019-global-AIDS-update_en.pdf">HIV prevention intervention</a> designs? The answer lies in the fact that HIV transmission is profoundly social. </p>
<p>In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is transmitted primarily in the context of heterosexual sex, which is shaped and controlled by social and cultural norms. Research highlights a host of <a href="https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-around-world/sub-saharan-africa/overview">social practices</a> that hinder HIV prevention efforts. These include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>struggles to negotiate condom use in relationships, </p></li>
<li><p>the use of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2018.1453086">vaginal products</a> to enhance sex, </p></li>
<li><p>issues of stigma, sexual violence and poverty, and </p></li>
<li><p>access to sexual and reproductive health care services. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Individual models of understanding risk don’t capture the full complexity of HIV transmission. This is because HIV transmission is rooted in social practices, and influenced by the broader context.</p>
<p>A good way to illustrate this is by considering factors that drive HIV transmission among young women. They are the most burdened by HIV in east and southern Africa and accounted for more than a quarter of <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2019-global-AIDS-update_en.pdf">new infections in 2018</a> – and yet they make up only 10% of the population. </p>
<p>Additionally, young women <a href="http://files.unaids.org/en/media/unaids/contentassets/documents/unaidspublication/2014/UNAIDS_Gap_report_en.pdf">have higher rates of HIV infection</a> than their male counterparts, acquiring HIV between five to seven years earlier than their male peers.</p>
<p>This gender imbalance in HIV infection is the result of many different factors that cut across the context in which women negotiate their lives. These range from biological vulnerabilities (including genital inflammation and the microbial diversity of the vagina), to relationships, their familial context, school completion rates and the broader socio-political world.</p>
<p>This means that preventing HIV transmission demands a deep engagement with the social, cultural, community and political factors that produce vulnerability and risk. </p>
<p>In HIV prevention this involves designing interventions that tackle the complexity of how young women come to be infected and what potential prevention efforts need to be taken.</p>
<p>But this can only succeed if there’s a deeper effort to include communities in the design of interventions that are responsive to local settings. This could, for example, include tackling harmful social norms, ensuring that women who need them have access to prevention technologies and treatment. They could also include empowering young girls, and tackling negative gender norms and gender based violence.</p>
<h2>The roll-out</h2>
<p>Communities have a critical role to play in ensuring that prevention interventions move from the realm of proven efficacy to real-world effectiveness. </p>
<p>A range of new HIV prevention technologies, such as treatment and prevention, including the oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) and voluntary medical male circumcision, are now available. Yet global HIV incidence has declined by <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/2019-global-AIDS-update_en.pdf">less than 2%</a> per year since 2010. </p>
<p>Research shows that these <a href="https://www.prepwatch.org/">new HIV prevention</a> modalities – such as PrEP – are underutilised. In addition, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4422218/">38.5%</a> of those infected are not receiving treatment. Retention in care remains <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4422218/">suboptimal</a>.</p>
<p>The big question is how to get people to use what is available.</p>
<p>Engagement is an important part of the answer as communities create the social context that not only supports, but facilitates the linkage of those who need HIV prevention and treatment services.</p>
<p>For adolescent girls and young women in particular, communities could support comprehensive sexual health education, leading the way in respecting their rights to independently access sexual and reproductive health services. Communities can help target negative social and gender norms that increase the vulnerability of young women. Examples include ensuring young women who seek prevention or treatment aren’t stigmatised or discriminated against.</p>
<p>Communities can also play a role in holding governments accountable for ensuring that services are accessible to all those who need it.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>UNAIDS affirms the importance of communities in the fight against HIV through <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/world-aids-day-2019-communities-make-the-difference_en.pdf">“communities making a difference”</a>. </p>
<p>But communities need more. They need greater <a href="https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/world-aids-day-2019-communities-make-the-difference_en.pdf">recognition as equal partners</a> in the fight against HIV as well as resources to continue doing the critically important work they are doing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hilton Humphries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Communities continue to be vital in efforts to bring the pandemic under control. They are the custodians of rich knowledge that creates the context in which HIV transmission occurs.
Hilton Humphries, Behavioural Scientist, Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127305
2019-11-26T17:12:53Z
2019-11-26T17:12:53Z
Signs of hope for community after Toronto high-rise fire displaces hundreds
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303250/original/file-20191123-74562-28emrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1081%2C810&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 235 Gosford Apartments, one week after the tragic Nov. 15 2019 fire.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jack Rozdilsky</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the evening of Nov. 15, 2019, the <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/apartment-fire-1.5361965">Toronto Fire Service responded to a five-alarm fire</a> at a 15-storey apartment building located in the northwest part of the city at 235 Gosford Boulevard.</p>
<p>The fire killed one resident, injured six and displaced hundreds. While it was initially reported that up to 700 people were left homeless, Toronto Emergency Management Authorities <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/11/16/north-york-residents-face-uncertain-future-after-highrise-blaze-leaves-one-dead-hundreds-displaced.html">reported that approximately 354 people have been displaced</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Ob3dms4F40?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">CityNews coverage of the five-alarm fire on Nov. 15, 2019.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Urban fires</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, Toronto is again coping with the complex aftermath of a common urban disaster — fires occurring in large tower block apartment buildings. In large cities, fires are an everyday occurrence. In 2018, the Toronto Fire Service <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/8e80-A1902231_TFSAnnualReport2018_WEB.pdf">responded to 181,928 fires</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nsc.org/home-safety/safety-topics/emergency-preparedness/fire">November and December are considered peak months</a> for fire-related deaths. This is due to holiday-related cooking accidents and an increased need for indoor heating with colder weather. </p>
<p>A majority of fire emergencies are disastrous for the individuals and households involved. These emergencies can be aptly handled by standing first responders and existing social service programs like the <a href="https://www.whathappensnow.com/how-the-red-cross-works/">Canadian Red Cross’s programs to assist after a fire</a>. But on occasion, these high-rise fires expand from everyday emergencies into full-blown disasters. The disaster-like characteristics of such fires multiply when they occur at densely populated high-rise tower blocks and in areas of the city that <a href="https://www.unitedwaygt.org/document.doc?id=61">are already socially and economically distressed</a>.</p>
<h2>The Black Creek neighbourhood</h2>
<p>The Gosford fire occurred in Toronto’s Black Creek neighbourhood, an already distressed area. Census data indicates the neighbourhood has <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/ext/sdfa/Neighbourhood%20Profiles/pdf/2016/pdf1/cpa24.pdf">a population of 21,737</a>: 55 per cent of residents live in apartment buildings of five storeys or greater (compared to 44 per cent for Toronto). Sixty-seven per cent are renters (compared to 47 per cent for the city). Visible minorities make up 81 per cent of the neighbourhood (compared to 52 per cent for the city), and the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/75f0002m/75f0002m2019009-eng.htm">poverty rate is 34 per cent</a> compared to the rest of the city at 22 per cent.</p>
<p>In a 2014 report, the neighbourhood was considered <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/03/13/black_creek_neighbourhood_deemed_torontos_least_livable.html">Toronto’s least liveable</a>. Black Creek received <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2014/cd/bgrd/backgroundfile-67351.pdf">Toronto’s lowest score</a> on a Neighbourhood Equity Score index — 21.38 on a scale of zero to 100. Despite the challenges faced, residents suggest that the neighbourhood’s diversity is its strength and it <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/m_blog/despite-what-you-have-heard-torontos-jane-and-finch-community-is-joyful-res">does not deserve the negative reputation it sometimes receives</a>.</p>
<h2>Sudden displacement</h2>
<p>The Gosford fire has displaced two to three per cent of the Black Creek neighbourhood on a sudden-onset and unexpected basis. It is not known when the displaced residents will be able to return to their homes in the high-rise building. Many affected families have been <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/to-be-homeless-it-s-a-difficult-feeling-residents-displaced-by-high-rise-fire-speak-out-1.4698139">thrust into precarious lodging and financial situations</a>.</p>
<p>The disaster response has ranged from the deployment of city buses for immediate respite sheltering to the establishment of reception centre and mass shelter operation at York University. The <a href="http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/it/newsrel.nsf/11476e3d3711f56e85256616006b891f/f356084892836375852584b5006be1ab?OpenDocument">City of Toronto is responsible for the shelter</a>, the Canadian Red Cross provides for day-to-day operation of the shelter and York University has <a href="https://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2019/11/17/message-to-the-university-community-regarding-the-tragic-fire-at-235-gosford-blvd/">provided the space for mass sheltering</a>. A week after the fire, approximately 45 people are living at the re-purposed athletic centre, and the length of their stay may be weeks. </p>
<p>The scope of this disaster has expanded to the point where it is expected that long-term provision of emergency social services will be needed. An <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/6204703/residents-appeal-for-donations-toronto-fire/">appeal for more community help</a> has been issued by residents. </p>
<p>At worst, the Gosford fire will deal a blow to individuals and the community that cannot be overcome. A neighborhood becomes increasingly distressed, residents with stable livelihoods are thrown into long-term disarray and precarious residents fall through the cracks. </p>
<p>Open questions ranging from the short-term decisions of when and how to phase out the mass sheltering operation to long-term questions related to best meeting the transitional housing needs of those persons displaced (in an already tight and expensive rental housing market) can all become messy. </p>
<p>Problems include dozens of traumatized persons needing to regain a sense of safety, the real possibility that the aid provided may fall short and the fact that some people may not have renter’s insurance. In the end, who pays for it all? Then the lawsuits begin.</p>
<h2>Ongoing displacement</h2>
<p>In August 2018, another Toronto <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/10/04/fire-marshals-report-says-650-parliament-fire-caused-65-million-in-damage.html">high-rise apartment fire at 650 Parliament Street</a> displaced 1,500 persons. More than a year later, persons displaced from that fire remain out of their homes with their lives on hold. <a href="https://www.kristynwongtam.ca/650parliamentupdates">Normalcy has not yet returned</a> to displaced residents and challenges such as <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/5791483/650-parliament-one-year-anniversary/">instability with children, mobility and health problems exist</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, community stakeholders may come together to help their neighbours through this emergency. Disasters can provide opportunities for <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/hurricane-katrinas-lesson-in-civics/402961/">people to come together and help each other</a>. </p>
<p>The fire dealt a severe blow to the Black Creek neighbourhood, but it is not something that is unprecedented for large cities. In the much more devastating <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/combustible-cladding-on-london-s-grenfell-tower-key-to-deadly-fire-inquiry-1.5340634">2017 high-rise fire at London’s Grenfell Tower that killed 72 residents</a>, <a href="http://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=8996605&fileOId=8996606">examples of community resiliency emerged</a>. </p>
<p>There are numerous signs of hope in Toronto. For the first time in its history, York University made shelter space available. The Toronto District School Board has launched a <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/About-Us/TDSB-Charity-Page">relief fund for families affected by the Gosford fire</a>. And while the disaster of the Gosford fire presents many challenges, it is hoped that resiliency will prevail over distress and desolation.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack L. Rozdilsky works for York University. He has previously received funding from the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.</span></em></p>
A fire in Toronto’s Black Creek neighbourhood displaced hundreds of people. One person died of smoke inhalation. The after-disaster response reveals some of the challenges faced by urban communities.
Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, Canada
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/122245
2019-08-27T11:58:56Z
2019-08-27T11:58:56Z
Companies don’t need permission from the Business Roundtable to be better corporate citizens
<p>A business group that represents the <a href="https://www.businessroundtable.org/about-us/members">CEOs of America’s most powerful companies</a> recently
issued a statement that <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelldebevoise/2019/08/23/3-steps-to-activate-the-business-roundtable-statement/#24cb55345462">may sound like a roar</a>. </p>
<p>But it’s actually more of a whimper. </p>
<p>For decades, the Business Roundtable has maintained that the primary purpose of a corporation is to provide returns for its shareholders. The Roundtable – which <a href="https://www.businessroundtable.org/about-us">represents 193 companies with over US$7 trillion in revenue</a> and almost 15 million employees – <a href="https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans">now says</a> that corporations “share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders,” including employees, communities and suppliers. </p>
<p>This is a big symbolic win, but it is unlikely to change how companies – even those that signed, such as Amazon, Boeing and Pfizer – actually behave. Ultimately, only shareholders have an actual seat at the table and can vote on who runs the company. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/erik-gordon">adviser to corporate managers</a>, I have spent countless hours listening to executives discussing what shareholders want. I haven’t heard more than 20 minutes of talk about what employees, communities or suppliers need or deserve. </p>
<p>A statement from a group of CEOs, no matter how powerful, won’t fundamentally change how they operate. But there’s one thing that will. </p>
<h2>A symbolic change of tune</h2>
<p>The idea of shareholder primacy first emerged in a <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.2307/1331341">1932 Harvard Law Review article</a> by Adolphe Berle, a Columbia University law professor who served on President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Brain Trust.” Berle said “all powers granted to a corporation or to the management of a corporation … [are] at all times exercisable only for the ratable benefit of the shareholders.” </p>
<p>Until now, that was essentially the position of the Business Roundtable, which was founded in 1972. In a 1997 “<a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/693/Statement_on_Corporate_Governance_Business-Roundtable-1997%281%29.pdf?1566830902">Statement on Corporate Governance</a>,” for example, the Roundtable said “the principal objective of a business enterprise is to generate economic returns to its owners.” </p>
<p>But on Aug. 19, the Roundtable changed its tune. The 182 CEOs who signed the statement said they are committed to not only generating long-term value for shareholders but also:</p>
<ul>
<li>delivering value to their customers</li>
<li>investing in their employees</li>
<li>dealing fairly and ethically with their suppliers and</li>
<li>supporting their communities and embracing sustainable practices.</li>
</ul>
<p>The new commitments represent a symbolic victory for <a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-shareholders-vs-stakeholders-debate/">those who want</a> companies to consider the interests of not just its shareholders but of other groups that are affected by corporate behavior. The statement signals this view is now Corporate America’s as well.</p>
<p>But in practice, the statement doesn’t really amount to much. </p>
<h2>The purpose of a corporation</h2>
<p>First of all, the Roundtable doesn’t actually have the power to define the purposes of corporations or the duties of managers who run them. Those duties are a matter of corporate law. </p>
<p><a href="https://delcode.delaware.gov/title8/c001/sc04/">Corporate law states</a> that the “business and affairs of every corporation … shall be managed by or under the direction of a board of directors.” And these directors in turn <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2308640/cede-co-v-technicolor-inc/">owe fiduciary duties</a> of care and loyalty to the corporation and its <a href="http://www.potteranderson.com/delawarecase-Frederick-Hsu-Living-Trust-v-ODN-Holding-Corp-April-14-2017.html">stockholders</a> – no one else. </p>
<p>CEOs cannot alter these legal duties by signing a statement. The Roundtable is neither a state legislature nor a supreme court, so its statement doesn’t change the law.</p>
<h2>No law forbids doing good</h2>
<p>More to the point, the law doesn’t need changing in order for companies to be able to do “good.” That is, even though the law creates a specific duty to shareholders, it doesn’t prevent companies from considering the interests of other groups. </p>
<p>No law requires companies to maximize shareholder returns by paying employees the minimum necessary to keep them on the job. No law requires managers to treat suppliers unfairly, disrespect the communities in which they work or to shun sustainable practices – if doing so will yield higher returns for shareholders.</p>
<p>The law is even more expansive than the Roundtable statement. No law forbids corporations from taking money that could have gone to shareholders and donating it to hospitals or museums. </p>
<p>In fact, the <a href="https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/young_lawyers/publications/101/fiduciary_duties_of_directors_coporate_takeover.authcheckdam.pdf">only time companies have to exclusively focus of maximizing shareholder value</a> is when selling the company. Otherwise, they are free to do many things that benefit people who are not shareholders. </p>
<p>For decades the Roundtable <a href="https://www.businessroundtable.org/archive/resources/sustainability/2017">has touted</a> the efforts of its members in supporting the environment, their workers and their communities. It didn’t take a statement to incite those efforts. It took changes of heart – or, perhaps more often, public pressure.</p>
<p>If you think some or most companies are behaving badly, the Business Roundtable’s statement shouldn’t lift your hopes that their behavior will get any better. Shareholders will remain primary. </p>
<p>But at least these companies recognize that <a href="https://sustainablebrands.com/read/marketing-and-comms/new-report-reveals-86-of-us-consumers-expect-companies-to-act-on-social-environmental-issues">people expect</a> a lot more from them. That’s what <a href="https://theconversation.com/investors-consumers-and-workers-are-changing-capitalism-for-the-better-by-demanding-companies-behave-more-responsibly-119281">is forcing change</a>.</p>
<p>[ <em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erik Gordon has in the past done consulting work for various companies, including those in the Business Roundtable but not for about seven years. More recently he has requested and received data for use in his research from some of the group’s member companies.</span></em></p>
A group of America’s most powerful CEOs said companies should no longer merely focus on maximizing shareholder wealth. A business professor explains why it’s not a big deal.
Erik Gordon, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/114729
2019-04-03T19:17:17Z
2019-04-03T19:17:17Z
Goodbye Google+, but what happens when online communities close down?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267238/original/file-20190403-177184-jfjjy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1040%2C359%2C2100%2C2131&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Google+ is the latest online community to close.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/rvlsoft </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week saw the <a href="https://support.google.com/plus/answer/9195133">closure of Google+</a>, an attempt by the online giant to create a social media community to rival Facebook.</p>
<p>If the <a href="https://www.socialmedianews.com.au/social-media-statistics-australia-march-2019/">Australian usage of Google+</a> is anything to go by – just 45,000 users in March compared to Facebook’s 15 million – it never really caught on.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267235/original/file-20190403-177190-1fdsynv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google+ is no longer available to users.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Google+/Screengrab</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the Google+ shutdown follows a string of organisations that have disabled or restricted community features such as reviews, user comments and message boards (forums).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sexual-subcultures-are-collateral-damage-in-tumblrs-ban-on-adult-content-108169">Sexual subcultures are collateral damage in Tumblr’s ban on adult content</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>So are we witnessing the decline of online communities and user comments?</p>
<h2>Turning off online communities and user generated content</h2>
<p>One of the most well-known message boards – which existed on the popular movie website <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/imdb-message-boards-shut-down-why-films-a7562701.html">IMDb</a> since 2001 – was shut down by owner Amazon in 2017 with just two weeks’ notice for its users.</p>
<p>This is not only confined to online communities but mirrors a trend among organisations to restrict or turn off their user-generated content. Last year the subscription video-on-demand website <a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/9977">Netflix</a> said it no longer allowed users to write reviews. It subsequently <a href="https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/netflix-deletes-all-user-reviews-1202908904/">deleted all existing user-generated reviews</a>.</p>
<p>Other popular websites have disabled their comments sections, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments">National Public Radio (NPR)</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/letters/archive/2018/02/we-want-to-hear-from-you/552170/">The Atlantic</a>, <a href="https://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/why-were-shutting-our-comments">Popular Science</a> and <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/11/07/editors-note-reader-comments-in-the-age-of-social-media/">Reuters</a>.</p>
<h2>Why the closures?</h2>
<p>Organisations have a range of motivations for taking such actions, ranging from low uptake, running costs, the challenges of managing moderation, as well as the problem around divisive comments, conflicts and lack of community cohesion.</p>
<p>In the case of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/01/closure-google-plus-everything-you-need-to-know">Google+</a>, low usage <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/oct/08/google-plus-security-breach-wall-street-journal">alongside data breaches</a> appear to have sped up its decision.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments">NPR</a> explained its motivation to remove user comments by highlighting how in one month its website <a href="https://www.npr.org/">NPR.org</a> attracted 33 million unique users and 491,000 comments. But those comments came from just 19,400 commenters; the number of commenters who posted in consecutive months was a fraction of that.</p>
<p>This led <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/publiceditor/2016/08/17/489516952/npr-website-to-get-rid-of-comments">NPR’s managing editor for digital news, Scott Montgomery, to say</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We’ve reached the point where we’ve realized that there are other, better ways to achieve the same kind of community discussion around the issues we raise in our journalism.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He said audiences had also moved to engage with NPR more on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NPR/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/NPR">Twitter</a>.</p>
<p>Likewise, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/letters/archive/2018/02/we-want-to-hear-from-you/552170/">The Atlantic</a> explained that its comments sections had become “unhelpful, even destructive, conversations” and was exploring new ways to give users a voice.</p>
<p>In the case of IMDB closing its message boards in 2017, the <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/imdb-message-boards-shut-down-why-films-a7562701.html">reason given was</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] we have concluded that IMDb’s message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/06/imdb-shuts-down-message-boards">organisation also nudged users</a> towards other forms of social media, such as its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/imdb">Facebook page</a> and Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/imdb">@IMDB</a>, as the “(…) primary place they (users) choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb’s editors and one another”.</p>
<h2>User backlash</h2>
<p>Unsurprisingly, such actions often lead to confusion, criticism and disengagement by user communities, and in some cases petitions to have the features reinstated (such as <a href="https://www.change.org/p/google-save-google">this one for Google+</a>) and boycotts of the organisations. </p>
<p>But most organisations take these aspects into their decision-making.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267236/original/file-20190403-177184-1u330cc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The petition to save IMDB’s message boards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.change.org/p/imdb-stop-imdb-from-disabling-the-message-boards">Change.org/Screengrab</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For fans of such community features these trends point to some harsh realities. Even though communities may self-organise and thrive, and users are co-creators of value and content, the functionality and governance are typically beyond their control.</p>
<p>Community members are at the mercy of hosting organisations, some profit-driven, which may have conflicting motivations to those of the users. It’s those organisations that hold the power to change or shut down what can be considered by some to be critical sources of knowledge, engagement and community building.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of shutdowns, <a href="https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2018/social/Presentations/5/" title="There's No Place Like Home: Online Community Displacement and Migration">my research</a> shows that communities that existed on an organisation’s message boards in particular may struggle to reform.</p>
<p>This can be due to a number of factors, such as high switching costs, and communities can become fragmented because of the range of other options (Reddit, Facebook and other message boards).</p>
<p>So it’s difficult for users to preserve and maintain their communities once their original home is disabled. In the case of Google+, even its <a href="https://plus.google.com/communities/112164273001338979772">Mass Migration Group</a> – which aims to help people, organisations and groups find “new online homes” – may not be enough to hold its online communities together.</p>
<p>The trend towards the closure of online communities by organisations might represent a means to reduce their costs in light of declining usage and the availability of other online options. </p>
<p>It’s also a move away from dealing with the reputational issues related to their use and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1461670X.2014.972076">controlling the conversation</a> that takes place within their user bases. Trolling, conflicts and divisive comments are common in online communities and user comments spaces. </p>
<h2>Lost community knowledge</h2>
<p>But within online groups there often exists social and network capital, as well as the stock of valuable knowledge that such community features create. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/zuckerbergs-new-rules-for-the-internet-must-move-from-words-to-actions-114593">Zuckerberg's 'new rules' for the internet must move from words to actions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Often these communities are made of communities of practice (people with a shared passion or concern) on topics ranging from movie theories to parenting.</p>
<p>They are go-to sources for users where meaningful interactions take place and bonds are created. User comments also allow people to engage with important events and debates, and can be cathartic. </p>
<p>Closing these spaces risks not only a loss of user community bases, but also a loss of this valuable community knowledge on a range of issues.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114729/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stan Karanasios does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Google+ is the latest online community to shut down, forcing users to seek other options. So why are organisations pulling away from user-generated content such as reviews, comments and debates?
Stan Karanasios, Senior Research Fellow, RMIT University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/111212
2019-03-04T15:21:26Z
2019-03-04T15:21:26Z
Using art to tackle air pollution: a story from a Nairobi slum
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261646/original/file-20190301-110150-18cn4n1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mukuru, Nairobi.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Dennis Weche</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Air pollution is recognised as a major threat to human health worldwide. Nine out of ten people breathe polluted air, resulting in <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/air-pollution">7m premature deaths</a> a year. </p>
<p>While air pollution respects no boundaries, and affects almost all of us, it impacts some populations more than others. Deaths attributed to air pollution are <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/air-pollution">ten times more likely</a> in low and middle income countries compared to high income countries. Sources of outdoor air pollution include industry, traffic and agriculture. Sources of indoor air pollution are mostly cooking and heating using solid fuels (including wood and charcoal).</p>
<p>Many people living in urban informal settlements (or slums) are exposed to high levels of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11019457">indoor</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27152713">outdoor</a> air pollution. Despite efforts to tackle exposure levels, reductions in air pollution <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27646170">have not been observed</a>. Life in an informal settlement is not easy and there are many daily challenges, of which air pollution is just one. If the choice is between using dirty fuel or not feeding your kids, then is there a choice?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261851/original/file-20190304-110130-1rarc4s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women cooking in Mukuru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© Dennis Weche</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Current approaches to reducing exposure to air pollution in informal settlements include awareness raising and campaigns on how to reduce exposure. But these methods have very little input from the people they target. As a result, they may have a low rate of acceptance. Campaigns also generally focus on one source of air pollution, but effective solutions and improvements to health need to take into account all sources of exposure.</p>
<p>And so community-centred approaches are needed to ensure an understanding of the local context and to explore concerns and challenges faced by residents. This will ensure that solutions are culturally relevant, inclusive and therefore more likely to be effective.</p>
<h2>Mukuru, Nairobi</h2>
<p>This is what we have been doing in Mukuru, which is an informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya. More than <a href="https://www.muungano.net/publicationslibrary/2018/1/22/mukuru-spa-situational-analysis-phase-2-report-mukuru-kwa-njenga-kwa-reuben-viwandani">100,000 families</a> live in crowded conditions with limited access to basic services. Exposure to air pollution <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5751718/">can lead to</a> respiratory infection, chronic lung disease, heart disease stroke and lung cancer. In Mukuru, exposure is continuous due to burning of rubbish and industrial emissions. The immediate effects reported by residents include burning eyes, sore nasal passages, coughing and asthma attacks. </p>
<p>Along with a series of interdisciplinary colleagues, we set up the <a href="https://airnetworkafrica.com/">AIR Network</a> so that residents of Mukuru could work together with African and European researchers to explore how best to raise awareness and begin to develop solutions to tackle local air pollution issues. Our creative methods and the involvement of the community allowed us to recognise a series of sources of pollution that we might not have otherwise.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AtH0-NreUxA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>To minimise “Western” and “academic” preconceptions, which can result in a blinkered view, and to maximise engagement, trust and participation, our network used a variety of creative methods. These included theatre, storytelling, photography and drawing. We were determined from the start to create a democratic and participatory research project so that we could begin to understand the challenges that informal settlement dwellers encounter day to day, with the community deeply involved from the start.</p>
<p>We began with a week-long workshop in Mukuru. For many of us, the creative approaches used were novel and we became a collective, learning together – as well as laughing, eating, sharing and building trust. Barriers were broken down not just between community and researcher, but also between researchers from different disciplines. </p>
<h2>Creating new tools</h2>
<p>This is a community that is marginalised, with very few rights or regulations in place to protect them and limited access to basic resources. It is also a youthful community that is hugely self-motivated, bursting with talent, energy and activism. It is key that the voices of communities such as this are heard. The community educated us on which of the creative methods would work well in Mukuru, and for the next six months, we worked on putting our plans into action. </p>
<p>Our team included talented film makers, and we used digital storytelling to document personal experiences of air pollution. Here, for example, Dennis Waweru talks about the impact of air pollution on the health of his community.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NjetxTMHfaE?wmode=transparent&start=8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Artists from the Mukuru-based Wajuuku Arts Centre painted maps on canvas and took these out into the community so that local residents could use them to identify pollution hotspots and pollution sources. Music was also highlighted as an effective and important communication tool. Local musicians and rappers composed songs to raise awareness about air pollution and the AIR Network itself. </p>
<p>We also used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forum_theatre">forum theatre</a> (also known as theatre of the oppressed) to develop short plays about key air pollution problems in Mukuru, and then invite local people to become actors and explore potential solutions to the problems presented on stage. </p>
<p>These forum theatre plays were subsequently developed into legislative theatre pieces, which were performed to people in positions of influence or power. Audience members were then also invited to take part in playing out solutions to key air pollution issues, allowing a dialogue to develop between the “ordinary person” and the policy maker, shifting the usual direction of flow and breaking down existing hierarchies.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261645/original/file-20190301-110134-14uh8ue.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Forum theatre in Mukuru.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AIR Network</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The real issues</h2>
<p>Industry, burning of waste and bad drainage were identified as key sources of air pollution in Mukuru. It turns out that dangerous unregulated working conditions and lack of protective clothing are a major cause of exposure. As is a lack of infrastructure for firefighting, waste disposal (the smoke and smell of burning plastic is constant) and sanitation (sewage was identified by residents as a major source of air pollution).</p>
<p>If we had gone into the community with aims and ambitions that had already been decided according to the commonly acknowledged causes of air pollution (traffic, industry, cooking methods) we may not have had space to reveal or acknowledge these other sources. Instead, we identified issues that the community recognises as indirect causes of air pollution, such as workers rights, alleyways between dwellings that are too narrow for fire-fighting equipment, and poor waste management.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/261853/original/file-20190304-110123-xoua33.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What are the main sources of air pollution?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© AIR Network</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In September 2018, these activities culminated in an arts festival, Hood2Hood, at the local football ground. A stage and a sound system appeared out of nowhere. Forum theatre and storytelling pieces were performed. Rappers, MCs and dance groups played live. A mural was created. Visual and interactive games were used to collect data. Around 1,500 local people attended the festival during the course of the day, to find out what we had been doing and to make their own contributions to discussions around air pollution. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/wicked-problems-and-how-to-solve-them-100047">Wickedly complex</a> global problems such as air pollution, climate change and antimicrobial resistance can only be properly addressed by using multidisciplinary approaches, real world actionable strategies and buy in from the public. Using creativity is key: it allows non-experts to participate more fully in this process so that initiatives and interventions will be culturally relevant and more effective.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111212/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cressida Bower carried out this research as part of the AIR Network, which is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Medical Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund Global Public Health: Partnership Awards (grant number AH/R006059/1).
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Price carried out this research as part of the AIR Network, which is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Medical Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund Global Public Health: Partnership Awards (grant number AH/R006059/1).</span></em></p>
How theatre and artwork allowed us to better address severe air pollution.
Cressida Bowyer, Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of Portsmouth
Heather Price, Lecturer in Environmental Geography, University of Stirling
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108108
2018-12-14T16:30:51Z
2018-12-14T16:30:51Z
Mistrust and earthquakes: why Lancashire communities are so shaken by fracking tremors
<p>After a month of tranquillity, fracking has resumed at the Preston New Road site near Blackpool triggering the biggest tremor to date.</p>
<p>There have been 12 tremors over a four-day period, including the biggest so far – the 1.5 magnitude quake. In total, <a href="https://earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_uk_events.html">36 earthquakes</a> were recorded in the area between the middle of October and early November. Most of these are too weak to be felt at the surface, but can be measured using seismometers. These are instruments that measure ground motions, caused by such events as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, among other factors.</p>
<p>Local residents are concerned the earthquakes may cause cracks in the fracking well’s casing, which could potentially lead to contamination issues. Some scientists claim the impact of these seismic events at surface is equivalent to <a href="http://datacat.liverpool.ac.uk/609/2/Seismic%20Context%20Measurements.pdf">dropping a melon</a> onto the floor. But government officials and those in the fracking industry have dismissed the tremors – suggesting they are <a href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Y45hYC9gSBYJ:https://www.kevinhollinrake.org.uk/letter-shale-gas-commissioner-natascha-engel-newspaper-editors%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0eclEJQmvrjNzEK1xTgK2z6AYIsnuazRxDCEA5E_UoeMuxpDhNqatI1J8+&cd=1&hl=pl&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-b-ab">inconsequential</a>.</p>
<p>As a social scientist living in Lancashire, I have been researching the social impacts of shale gas developments since 2015. From what I have seen, there is much more to the tremors than just ground movements. The impact of the quakes that occurred far below ground reverberated strongly throughout the community living on the surface. To understand why this is the case it is important to understand local people’s experiences of shale gas exploration in the UK.</p>
<h2>Fracking on shaky ground</h2>
<p>The same operator, Cuadrilla, was fracking for shale gas in the area <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/48330/5055-preese-hall-shale-gas-fracturing-review-and-recomm.pdf">seven years ago</a>. Two bigger and around 50 smaller earthquakes occurred <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/exclusive-fracking-company-we-caused-50-tremors-in-blackpool-but-were-not-going-to-stop-6256397.html">over an eight-month period</a> as a result of injecting fluid into a geological fault zone. </p>
<p>In 2018 – and under <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-light-monitoring-system-shale-gas-and-fracking">new seismicity controls</a> – Cuadrilla was required to halt its fracking operations twice when the monitoring equipment detected tremors bigger than 0.5 local magnitude. The system was introduced to set “gold standard” regulations for this new industry. After the quakes, Cuadrilla’s CEO <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/cb36ad4e-dc5e-11e8-9f04-38d397e6661c">warned</a> that making fracking commercially viable would be extremely challenging under the existing seismic monitoring system in the UK. He wanted the government to reconsider its position on seismic monitoring within weeks. </p>
<p>Weeks passed by, the activity at the site was subdued for a month and no further seismic events were recorded until December 10 2018. Cuadrilla did not publicly confirm it had suspended hydraulic fracturing between early November and December. But it did say it was planning to engage with the regulators to <a href="http://www.aspecthuntley.com.au/asxdata/20181129/pdf/02054010.pdf">change the upper limit</a> on seismic monitoring.</p>
<h2>On high alert</h2>
<p>In the Blackpool area, earthquakes have been on everyone’s radar. Many local residents refresh the British Geological Survey website that records all recent earthquakes in the country almost hourly. At the observation point at Preston New Road known as the “gate camp”, protesters watch and listen carefully for the signs of fracking activity, proudly asserting: “This is the most watched site in the UK.”</p>
<p>The reason they are watching so carefully is because they have serious concerns about how regulatory monitoring and corporate transparency works. Take the seismic monitoring system which was originally designed to reassure communities they would be protected from harm. After Cuadrilla’s recent announcements, the prospect of relaxing the seismic controls seems real.</p>
<p>For local communities, new seismic thresholds would not be just numbers, but a sign that politicians are willing to further extend the industry’s authority over society. Relaxing regulations because they make business more difficult is a narrowly economic rationale – there’s certainly nothing democratic about it. This is the palpable sense of injustice you get when you talk to people at the side of Preston New Road. </p>
<h2>Environment of mistrust</h2>
<p>In my experience, the regular liaison meetings with the company and regulators do little to reassure the local communities. Instead, they have made residents dissociate transparency from openness. In their view, the liaison meetings, consultations and the lengthy planning process have become a field of corporate practice. They limit residents’ ability to determine their common future – but the process provides the industry with a veneer of democratic legitimacy. </p>
<p>What this generates for local residents are <a href="https://annaszolucha.wordpress.com/research/repower-democracy/report/">feelings of disenfranchisement</a> and distrust – and a sense of social injustice. This is why the impact of the earthquakes can’t be separated from the social reality on the surface.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/250097/original/file-20181211-76974-1t3682s.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fence art at the Preston New Road site in Lancashire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anna Szolucha</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For local communities, there is an implicit analogy between the fracking pad with its well bore that extends kilometres out of sight and underground and the non-transparent ways in which the UK government and the industry are perceived to impose hydraulic fracturing on local populations. </p>
<p>Residents worry that the same attitude that the government and industry espouse on the surface, would also govern the way they tackle potential problems that arise underground – as a result of fracking.</p>
<p>Of course, it is true that any new industry – such as shale gas exploration – is bound to face hurdles as it tries to identify suitable operational procedures. But to understand why communities in Lancashire have found it so difficult to trust government agencies and industry, it’s important to consider how seismic events operate in the reality of social, rather than merely geological, environments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108108/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Szolucha receives funding from Natural Environment Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>
A researcher looking at the social impacts of shale gas developments, explains why there’s much more to the Blackpool tremors than just ground movements.
Anna Szolucha, Research fellow, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/99199
2018-10-17T10:27:28Z
2018-10-17T10:27:28Z
How monitoring local water supplies can build community
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240659/original/file-20181015-165888-csozoh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Volunteers prepare to take flow measurements on Muddy Creek.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Water insecurity is a <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/world-water-day-water-crisis-explained/">touchstone for 2018</a>. Our planet isn’t running out of water, but various kinds of mismanagement have led to local water crises <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/17825HLPW_Outcome.pdf">across the planet</a>, directly threatening millions of people. </p>
<p>Ensuring water quality requires regular testing, protecting source water, monitoring and repairing distribution systems, treatment plants and other infrastructure, and developing the ability to recycle water and desalinate salt water. These activities require many types of specialists. But they can also benefit from the direct participation of engaged citizens, who themselves can also benefit from getting involved with this work.</p>
<p>Most of my career has <a href="https://jcarroll.ist.psu.edu">focused on information sciences and technology</a>. Over the past 40 years, I have investigated cases in which people creatively mastered information and technology that was poorly designed relative to their needs, or applied technology to problems it was not originally designed for, such as strengthening local heritage, community governance or collaborative learning. I have learned that making technology effective often requires the creative engagement of everyone who is affected by it.</p>
<p>Contemporary reports on failing water systems tend to overlook the critical roles that citizens can play in addressing environmental challenges at the local level. Water systems are <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/making-use">human-technology interactions</a>. Engaged and informed volunteers who are committed to protecting water quality are as critical to a successful water system as pumps and filters.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240660/original/file-20181015-165897-14txps1.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Measuring chemical parameters of water samples.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Centre County Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Taking responsibility for water systems</h2>
<p>In the course of a research project on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2018.1432686">citizen-initiated health collaborations</a>, I learned that people in my own community in central Pennsylvania were deeply involved in monitoring local water quality. Many Americans probably think of this as a job for state or local government agencies. But it also can be a community engagement activity, much like working at a food bank, driving for Meals on Wheels or building homes with Habitat for Humanity. </p>
<p>This does not mean the work is any less about environmental protection. Rather, it incorporates environmental protection into the core of <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/jhsem.2015.12.issue-3/jhsem-2014-0071/jhsem-2014-0071.xml">hyperlocal community work</a> – the actions people take locally to strengthen their communities. </p>
<p>Roughly 100,000 people live in the Spring Creek watershed in central Pennsylvania. Spring Creek is a well-known trout fishery, but the region faces ongoing water quality challenges, including agricultural runoff, stormwater silt and invasive species. It also has legacy pollution sources, including abandoned clay and coal mines and a chemical plant that was a <a href="https://theconversation.com/cutting-superfunds-budget-will-slow-toxic-waste-cleanups-threatening-public-health-and-property-values-74787">Superfund</a> site in the 1980s. Future challenges include a threat of <a href="https://theconversation.com/hydraulic-fracturing-components-in-marcellus-groundwater-likely-from-surface-operations-not-wells-48873">runoff from Marcellus Shale gas drilling</a>.</p>
<p>Several dozen local groups – including nonprofits, municipal entities and regional water and sewer authorities – carry out a wide variety of water quality testing programs. Each group gathers and organizes its own data sets, but they also coordinate through overlapping memberships, arrangements to share equipment, space, funding and data, and initiatives involving multiple townships and boroughs, which the groups sometimes create themselves. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240656/original/file-20181015-165900-1w9urhm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=660&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spring Creek is a stream in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River watershed. Within this 146-square-mile watershed, there are at least seven springs that each produce more than 1 million gallons per day of clean, cold water.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.springcreekwatershedatlas.org/single-post/2017/05/04/Aquatic-Resources-of-Spring-Creek-An-Historical-Perspective">Spring Creek Watershed Atlas</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Citizen water monitoring connects communities</h2>
<p>Although these groups have only a few hundred members in total, they are involved in many activities. They advise municipalities and the public on watershed issues, such as development proposals. They also coordinate planning among towns, conduct outreach programs at public schools, observe and collect samples at field sites, and interact with testing laboratories and government agencies. </p>
<p>Some groups have developed data sets and analyses that are curated and published online or available by request. They also have produced a <a href="https://www.springcreekwatershedatlas.org">community watershed atlas</a>, which explains what the watershed is, how it works and how it serves the people who live in it.</p>
<p>Several groups that mainly collect data consist almost entirely of older adults. For example, members of the <a href="http://www.ccpasec.org">Pennsylvania Senior Environmental Corps</a> work in teams of four to six, regularly visiting sites throughout the watershed to measure about 40 data points per site, including water chemistry, stream flow characteristics and counts of macro invertebrates. </p>
<p>Members of <a href="https://springcreektu.org">Trout Unlimited</a> focus specifically on indicators of healthy fish populations, such as identifying trout spawning nests. This involves regular physical work and social interaction, so the groups <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0305750X9600023X">coproduce</a> better community and personal health as they protect local water resources. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/232080726" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trout Unlimited volunteers work to identify high-quality trout streams in Pennsylvania and target them for protection.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are <a href="https://pawatersheds.org/membership/watershed-groups/">350 local nonprofit water quality groups in Pennsylvania alone</a>. These volunteer groups could be seen as a transitional workaround whose work will eventually be replaced by remote sensor networks. But that is a narrow view of what they do for local communities and for people. Automation will not engage citizens in learning about water resources, or provide meaningful and rigorous tasks that motivate them to be active outdoors. </p>
<h2>Leveraging citizen water activism more effectively</h2>
<p>These water monitoring initiatives are sustainable and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805336115">valuable</a>. They are a hyperlocal variety of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1251554">citizen science</a> – citizens organizing and carrying out water monitoring activities in their own communities. </p>
<p>Their work produces more than data. It strengthens trust and social capital throughout the community, and makes people more aware of local water challenges. It cultivates critical environmental knowledge and skills, and gives volunteers meaningful work. </p>
<p>But it could be even more beneficial. My Penn State colleagues and I are working with citizens in central Pennsylvania to design and develop a community water quality data platform, which would integrate and amplify local groups’ and government agencies’ diverse data sets, making it easier to visualize and analyze water quality data. </p>
<p>Clean water groups could use this tool to explore scenarios, such as enhancing <a href="https://extension.psu.edu/riparian-buffers-for-wildlife">riparian buffers</a> – planted zones near stream banks – to mitigate impacts from springtime agricultural runoff or summertime thermal pollution episodes. Using data this way could make watershed events and patterns more accessible to residents, and more effective as opportunities for learning and engagement.</p>
<p>This platform could make it easier for citizens to become knowledgeable about water resources, and more generally, about data visualization and analysis and data-driven thinking. We do not think fixing failing water systems should be up to citizens, but we believe it is better for everyone if citizens are informed and engaged about their water supplies. It would be nice to assume that responsible authorities will ensure our water is clean and safe, but examples like the drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, show that this is not always true. </p>
<p>In Spring Creek, and probably many other locations, promising local networks like this are hidden in plain sight. Once they are identified, communities can leverage them. And others can work to foster them where they do not yet exist.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John M. Carroll receives funding from the US National Science Foundation.
In the past I received funding from Apple, Intel, Microsoft, the Society of Technical Communication, the US Department of Education, the US Office of Naval Research, the Hitachi Foundation, and the Knight Foundation.</span></em></p>
When people form local networks to take care of resources such as drinking water, they strengthen their communities. Technology can support these efforts and promote learning and innovation.
John M. Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences and Technology, Penn State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.