Where two roads meet: urban policy in Haringey and the Bronx
Thursday 5 December | 12.30 - 2.00pm
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Speaker: Glyn Robbins, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Visiting Fellow, Department of Sociology
Tottenham High Road in Haringey and Jerome Avenue in the Bronx share several key characteristics. They both run through working-class, economically-deprived, ethnically-diverse neighbourhoods currently subject to large-scale urban regeneration projects. Each area also features a mega-sports stadium (the new ground of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in Haringey and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx).
In both places, large scale urban interventions are seeking to achieve significant, lasting improvements to the socio-economic and physical infrastructure by building thousands of new homes and associated amenities targeted at attracting a new demographic.
This session will examine the impact on each area and address the extent of converging UK/US urban policies, particularly as articulated by the respective city mayors. A subsidiary purpose of the research will be to consider the extent to which the presence of a corporate sports franchise/team is influencing changing policy and perceptions.
Glyn Robbins is an ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Visiting Fellow in the Sociology Department. He has been a housing worker, campaigner and academic for nearly 30 years. He has a particular interest in comparative UK/US housing and urban policy.
A compact city for the wealthy: gentrification and employment accessibility inequalities in London
Thursday 7 November | 12.30 - 2.00pm
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Speakers: Duncan Smith, lecturer at the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL
The prevalence of gentrification processes in many cities points to increasingly wealthy inner-city areas and potentially greater population segregation by income. This research investigates changes in the residential geography of London in the last decade primarily using occupational class data, finding continuing gentrification in Inner London and increasing concentrations of lower-income classes in Outer London. The employment accessibility impacts of these changes are then modelled, highlighting advantages for professional classes, and weaker accessibility for low income classes by the most affordable and sustainable transport modes. Planning policy measures to address these challenges include significant increases in council housing development and major improvements in transit connections in Outer London.
Duncan Smith is a lecturer at the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, UCL. His research interests are in GIS, urban planning, transport sustainability and visualisation, and he has previously worked at ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Cities and in transport consultancy. Current research projects include the ESRC SIMITRI grant, exploring polycentric urban development and segregation in the Pearl River Delta Megacity Region, China.
Urban Science with a view from space: dynamics, dimensions and forms of global urbanization
Thursday 12 September | 12.00 - 1.30pm
Speaker: Dr. Hannes Taubenböck, German Aerospace Center (DLR) and visiting fellow, ÐÓ°ÉÂÛ̳ Cities
The largest migration movement that humanity has ever undertaken is in full swing: from the countryside to cities. New cities are emerging. Existing cities are merging into megaregions with more than 70 million inhabitants. Slums grow into the remaining open spaces. Although mankind is in the information age, there are large gaps in knowledge regarding these urban phenomena.
In this workshop, Hannes Taubenböck of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will make the physical transformation of urban landscapes tangible by looking from above - with remote sensing data from space. Through the analysis of satellite data, it is possible to document the sprawling urban growth in a global comparison and thus identify the emergence and dimensions of megaregions or even localise areas of urban poverty. The seminar will also show how existing gaps in knowledge can be closed with Big Earth Data in order to make the effects of urbanisation processes on the planet tangible.
Dr. Hannes Taubenböck heads a working group at the of the German Aerospace Center that deals with the global city and its society. He also teaches at the Institute of Geography at the University of Würzburg. Fascinated by the view from space, which can create a distanced view of clarity, he deals with documenting and understanding the increasingly dynamic urban transformation processes on our planet.