FROM SHATTER ZONES TO SINK ESTATES AND URBAN PROJECTS: UNDERSTANDING
AND MAPPING POVERTY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Proposed paper session for the Association of American Geographers Annual
Meeting,
7-11 March, 2006, Chicago
Session organisers: Steve Millington and Graham Smith, Manchester
Metropolitan
University
Urbanism has been recast as a viable form of living. Indeed cities, such
as, Manchester
(UK), have experienced a renaissance based on rapid gentrification with a
marked rise in
city centre populations. Gordon and Buck (2005), however, have outlined
their concerns
about where the poor fit into the new 'ideas' for the city and what can be
done for
dispossessed or marginalised urban communities. Over recent years efforts
to alleviate
poverty in the US and UK have placed a greater focus on social
development. In the UK,
for example, New Labour has introduced wide ranging initiatives and
punitive measures to
bring marginal groups into mainstream society. Putting communities at the
forefront of
urban regeneration is welcome, but, long-term poverty and inequality
remain key
components of the early 21st century urban landscape. According to Dorling
(2005)
the gap between rich and the poor in the UK has grown wider since 1996,
despite
government commitment to social inclusion and alleviating deprivation in
the poorest
communities, the urban poor remain the product of economic, social,
cultural and
political disempowerment or inequality.
The stratification of urban communities between the rich and poor is
complex and
multidimensional. Researchers have identified numerous measures of
inequality (Short,
2005) and continue to make highly effective use of GIS and quantitative
geography to
map its dimensions. Clearly it would benefit from both quantitative and
qualitative readings
and understandings. The aim of this paper session, therefore, is to bring
together
researchers with different (international and methodological) perspectives
on urban
poverty and its measurement and analysis. Hopefully the session will
address the
following:
* To what extent can the New Urbanism contribute to reducing social and
economic
inequality?
* Do contemporary approaches to social development or planning simply
reproduce
negative discursive notions of the poor and excluded?
* Can geography and geographers explain both why and where poverty occurs?
* What methods and techniques (e.g. GIS) in mapping urban poverty can
geographers
contribute?
* How can geographers contribute to a more progressive debate about how
the State
tackles poverty through strategies for influencing policy makers?
Please send a title, abstract of up to 200 words and your contact details
to either
Steve Millington ([log in to unmask] ) or Graham Smith
([log in to unmask] )
by 6 October 2005.
Best wishes
GRS
Graham Smith
Environmental & Geographical Sciences
Manchester Metropolitan University
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