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Abstract: This paper considers the problem of local asymptotic stability for a competitive Lotka–Volterra system with time-varying delays. By employing a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, we not only prove that the local asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium for the Lotka–Volterra type competitive system will be preserved for suitable delays under a well known condition, but also obtain the maximal allowable length of delays by using Matlab’s Control Systems Toolbox to solve a feasible LMI. Compared with some known results, our estimate on the length of delays is less conservative. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: For a connected graph G, the restricted edge-connectivity is defined as the minimum cardinality of an edge-cut over all edge-cuts S such that each component of contains at least p vertices. In the present paper we introduce the more general parameter defined as the minimum cardinality of an edge-cut over all edge-cuts S such that one component of contains at least p vertices and another component of contains at least q vertices where p and q are positive integers. Analogously, we define as the minimum cardinality of a vertex-cut over all vertex-cuts such that one component of contains at least p vertices and another component of contains at least q vertices. A connected graph G is -connected (-connected), if () is well-defined. First we give useful equivalences to -connectivity and -connectivity and characterize the classes of graphs which are -connected and -connected. Then we prove which generalizes Whitney''s well-known inequality . Finally, we characterize the class of graphs for which is minimum, i.e. and the class of graphs for which is maximum, i.e. or . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Debates on the neoliberalization and privatization of education have recently contributed fresh impulses to the critical engagement of geographies of education, which is known for its longstanding interest in the reproduction of social inequalities. This paper furthers this engagement in two ways. First, it draws on an empirical study of a private, nonprofit preparatory programme that trains aspirational students from disadvantaged backgrounds for a highly selective entrance examination for state-funded secondary schools in Zurich, Switzerland. In doing so, the paper moves beyond the Anglophone pivot in the field, which has been a source of self-critique. Second, we take this empirical site a point from which to think through the study programme as an 'object multiple' that is engrained in Actor-Network Theory. Drawing on the four ontological metaphors of region, network, fluid, and fire, we assert that educational transitions serve as magnifying glasses which lay bare complex social effects of supplementary education on students, increasing social inequalities and subtle forms of conforming to and resisting of the neoliberalization of education and uncomfortable, yet thought-provoking aspects of discrimination. We conclude that the replication of white supremacy requires more reflection not only within a programme that was installed with the intent of supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds but also in our engagement as critical geographers within educational schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lagos is often depicted as a city of immobility and inequality. Based on a micro-sociological study in the public transit system and an ethnographic study in an urban neighborhood, this article provides a nuanced analysis of situational inequality. Given the enduring traffic congestion and prevailing social inequality in the city, moments of aggressive cutting in line on roads and disputes over light collision accidents demonstrate a spontaneous unequal power relationship that is at odds with the existing social inequality structure. These moments can impose a sense of frustration on the private car drivers who are assumed to have a higher social status while bringing delight to minibus (danfo) drivers and passengers who have lower status. This emergent situational inequality, the paper argues, provides lower-class people with affective elements which can contribute to making sense of (im)mobilities, urban lifestyle, and conceptualization of Lagos. However, the effects of situational inequality are limited to the individual level, as it cannot largely transform the spatiality and temporality of traffic congestion, the socioeconomic class structure, and the traffic governance in Lagos. This dialectical situational inequality does not become a practical living strategy but reifies their individual philosophies of living in Lagos embodied through narratives. The sociological account of situational inequality in this paper showcases an approach to interpret the meaningfulness of micro mobility experiences with regard to macro urban conditions, thereby enriching our understandings of the relationship between mobility and inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Power relations shaping climate-migration-gender interactions are underestimated. • Feminist political ecology reveals power differentials across multiple scales. • Addressing global and local forces shaping gender and social inequities is crucial. • Intersecting inequities shape local experiences of climate change and migration. • Policies must tackle unequal exchange and local injustices to address root causes. Research on climate and migration interactions has greatly evolved from environmentally deterministic explanations to more sophisticated and complex accounts of human (im)mobilities in a changing climate. Despite acknowledging gender and social inequalities as key factors shaping vulnerability and resilience, the multi-scalar power relations influencing human (im)mobility in the context of climate change have been underestimated. This paper argues that a feminist political ecology of migration can enhance our understanding of the gender and social inequities embedded in the climate-migration nexus by conceptualizing power relations across different scales in our world economy. Through a critical review of the literature, this paper highlights the ways in which a feminist political ecology approach can help unpack the power differentials that shape climate and migration interactions. The paper concludes that a more nuanced understanding of power relations across different scales is crucial for both advancing the conceptual understanding of the complex nexus between climate, migration, and inequality, and addressing the root causes of these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ASM sector is an 'unregulated' space that facilitates capitalist accumulation. • Principle of risk and profit-sharing is a tool for labour absorption and control. • Customary practices prevent women from ascending the ASM labour hierarchy. • Labour processes are moulded around pre-existing social identities and relations. Despite the expanse of studies on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in Africa, discussions on how the organization of workers and the division of work tasks influence labour outcomes in the sector remain marginal. There are growing concerns that ASM may account for rising income inequalities in communities. Using a case study from Ghana and relying on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with miners and other stakeholders, this paper examines processes of labour exploitation and domination in ASM. It is revealed that ASM labour processes facilitate capitalist accumulation among elites as the organization of work in the sector is moulded around pre-existing social identities and relations. The production of social differences, such as class and gender, is integral to labour exploitation, value extraction and profit accumulation in ASM. The deeply entrenched patriarchal system influences mining practices and facilitates the domination of women in ASM, producing inequalities between men and women. It is argued that capital-labour social relations underpin extractive activities in the sector hence the need to recognize ASM as a capitalist form of production. The paper concludes that the development potential of ASM will not be realized without addressing the persistent gender inequities and prevalence of exploitative relationships in the sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion of fairness is gaining considerable attention in the context of Local Energy Systems (LES). This is partially motivated by the energy transition, which has put more attention on technologies and production closer to the end-user. In other words, we are evolving towards a more user-centric approach, which requires dealing with fairness and justice due to the users' participation in the loop. Their willingness to participate depends on the perceived fairness regarding the systems they use. The current literature started to adopt the concept of fairness within LES but without a universally accepted approach. This review highlights the work described in the literature by thoroughly analyzing 80 scholarly papers addressing fairness in LES. The main objectives are twofold: to provide a definition of fairness within this domain and to examine how this concept is currently shaped and interpreted. The analyzed studies are categorized according to their applicability to LES, fairness and justice interpretation (e.g., equality, meritocracy), and use of post-method indicators to evaluate fairness performance. The work explores the identified gaps in the existing literature and outlines guidelines and prospective research directions for future studies addressing fairness issues in LES. [Display omitted] • The study explores fairness in LES, focusing on user-centric approaches. • The paper reviews 80 research papers on fairness in LES. • Literature-based interpretations of fairness in LES are identified and categorized. • The paper identifies gaps and proposes future research directions on fairness in LES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• I examine the impacts of policies that strive to maximize conservation targets. • My analysis relies on fieldwork in Ugandan communities to study the impacts of fisheries policy. • I find that the attainment of conservation efficiency comes at the cost of reduced social equity. • I find that long-term sustainability is compromised when a policy prioritizes conservation efficiency while disregarding social equity. • I suggest that the "win–win assumption" be replaced by the acknowledgement of necessary trade-offs. Natural resource governance often grapples with the challenge of balancing conservation efficiency and social equity. While both objectives are essential, their persistent collision exposes an inherent dilemma. Suggesting that existing studies fail to grasp the depth of such dilemmas adequately, this paper examines the comprehensive impacts of natural resource policies that strive to maximize conservation targets. I hypothesize that (1) the attainment of conservation efficiency comes at the cost of reduced social equity and (2) the long-term sustainability of natural resource policy is compromised when it prioritizes conservation efficiency while disregarding social equity concerns. The empirical analysis draws on fieldwork in Ugandan communities to consider the impacts of a fisheries policy initiated by the government in 2015. A survey of 319 fishermen and unstructured interviews with eighteen elders on Buvuma Island in Lake Victoria reveal that while the new policy has considerably enhanced resource conservation, it has also intensified social inequities, and there are valid concerns about its long-term sustainability. Additionally, despite the new policy encountering substantial local opposition, a seemingly paradoxical consensus asserts that conservation success is only attainable with the same policy's implementation. In the conclusion section, this paper suggests that the common "win–win assumption," which implies misleadingly that conservation efficiency and social equity can always be simultaneously attained, should be replaced with the acknowledgment that trade-offs between the two objectives are often necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to discuss the significance of the intersectionality framework for addressing prejudices, racism and inequalities in nursing education and clinical learning environments. Discrimination and racism against nursing students and educators based on their gender, ethnicity, race and social identities is well-documented in the nursing literature. Despite documented discrimination and incivility based on intersectional factors, it is reported that often nurse educators show limited interest in the culture, diverse experiences and values of nursing students with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Discussion paper The discussion was based on contemporary literature about intersectionality, discrimination and racism in nursing. We completed a cursory search of literature in nursing education journal and selected nursing and health science databases. This was not a formal literature review. Using a fictional example, the application of intersectionality to address inequalities in educational settings is illustrated. Intersectionality is an invaluable tool for examining interwoven power relations and power struggles arising from racial, gender, ethnic, religious and sexuality and disability-related differences. Nurse educators, students and leaders should be more cognizant of their preconceived views, sociocultural stereotypes and varied forms of sociocultural oppression affecting their interactions with each other in clinical learning environments. Incorporating intersectionality can address prejudices, racism and inequalities arising due to sociocultural, ethnic, power-related and intergenerational issues among educators, students and other personnel involved in creating clinical learning environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Co-residence with parents is a form of intergenerational housing wealth. • Co-residence consolidates wealth inequality. • Privilege can have different registers: having/being/doing. • Privilege as an analytic frame can evaluate the unearned advantage of co-residence. • Co-residence can function as a safety net, saving time, money, and effort. This paper uses privilege as an analytic frame to examine millennials' co-residence with parents, connecting research on privilege, intergenerational transfers, and housing. I pull apart the concept of privilege, examining how having, being and doing privilege fit the experience of co-residence: Having privilege situates privilege as a resource—having a place to stay that is often rent-free puts some young adults well ahead of their peers in terms of paying down debt and saving for the future. Being privileged is about sense of self—some participants feel lucky to be able to live with parents, but others are ashamed. Doing privilege pays attention to how young adults create privilege through their actions, emphasizing that privilege (and its reproduction) is an ongoing process. Ultimately, this paper argues that digging into different registers of housing privilege offers lessons about how privilege operates more generally and how inequality can grow over generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New analysis of 8 years of data from the London Cycle Hire Scheme (LCHS). • 73.4 million trips analysed, showing spatial pattern of growth. • Expansion of the scheme into lower income areas explored. • Results show high growth rates in comparatively low income areas. • Our finding support further expansion of the LCHS into diverse areas. Pro-cycling interventions, and cycle hire schemes in particular, are often assumed to primarily benefit the privileged. This framing has played-out in academic research, with many papers exploring the relationship between cycling and existing inequalities. A growing body of evidence suggests that cycle hire schemes tend to serve wealthy areas and young, high income groups, mirroring inequalities in other types of cycling uptake, yet there has been little research into the 'direction of travel' and whether such inequalities are growing or 'levelling up' over time. This paper explores the uptake of the London Cycle Hire Scheme (LCHS), a large, early and prominent scheme that had the explicit aim of 'normalising' cycling. The method involved reproducible analysis (with code documented in the GitHub repo Robinlovelace/cycle-hire-inclusive) of 73.4 million cycle high records spanning 8 years from January 2012 to December 2019, using the geographic location of docking stations alongside official statistics to assess social and spatial inequalities in uptake. The method involved analysis of 73.4 million cycle high records spanning 8 years from January 2012 to December 2019, using the geographic location of docking stations alongside official statistics to assess social and spatial inequalities in uptake. We found that, contrary to the trend for increasing segregation and geographic inequalities, the usage of the LCHS have become increasingly geographically distributed across London over time, with AM peak usage in comparatively low-income areas seeing high levels of growth. Our study shows that cycle hire schemes can be designed and expanded in ways that benefit a wide range of people, including those from low income areas, and that new cycle hire docking stations in poorer areas can succeed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fair representation of different communities of interest is a central tenet of democracy. In Australia, governments at all levels historically employed rural weightings to maintain the representation of sparsely-populated regions. However, these have fallen out of favor as demands for one-person, one-vote equality have become the norm. This nominal equality can create other forms of bias in areas of uneven population which have distinct communities of interest, as is the case in many rural local governments. This paper explores this bias by unpacking findings of a ward boundary review in the rural local government Shire of Dandaragan in Western Australia. Drawing on interviews with councilors and community stakeholders, it examines different proposals for fair representation via ward and non-ward based structures. It finds that fair representation of all communities is challenged by inherent biases in the criteria for drawing ward boundaries that are often not well understood by those involved. It shows how a 'no ward' system which allows smaller communities to coordinate behind a single reputable candidate can generate fairer representation than a system of wards whose boundaries may or may not align with communities of interest. • Local governments in Australia can be based around a system of wards or elected 'at-large' in a no-ward district. • Ward boundaries must by law be based around communities of interest and also reflect equality in councilor-to-elector ratios. • These criteria are in tension in many rural areas. • The findings of this paper highlight the perceived and actual bias which emerged in a ward boundary review of the Shire of Dandaragan, a rural local government area in Western Australia. • Fair representation under various boundary options was challenged by inherent and structural biases often not well-understood by community stakeholders and decision-makers. • We conclude that a no ward system can produce fairer representation than a system of wards which may not align with communities of interest given equality requirements when populations are unevenly distributed across wards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the extent to which the road transport projects implemented within the Greek National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2007–2013 contributed to the economic development of eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. These projects were included in the respective regional operational programs co-financed by the European Union (EU) and national funds. The paper discusses the EU's regional and cohesion policy which aims at reducing regional inequalities and ensuring social, economic and territorial cohesion. In Greece, cohesion policy implementation for the 2007–2013 period was achieved through the NSRF, 2007–2013, whose training philosophy and the priorities that it set are the focus of the present study. The research area concerns the region of eastern Macedonia and Thrace and, more specifically, the 21 municipalities that it consists of. One of the main conclusions of the study is that public expenditure on the projects is directly associated with the area covered by the municipalities, as well as with the length of the road network improved. However, no correlation with the population of municipalities or the gross domestic product (GDP) of each regional unit has been observed. Our findings suggest that decisions for efficient allocation of infrastructure resources in a region by policy makers should not be based on single characteristics such as regional population density, but rather on more complex considerations, such as existing natural resources, geomorphological characteristics and location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on an ethnographic study conducted in a public hospital in Bangladesh. The study shows how the social dynamics necessary to deal with the structural realities of the hospital give this cosmopolitan institution a local character. In this paper, we describe this local character by focusing on the lower-level hospital staff, such as ward boys, cleaners, and gatemen. Social inequality and exclusion are rampant in Bangladeshi public hospitals. Doctors and nurses are unwilling to communicate with patients and their relatives, while the latter are unable to approach the former for specific help or information. Our research, shows how low-level support workers fill the void between the two "factions" and act as brokers transporting information and activities between these factions. By doing so they do not only make a crucial contribution to the functioning of the ward, but also gain considerable influence in spite of their low position. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper highlights the limited extent to which dominant development and humanitarian framings engage with considerations of religious inequalities as well as the language of 'religion' and belief. • Failing to attend to these inequalities can have negative, if not catastrophic, consequences for the hoped-for outcomes of development and emergency response initiatives. • Primary research on humanitarian responses in Iraq from 2014 to 2019 portrays the reality of how religion-blind development concepts and framings interplay at the frontline of a humanitarian response to conflict. • Suggestions are provided about how to incorporate considerations of religion, religious inequalities and belief into development frameworks and programming. Within the international development and humanitarian arenas no one disagrees with the language and aspirations of inclusion, protection, rights and equality. Yet, most development framings – policy and operational – have still to develop meaningful ways to attend to the specific advantages or disadvantages associated with religious views or beliefs that shape the way people and communities function and behave within society. This paper explores influential conceptual and programmatic framings of international development and humanitarian response, specifically the human development approach, capital and asset-based framings, horizontal inequalities, the SDGs and humanitarian principles. We analyse the extent to which they engage with considerations of religious inequalities (religious diversity, identity, inclusion) and language of 'religion' and belief. Drawing on an evidenced-based case study of humanitarian/development responses in Iraq in the period from 2014 to 2019, the paper illustrates the reality of how a smorgasbord of religion-blind development concepts and framings interplay at the frontline of a humanitarian response to conflict, and the ways in which multiple actors wrestle and flex to design, target and implement programmes that were conceived in a religion-blind frame. The research shows how the explicit incorporation of the context and nature of religious diversity dynamics into frameworks has critical real-world impacts on the design, delivery, monitoring and impacts of interventions. Failing to incorporate an understanding of inequalities experienced by people marginalized because of their religious affiliation or belief (whether intentional or through mere oversight) has very likely muted the hoped-for outcomes of many development and emergency response initiatives. Our hope is that international development and humanitarian framings can better deliver on their objective to "leave no one behind" by ensuring inequalities on account of religious identity or practice are appropriately considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We develop the new concept of ambient vulnerability. • We frame ambient vulnerabilities as those in our immediate, surrounding environment. • We argue that unequal power relations are embedded within the ambient environment. • We illustrate how ambient vulnerabilities can accumulate, intensifying one another. In this paper we introduce the concept of ambient vulnerability. Ambience concerns the overlapping and shifting material forms that constitute a person's surroundings – including (but not limited to) air quality, flow, temperature, humidity, noise and light – that contribute to their health, wellbeing and (dis)comfort. Building on a growing movement across a range of disciplines towards the study of socialmaterial relations, we suggest that ambience is an important approach for critically understanding the complex interconnections among nature, society, and technology in the production of lived ecologies. The vulnerability framing locates our expressly political understanding of ambience, reflecting and reinforcing social inequalities. Moreover, different types of vulnerability across the dimensions of the ambient environment are interdependent and accumulate, often intensifying one another. We delineate some of the key features of ambient vulnerability, specifically: cumulative impacts; permeability; unevenness; phenomenological differentiation; and multiple temporalities. The paper shows how ambient environments are shifting and complex, a turbulent milieu of contextual factors, but they are essential to our understanding of social and ecological vulnerability in the 21st century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgent need to address climate change has led to global efforts towards achieving carbon neutrality. However, it is crucial to recognize the existence of carbon inequity, where certain regions or communities bear a disproportionate burden of carbon emissions compared to others. This paper explores the concept of carbon inequity and highlights the importance of considering driving factors in the pursuit of just energy transition. By examining the socioeconomic, environmental, and policy-related factors that contribute to carbon emissions, a comprehensive understanding of the underlying causes of carbon inequity is gained. The study emphasizes the need to address systemic issues such as economic development patterns, industrial structures, energy consumption habits, and social inequalities that perpetuate carbon inequity. It further discusses the significance of collaborative and inclusive approaches to carbon reduction, focusing on bridging the gap between regions with high and low carbon emissions. Policy implications are derived to guide decision-makers in formulating effective strategies for achieving carbon neutrality while ensuring equity and fairness. By considering both the overarching goal of carbon neutrality and the distributional aspects of carbon emissions, a more holistic and equitable approach can be adopted to accelerate the transition to a sustainable and low-carbon future. • It is crucial to recognize the existence of carbon inequity to address climate change. • This paper explores the concept and importance of carbon inequity of just energy transition. • Policy implications are derived to guide decision-makers while ensuring equity and fairness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the evolution of urban China's gender earnings gap from 1988 to 2016. We first document that an upward trend in gender inequality started to reverse after 2007 at the median and in the upper part of the earnings distribution but only for workers in the state–owned enterprises (SOEs). Women in the private sector at the top of the earnings distribution did not start to catch up with their male counterparts until 2012. The gender earnings gap at the low end of the distribution, meanwhile, was stuck at a high level after the mid–1990s. Polarization emerges both within the earnings distribution and across ownership types. Following Bayer and Charles (2018), we decompose the change in the gender earnings gap across the whole earnings' distribution and find that a change in the wage structure dominantly drives the trend in gender inequality. Gender–specific factors, such as discrimination, play a minor role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite vaccination being one of the most effective public health interventions, there are persisting inequalities and inequities in immunisation. Understanding the differences in subnational vaccine impact can help improve delivery mechanisms and policy. We analyse subnational vaccination coverage of measles first-dose (MCV1) and estimate patterns of inequalities in impact, represented as deaths averted, across 45 countries in Africa. We also evaluate how much this impact would improve under more equitable vaccination coverage scenarios. Using coverage data for MCV1 from 2000–2019, we estimate the number of deaths averted at the first administrative level. We use the ratio of deaths averted per vaccination from two mathematical models to extrapolate the impact at a subnational level. Next, we calculate inequality for each country, measuring the spread of deaths averted across its regions, accounting for differences in population. Finally, using three more equitable vaccination coverage scenarios, we evaluate how much impact of MCV1 immunisation could improve by (1) assuming all regions in a country have at least national coverage, (2) assuming all regions have the observed maximum coverage; and (3) assuming all regions have at least 80% coverage. Our results show that progress in coverage and reducing inequality has slowed in the last decade in many African countries. Under the three scenarios, a significant number of additional deaths in children could be prevented each year; for example, under the observed maximum coverage scenario, global MCV1 coverage would improve from 76% to 90%, resulting in a further 363(95%CrI:299–482) deaths averted per 100,000 live births. This paper illustrates that estimates of the impact of MCV1 immunisation at a national level can mask subnational heterogeneity. We further show that a considerable number of deaths could be prevented by maximising equitable access in countries with high inequality when increasing the global coverage of MCV1 vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• People normally prefer if inequality is due to merits rather than social background. • How much of inequality in well-being is meritocratic?. • The results show it is 40% in beginning of adulthood rising to 65–85% in midlife. • Good news: Inequality in well-being is more meritocratic than inequality in income. • Bad news: Meritocratic institutions have not broken the link to social background. This paper decomposes inequality in subjective well-being into inequality due to socioeconomic background (SEB) and meritocratic inequality due to differences in individual merits such as school performance. We measure the meritocratic share of well-being, defined as the share of explained variation in life satisfaction attributable to variation in merits not related to SEB. The empirical evidence from Denmark combines survey information on well-being with administrative data on individual characteristics. We find systematic differences in well-being already in early adulthood, where differences in economic outcomes are not yet visible. At age 18–19, about 40 percent of the inequality in well-being is meritocratic. The role of merits rises to 65–85 percent in midlife (age 40–55), where it is also higher than the role of merits in income inequality. The positive conclusions that inequality in well-being is more meritocratic than income inequality and more meritocratic as people grow older get support by corresponding results using an equal opportunity approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the urban–rural digital divide is a globally common phenomenon, less is known about the social determinants of the digital divide within rural and urban areas. Understanding this relationship is important for assessing the equity implications of telecommunication policy given the ongoing and significant public investment into high speed broadband infrastructure. This paper contributes to this discussion by connecting high speed broadband maps in Ireland to measures of social deprivation constructed from detailed population-wide Irish census data collected in 2022. Linking to newly available maps of urban boundaries, the results show that the availability of commercially provided high speed broadband (i.e. coverage) is highly divided; urban areas have near complete coverage, whereas rural areas have little to no coverage. Exploring determinants of coverage in rural areas, we observe that coverage increases with affluence. This suggests that rural areas, which are relatively socially deprived, are being further disadvantaged through inequalities in the availability of high speed broadband. • The urban/rural digital divide is a commonly documented phenomenon. • Less is known about the digital divide within urban and rural areas. • We spatially match high-speed broadband maps to an indicator of social deprivation to further explore this. • This shows high speed broadband availability increases with affluence in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In multi-agent partially observable sequential decision problems with general-sum rewards, it is necessary to account for the egoism (individual rewards), utilitarianism (social welfare), and egalitarianism (fairness) criteria simultaneously. However, achieving a balance between these criteria poses a challenge for current multi-agent reinforcement learning methods. Specifically, fully decentralized methods without global information of all agents' rewards, observations and actions fail to learn a balanced policy, while agents in centralized training (with decentralized execution) methods are reluctant to share private information due to concerns of exploitation by others. To address these issues, this paper proposes a Decentralized and Federated (D&F) paradigm, where decentralized agents train egoistic policies utilizing solely local information to attain self-interest, and the federation controller primarily considers utilitarianism and egalitarianism. Meanwhile, the parameters of decentralized and federated policies are optimized with discrepancy constraints mutually, akin to a server and client pattern, which ensures the balance between egoism, utilitarianism, and egalitarianism. Furthermore, theoretical evidence demonstrates that the federated model, as well as the discrepancy between decentralized egoistic policies and federated utilitarian policies, obtains an O (1 / T) convergence rate. Extensive experiments show that our D&F approach outperforms multiple baselines, in terms of both utilitarianism and egalitarianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Disconnected state-civil society knowledge flows and disconnected socio-ecological systems inhibit efforts to build socio-hydrological resilience to water risks. • Cape Town's marginalized urban spaces, while physically located at the periphery, are in fact central to the city's urban social-hydrological systems. • Ignoring marginalized urban spaces does not only disproportionally affect Cape Town's impoverished communities, but also effectively undermines the socio-hydrological resilience of Cape Town as a whole. In 2017 and 2018, Cape Town faced historically unprecedented water shortages. With the imminent possibility of running out of water, the city's leadership prioritized reducing water demand and expanding new water sources, while also reinvigorating the goal of seeking to build system-level water resilience for the longer term. Beyond the context of Cape Town, the crisis captured global attention, highlighting ongoing and future water security challenges, the realities of climate change, and the critical need to foster transitions towards more resilient water futures. Given that much of the discourse and implementation around water resilience remains squarely focused on the biophysical and engineering aspects of water supply and distribution systems, despite repeated calls for the need for greater attention to issues of equity and power, there remains little understanding of the ways that persistent inequities might serve or inhibit possibilities for urban socio-hydrological (or water) resilience. This paper draws on examples from Cape Town to argue that patterns and legacies of inequality, marginalization, and exclusion erode and inhibit possibilities for water resilience. Providing needed empirical evidence on the nature of these linkages, we theorize that deeply rooted inequities and related dynamics act as "counter-currents"—trends that undermine and present persistent challenges to efforts to enhance socio-hydrological resilience. Documenting examples of disconnections between the state and civil society as well as disconnected socio-ecological systems, we argue that these persistent inequities mean that efforts to achieve socio-hydrological resilience are likely to remain elusive. It is only by foregrounding these processes that it will be possible to make cities more resilient in the face of ongoing and future water-related risks, uncertainties, and climatic and environmental change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the decisions of 2500 girls and boys in three mini dictator games, this paper investigates how the social preferences of five cohorts of students (aged 12 to 16) evolve throughout adolescence. We find that at early ages (12 years old, 7th grade), girls tend to be egalitarian, boys are more generous, and <10 % exhibit spiteful behavior - with equal representation of girls and boys. The gender gap in both strong egalitarianism (with girls showing more egalitarianism) and weak generosity (with boys being more generous) doesn't seem to fade as they grow older. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider the problem of aggregating a collection of transitive fuzzy binary relations in such a way that the aggregation process preserves transitivity. Specifically, we focus our efforts on the characterization of those functions that aggregate a collection of fuzzy binary relations which are transitive with respect to a collection of t-norms preserving the transitivity. We characterize them in terms of triangular triplets. Further, the relationship between triangular triplets, the monotonicity of the aggregation function and an appropriate dominance notion is explicitly stated. Special attention is paid to a few classes of transitive fuzzy binary relations that are relevant in the literature. Concretely, we describe, in terms of triangular triplets, those functions that aggregate a collection of fuzzy pre-orders, fuzzy partial orders, relaxed indistinguishability relations, indistinguishability relations and equalities. A surprising relationship between functions that aggregate transitive fuzzy relations into a T M -transitive fuzzy relation and those that aggregate relaxed indistinguishability relations is shown. A few consequences of the new results are also provided for those cases in which all the t-norms of the given collection are the same. Some celebrated results are retrieved as a particular case from the exposed theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Socio-economic (job and education) background shapes perceived efficacy. • Agents underestimate the probability of intergenerational mobility. • We build a theoretical model to capture macroeconomic implications of such beliefs. • Biases may influence under confident parents to over invest in education. • The biases may lower income inequality. This paper introduces perceived self-efficacy beliefs in an overlapping generations model and studies the effects of behavioral anomalies on human capital investments and aggregate inequality. These beliefs are not inherent but based on a person's socio-economic background. Ex ante children are homogeneous, but parents are biased about the returns to their children's education. Based on parental education and job status, parents may be over or under confident but otherwise, they are rational. We witness spillover effects that shift the incentives to educate children from the pessimistic parents to unbiased parents. Biases may induce or hinder investment. Over investment by one parent type may even crowd-out investments of other parent types. We find interesting effects of biases on the aggregate economy when parental warm glow is not low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an experimental-questionnaire method combined with randomized information treatments, this paper analyzes the drivers of individual inequality aversion. We elicit inequality aversion by asking a sample of more than 1800 Uruguayan students to choose a society for a hypothetical grandchild. Participants make a sequence of choices between imagined societies characterized by varying levels of average income and income inequality. In addition, we prime competing narratives regarding the sources of inequality in society. The main findings are that (1) the prevalence of inequality aversion is high: Most participants' choices revealed inequality-averse preferences; (2) inequality aversion is increasing in the position of the hypothetical grandchild in the income distribution, like a normal good; (3) participants are more likely to accept inequality when it results from effort rather than luck independently of their grandchild's position; (4) the effect of social mobility on inequality aversion depends on the grandchild's income position: Mobility opportunities reduce (increase) inequality aversion if participants expect their grandchild's income to increase (fall). The latter result is consistent with the idea that mobility may impact the desire for more or less redistribution through rational expectation and risk aversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Approaches to 'urban equality' and 'knowledge translation' have changed in the history of the Habitat conferences. • The pathways that have led to the current 'global urban agenda' are as telling as the agendas themselves. • Paradigms about knowledge have moved from building collective narratives, to targeting performance, to measurable data. • The approaches to urban equality have changed influenced by international development processes and power relationships. • Cases of community-based actors help to interrogate politics of knowledge circulation between global-local urban agendas. The relationship between planning research and practice plays a key role in shaping global commitments related to urban development. Arguably, this is the case for a 'global urban agenda' being articulated at an international scale via frameworks like the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda. These multilateral commitments have been shaped by power relationships and assumptions about what kind of knowledge is valuable at different historical moments, a recognition of the local and global impacts of urban development and what sort of urban development is desirable at specific historical junctures. The pathways that have led to the present global attention to cities are as telling as the frameworks themselves. In this paper, we explore the history of multilateral and international networks that have shaped today's global urban agenda. We focus on the three United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat I, II and III) as milestones in the evolution of this agenda. Drawing on Southern urban theory and current debates on the interaction of practitioners and academics, we discuss the paradigms that have shaped the ways in which knowledge has been articulated, circulated and valued in those historical moments via the concept of 'knowledge translation'. We discuss the way in which 'urban equality' has been approached and explored in the praxis of these agendas. To do so, the paper discusses community-based cases that can highlight the different knowledge paradigms, and the power dynamics behind them, opening up questions about the challenges of including diverse voices and knowledges in the 'global' conversation on urban agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 16-year update on the first UK environmental justice air quality study is given. • Emissions for private vehicles are attributed to census area of registered keeper. • Social inequalities in traffic-related pollution exposure are clearer and stronger. • Young children, adults, and households in poverty have highest levels of exposure. • A strong inverse relationship was found between poverty and emissions generation. This paper presents unique spatial analyses identifying substantial discrepancies in traffic-related emissions generation and exposure by socioeconomic and demographic groups. It demonstrates a compelling environmental and social injustice narrative with strong policy implications for the UK and beyond. In the first instance, this research presents a decadal update for England and Wales to Mitchell and Dorling's 2003 analysis of environmental justice in the UK. Using 2011 UK Government pollution and emissions data with 2011 UK Census socioeconomic and demographic data based on small area census geographies, this paper demonstrates a stronger relationship between age, poverty, road NO x emissions and exposure to NO 2 concentrations. Areas with the highest proportions of under-fives and young adults, and poorer households, have the highest concentrations of traffic-related pollution. In addition, exclusive access to UK annual vehicle safety inspection records ('MOT' tests) allowed annual private vehicle NO x emissions to be spatially attributed to registered keepers. Areal analysis against Census-based socioeconomic characteristics identified that households in the poorest areas emit the least NO x and PM, whilst the least poor areas emitted the highest, per km, vehicle emissions per household through having higher vehicle ownership, owning more diesel vehicles and driving further. In conclusion, the analysis indicates that, despite more than a decade of air quality policy, environmental injustice of air pollution exposure has worsened. New evidence regarding the responsibility for generation of road traffic emissions provides a clear focus for policy development and targeted implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessibility, as a requisite to guarantee the individual ability to participate in valued activities, has been receiving increasing yet scattered attention from diverse theoretical and operational approaches. These approaches focus on how individuals are able to engage in out-of-home activities, participate in social life as well as on their involvement in other activities that contribute to their overall well-being. The paper aims at further investigating such approaches, analysing forms of inequality in job-related mobilities while assuming that a person's accessibility depends on both contextual and individual factors. Taking the Buenos Aires metropolitan area as a suitable testbed, the paper offers an approach to identify the inequalities in job-related accessibility at the neighbourhood scale. The approach considers the relationship between the quality and supply of public transport, level of social exclusion and reachable employment opportunities. The research proposes a synthetic index of inequalities in access to job opportunities (IAO) to identify disadvantaged urban areas characterized by a confluence of problems related to socio-economic deprivations, low accessibility to employment as well as a low mobility and poor quality of transport supply. The approach has an explicit operational dimension and intends to contribute to outlining tailored measures to guarantee better job opportunities, as in the case of people living in areas experiencing sub-standard levels of accessibility to workplaces. • An approach to assess areas with sub-standard accessibility to job opportunities is proposed. • Accessibility provided by transport systems is studied in the light of activity participation. • Emerging forms of inequality in job-related mobilities in Buenos Aires are highlighted. • The equity effects of current trends transport supply and urban policies are assessed. • Policy orientations for disadvantaged areas with emerging mobility needs are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the degrowth literature, maximum caps on wealth and/or income are frequently mentioned among the policy instruments that could support transitions towards ecologically and socially sustainable societies. Yet an in-depth discussion of concrete policy proposals has yet to be initiated. To facilitate such a discussion, the present paper reviews several proposals for placing caps on wealth and/or income. Some of these proposals consider environmental limits, others focus exclusively on social inequality. The paper moreover raises various critical issues concerning the introduction of maximum caps on wealth and income in a degrowth context, discussing the role of the state, the impact on economic growth and the risk of emigration of high-skilled employees and capital flight. We conclude that while, in an ecologically constrained world, there is an argument for imposing limits on wealth and income above a certain level, it is crucial not to dictate such policies as mere top-down measures but to develop and deliberate them in democratic forums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Human rights have become a salient topic in fisheries governance. There is an increasing call to operationalize human rights principles in management practices. Enthusiastically, human rights-related language has proliferated in policy texts and academic discourses, but seldom with precise understanding. This deficiency can create confusion and conflation on-the-ground, and is likely nowhere more pertinent than at the intersection of human rights and fishing rights with both converging on the application of rights. By applying a legal, applied perspective, this paper advances two aims. First, it distinguishes and clarifies key terms involved in a human rights-based approach, including human right, customary fishing right and constitutionally protected right to fish. Secondly, it exposes dilemmas that can arise when human rights and fishing rights are brought together in situations of rights allocation, that is, universality of human rights vs. exclusivity of fishing rights; rights versus attendant duties; prioritizing amongst competing human-cum-fishing rights; and individual vs. communal rights. Together, we submit that the human rights-based approach to fisheries will be most effective when a human rights-based approach is used to support (1) communal fishing rights rather than individual rights, assuming the community strives to ensure the basic dignity of all members by distributing fishing rights in a manner consistent with human rights principles, and (2) the fishing rights of small-scale fisheries against those of larger industrial fleets, rather than using it between two small-scale fishing groups. We illustrate these essential clarifications by drawing on contemporary examples from the Global South and North. Highlights • Human rights have become a salient topic in fisheries governance. • This paper clarifies key terms involved in a human rights-based approach as they pertain to fishing rights. • Four conceptual tension between human rights and fishing rights are discussed. • Understanding such contradictions will be important for mitigating shortcomings in practice. • We offer a way forward to inform future implementation of human rights in the context of fishing rights allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the cumulative impacts of the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath (including policy changes) on young people in a sparsely populated rural area of northern England. The paper locates the research in the context of youth studies, Bourdieu's theory of practice, concepts of welfare regimes and welfare mix, and studies of the impacts of the crisis and austerity policies on the distribution of social and societal risk. The empirical findings reveal the challenges which faced young people in rural England before the financial crisis still persist. Moreover, the overwhelming reliance of young people on family for support generates further inequalities through what might be termed 'secondary impact austerity': young people feel indirectly and unevenly the economic effects and policy changes which impact on parents' and communities' ability to offer them support. Thus, changes to the welfare system, loss of services and less secure forms of employment exacerbate the transfer of social risk and the deepening of poverty for vulnerable groups. This is worsened in this rural area by the moral imperatives which stigmatise access to state and charitable support. Thus, moral capital and local habitus intersect with social, economic and cultural capitals in structuring inequalities. • This paper investigates cumulative impacts of the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath on young people in rural England. • The overwhelming reliance of young people on family for support generates further inequalities through what might be termed 'secondary impact austerity'. • Changes to policies and labour markets transfer social risk and deepen poverty for vulnerable groups in rural areas. • In this rural area, such impacts are exacerbated by pressure on families, and stigma attached to alternative means of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the privileges associated with agricultural land ownership, as reflected in a peri-urban transition process. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 56 land managers in and around a single Scottish parish (municipality), representing over 90% of the land in the region. Multiple intersecting transition processes were identified, resulting (in part) from migration to the region of ex-urban lifestyle property seekers. The author argues that these changes represent gentrification: the replacement of existing land users by those of higher social status, leading to visible changes in the appearance of the locale. Drawing on Lukes' 'three faces of power' and Bourdieu's conceptualisation of capital exchange, the author demonstrates that ownership of agricultural land – achieved through inheritance or direct purchase – enables production of symbolic wealth. The analysis illuminates ongoing processes of horsification, simplification and de-commercialisation of agricultural land, which have altered the visual appearance of the parish. Rising land values restrict access for new entrants to commercial farming, but have enabled environmental gains to be achieved outside of state-funded subsidies. The paper demonstrates the privileges associated with agricultural land ownership, the social differentiation processes embedding access to agricultural affordances, and the assembly of agricultural practices into privileged and recreational experiences. • Agricultural land ownership is omitted from social exclusion debates. • Land owners in Strathben engaged in simplification and de-commercialisation. • Land access enables cultural capital production and intergenerational transfer. • Inheritance of agricultural land reproduces inequalities. • Land owners have the privilege of altering natural and built landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Critics have long questioned the feasibility (and desirability) of exponential growth on a finite planet. More recently, mainstream economists have begun to suggest some 'secular' limits to growth. Declining growth rates have in their turn been identified as instrumental in increased inequality and the rise of political populism. This paper explores these emerging arguments paying a particular attention to the dynamics of secular stagnation. It examines the underlying phenomenon of declining labour productivity growth and unpacks the close relationships between productivity growth, the wage rate and social inequality. It also points to the historical congruence (and potential causal links) between declining productivity growth and resource bottlenecks. Contrary to some mainstream views, this paper finds no inevitability in the rising inequality that has haunted advanced economies in recent decades, suggesting instead that it lies in the pursuit of growth at all costs, even in the face of challenging fundamentals. This strategy has hindered technological innovation, reinforced inequality and exacerbated financial instability. At the very least, this paper argues, it is now time for policy to consider seriously the possibility that low growth rates might be 'the new normal' and to address carefully the 'post-growth challenge' this poses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Paying heed to a surge of concern about the serious and continuous environmental degradation that is currently being witnessed in China, in this paper we investigate whether income distribution contributes to environmental deterioration. Environmental degradation can be linked not only to income growth, we argue, but also to increases in income inequality. The study calculated the Gini coefficient of 31 province using a data set of 403 city level data in mainland China and estimated the linkage between income distribution and environmental deterioration utilizing balanced data for 31 Chinese provinces during the period 1996–2015. First, the degree of environmental pollution was calculated by constructing a comprehensive index system, which was formulated using the entropy method, based on six environmental indicators. Then, a spatial panel regression model was also employed in order to estimate whether income inequality is likely to be a relevant factor in environmental deterioration in China. The estimation results showed that: using the index and spatial analysis techniques, significant spatial positive agglomeration were found existing between Chinese provinces in terms of their levels of environmental degradation; the influencing factors estimation results substantiated the existence of an invert U-shaped relation, lending support to the Environmental Kuznets curve theory; more importantly, the study found that income inequality played a significant role in preventing environmental degradation, suggesting that an appropriate level of income inequality over a delimited period is beneficial to improving environmental quality. It should, however, also be emphasized that optimizing the country's income distribution is remains an important long-term task for the Chinese government; other factors were found to exert different types and magnitudes of impacts on environmental pollution. Results showed that many factors—for instance, energy intensity, the share of secondary industry, population density, and foreign direct investment—contribute to environmental deterioration. Conversely, our findings also indicate that rising urbanization levels can have a positive effect on environmental quality. In addition, no clear evidence was found to suggest that local government expenditure is related to environmental degradation. Graphical abstract Image Highlights • The paper estimated the influence of income inequality on China's environmental degradation. • A spatial panel regression model was adopted in this study. • We calculated the Gini coefficient and a comprehensive environmental pollution index. • Income inequality in a delimited period is conducive to prevent environmental degradation. • Factors were found to exert different types and magnitudes of impacts on environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Sub-Saharan African countries are critically understudied. • Lack of in-depth analysis of ecosystem services, especially cultural and supporting. • There are severe barriers to the sustainable delivery of urban ecosystem services. Abstract Africa is urbanizing at an astonishing rate. To meet many of the Sustainable Development Goals there will be a requirement for cities in sub-Saharan Africa to plan for, and manage, the rapid rise in the urban population. Green infrastructure has the potential to provide multiple ecosystem services to benefit the urban population. The general objective of this review is to consolidate research undertaken on urban green infrastructure and the associated ecosystem services in sub-Saharan African cities. The 68 reviewed papers spanned 20 countries and included 74 urban areas. However, only 38% of sub-Saharan countries had any research carried out in them. The most represented ecosystem services were regulating and provisioning, with supporting services getting the least attention. Overall there was a lack of in-depth studies on all ecosystem services, especially supporting and cultural services. Seven overarching categories of barriers and challenges to the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services emerged from the reviewed papers, namely: (i) socio-cultural values, traditions and perceptions; (ii) lack of capacity; (iii) governance, urban planning and social inequality; (iv) lack of data and/or case studies; (v) ecosystem disservices; (vi) spatial trade-offs and conflicts; (vii) climate change. These barriers we identified will need to be addressed if the future, long-term sustainable provision of ecosystem services in sub-Saharan African cities is to be assured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By definition, public spaces are areas or locations that are open and accessible to all people, and in cities they are open space that is specifically concerned with public health, social cohesion, and the quality of urban life. This paper reports a review of literatures on urban public spaces attempting to gauge the research gaps on public spaces through a scoping-review analysis of relevant studies. The review of relevant literatures published from 1990 to 2023 led to an inference that there is a huge gap in defining the publicness (non-excludable and non-rival) of the public spaces in Nepal. Furthermore, knowledge about public spaces is found to be scattered. However, all Nepal-based research identified that open spaces in Kathmandu valley were severely encroached upon. Rapid urbanization, along with a lack of resilient urban planning and governance, appears to have a significant influence on urban public spaces and social cohesion, as well as diseconomies in emerging economies. Social inequalities, health disparities, environmental injustice, economic instability and stifled cultural expression are all intricately bound to urban public spaces, particularly green public space, which still remains a research priority for new evidence-based urban policymakers and urban planners in developing countries. Future research should therefore focus on a multilevel approach preferably using network model to cover and comprehend the societal-benefits of public space, extending large-scale quantitative assessments with field evaluations of each public space, community surveys, and other qualitative research in Nepal. Component-wise research gaps are also evidently explored in the course of separate domains. • This paper gauges the research gap on new and regenerated public spaces. • A substantial gap remains in locally redefining the public spaces, promoting diseconomies in the emerging economies. • Social, health, environmental, economic and cultural aspects of urban green public spaces are to be in research priority. • Future research should focus on grasping the societal value of public space at multilevel approach using network model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies in longitudinal perspective the direct effect of social origin (DESO) on the careers of women in Italy, focusing on the role of motherhood in shaping the DESO and its pattern over the life course. Career outcomes are seen in terms of employment interruptions and of occupational status. First, the paper analyzes when the DESO appears, and how it evolves over the occupational career and the life course. Second, it investigates whether and how motherhood shapes the magnitude and trend over the career of the DESO. Results, based on growth curve models, show that the DESO in occupational status already appears at first job, and then slightly changes over the life course, whereas the social origin gap in the probability of career breaks is small in the first years after labour market entry and then increases. Parenthood does not help to explain the DESO because women from low social origin are more likely to have children than women from high social origin. Rather, it contributes to the increase of the DESO over the life course because of different career trajectories after motherhood, with higher risks to leave employment among women from the lower classes and (slightly) higher occupational premia among women from the service class. • The direct effect of social origin appears already at first job among Italian women. • The direct effect of social origin only slightly changes over the life course. • Women from different social origins experience different career trajectories after motherhood. • Women from the lower classes have higher risks to leave employment after motherhood. • Women from the higher classes experience higher occupational premia after motherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened and made visible the embodied consequences of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) inequalities and the relationalities of health in place. This paper combines insights from relational geographies and embodied epidemiology to explore psychosocial concerns among Ghanaian migrants in Canada due to their multiple and simultaneous roles in the WASH space in Ghana, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored this using narratives from in-depth interviews with 27 participants (16 women and 11 men) residing in Ontario, Canada. The case of Ghana offers insight into how social ties with home communities could provide a safety net during emergencies but could also affect the psychosocial wellbeing of migrants. Results revealed four interrelated psychosocial stressors, including social stressors, financial stressors, stressors related to perceived inequality and stressors related to the fear of infection during WASH access. The paper underscores the urgent need for research to move beyond local health implications of WASH inequalities and begin to prioritize how these social inequalities are embodied at distant locations. • The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the global health interconnectedness • Embodied subjectivities of WASH insecurity span across space and time • Migrants embody multidimensional WASH psychosocial stressors because of their social connections with home • Policy responses must address WASH subjectivities beyond the local [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Associations between transport noise and socio-economic factors are mixed. • Each city presents different patterns of social inequalities in environmental noise. • Contextual factors of the urban area may influence the relationship. • Inequalities in transport noise depend on the noise source and indicators used. Noise from transport is a major environmental problem in urban areas. The distribution of noise in cities may be linked to socio-economic characteristics and evaluating the social distribution of noise is important for planning more equal, liveable and sustainable cities. However, to date, there is no strong base of evidence pointing towards a positive or a negative relationship between transport noise and socio-economic disadvantage. Results across studies are mixed and have mainly focused on road noise. Little information is available on other sources of noise or combined exposures. This paper examines associations between socio-economic factors and transportation noise at a small-area level in four different urban areas in England. To this end, the paper investigates associations across different city characteristics, individual and combined noise exposures (i.e. road, rail, air), different noise levels, as well as different socio-economic indicators. The results show non-homogeneous and complex patterns of socio-economic inequalities in exposure to transport-related noise across the urban areas studied. The relationships are influenced by the type of socio-economic indicator, the noise indicator, the noise source, the noise level as well as by the area's local characteristics. This highlights that inequalities in noise exposure should be considered along with other contextual factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of Smart Cities is an emerging research and application field that has the objective to increase city resilience and improve the quality of life for citizens. In this paper an extensive and thorough gap analysis that was performed in the framework of the SMURBS 1 1 https://smurbs.eu/ project is presented. The gap analysis identified 117 gaps in the legal, methodological, and technological framework, in the thematic areas of air quality, disasters, urban growth and migration. The identified gaps can be used by policy makers in local, regional, national, or even at EU or UN level to form new policies that will bridge these gaps and lead to the creation of resilient and sustainable smart cities. • Earth observation and smart cities. • Gap analysis, gap prioritization. • Legal, technological, methodological frameworks. • Air quality, disasters, health, urban growth, social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rapid urbanization has led to a massive transformation of urban space in China, spatially and socially. Its higher education has been growing much faster than ever before, along with an explosive increase of university students’ population. Different from the Western universities, a majority of Chinese university students are required to reside in gated campuses. Their accessibilities to public transport and subsequent spatial and social implications have been neglected in the literature. Taking Wuhan city as a case study, this paper aims to examine the public transport service to gated university campuses and its impacts on spatial and social inequalities. The spatial accessibility is measured by four methods: proximity-based, gravity-based, population-weighted average, and competition-based, using population data at residential building level. All the results have confirmed the presence of spatial and social inequalities in public transport accessibility for university campuses and students population. The study has also found that these inequalities are not contributed directly from the provision of public transport services but the closure of gated campus to the external public transport. Highlights • The paper presents a new study of socio-spatial inequalities in university students' accessibility to urban public transport. • The study has confirmed the spatial inequality between campuses and other areas as well as between campuses. • There has been a strong social inequality in the accessibility between the students' population and the elderly group. • This paper has addressed the emerging issues on spatial governance of university campus in Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper explores inequality in higher education in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia. • We find that inequality is high in Egypt and Tunisia, but moderate in Jordan. • Family socio-economic characteristics are the primary driver of inequality. • Background affects attainment directly and indirectly, through test scores. • Public spending on higher education is regressive and may increase inequality. Abstract Struggles with inequality have been prominent in the Middle East and North Africa in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. This paper examines the extent and drivers of inequality of opportunity in attaining higher education in Egypt, Jordan, and Tunisia. We find that inequality is similarly high in Egypt and Tunisia, but moderate in Jordan. Background characteristics affect attainment even after accounting for test scores, which are themselves influenced by background. Particularly in Egypt and Tunisia, where higher education is free of charge, public spending on higher education is regressive. Thus, a theoretically meritocratic and equitable system perpetuates inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Ride-sharing, although much older than many may think, has recently made a comeback through internet and smartphone (hailing) technology. The literature does not provide consensus regarding the (dis)benefits of ride-sharing. Furthermore, the limited number of studies identified are examples from the developed world, which are not necessarily transferable to the developing world context. This paper estimates the potential for ride-sharing in Cape Town and its economic, social and environmental impacts. It was found that there were various potential ride-share markets. There are low-income households that are unlikely to own a car anytime soon. These households are potential users for ad-hoc trips that are currently dormant. Furthermore, there is a growing amount of people that omit using their own vehicle, but rather use ride-share services. In the long-term, this group might even give up the private vehicle. For low-income households, the ride-share services mostly address a social need, where the potential impacts for high-income households are economic and environmental. The paper concludes with a systematic scoring of four modes on all economic, social and environmental issues, resulting in non-motorised transport and ride-share being positive, while private car and public transport are negative, in the developing world context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a robust international debate about how best to tackle spatial inequalities within nations and regions. The paper discusses three contrasting approaches: spatial rebalancing, space-neutral and place-based. They vary in the scope and purpose of government policy, from redistributing economic activity, to facilitating aggregate growth, and realising the economic potential of less-developed regions. The paper applies this framework to analyse South Africa’s five decades of experience of spatial policies. The context is one of stark spatial inequalities, uneven institutional capabilities, and mounting political pressure for change. Under apartheid, spatial targeting was highly instrumental and played a role in reproducing social divisions at considerable financial cost. Since the end of apartheid there has been much experimentation with spatial initiatives, but without any overarching vision or policy framework. A cautionary conclusion is that there are risks of extravagant spending in marginal locations when political pressures are strong, public institutions are weak and economic disciplines are lacking. Another is that place-based policies have potential, but require stronger vertical and horizontal policy alignment to stand any chance of tackling entrenched spatial divides. Enhanced local institutions involving private sector and community stakeholders are also essential for spatial policies to respond to the specific challenges and opportunities encountered in each place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) equalities is not uniform, but varies locally and regionally as well as nationally. Research has long focused on large metropolises, with the assumption that work to improve LGBT equalities will mostly take place in these areas. However, a growing body of geographic research attests to positive LGBT experiences in rural areas, and calls for further attention to LGBT lives and equalities in hitherto neglected towns. In this paper I detail public sector LGBT equalities work which occurred in the areas of Hastings, Rother and wider East Sussex, through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project involving a partnership of local public services, LGBT communities, activists and academics from 2010 to 2013. I aim to show that public sector LGBT equalities work is intimately connected with a relational logic of rural/urban, and that this logic can result in some areas being overlooked when it comes to public sector LGBT equalities. Bringing a burgeoning literature on geographies of LGBT equalities together with rural geographies, I advance discussions of progressive public sector equalities work beyond the urban and explore how relational geographies of ‘the rural’ and ‘the urban’ might come together with the discourses of public sector equalities work. Acknowledging the continued importance of discursive rural/urban binaries with regard to LGBT equalities in neglected rural areas, I also explore the slippery ways in which such imaginaries adhere and do not adhere to particular areas. These slippery geographies can result in areas being overlooked in terms of LGBT equalities work. Finally, I point out the importance of other alternative geographic imaginaries relevant to LGBT lives and communities which rural/urban binaries may render less visible. In doing so, this paper, explores the complex relational geographies of how the urban and the rural emerge through discourses of public sector LGBT equalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• To assess the trend of global income inequality, we must address the challenges of scarce and heterogeneous data and the diversity of opinions on what inequality means, which generates much uncertainty about the results. • This paper provides a new transparent and open-access dataset to facilitate a comprehensive analysis of global distributional changes since 1950 and their implications for inequality and overall welfare. • Inequality has unequivocally increased both between and within countries when considered in terms of dollar distances between people (absolute inequality). • When inequality is considered more as relative distances, the results are less robust. However, it can be said with a high degree of consensus that global inequality has declined since 2000, driven by strong growth in China, India, and other emerging countries, and will likely continue to do so for a few more years. • The main exceptions to the consensus on the decline in relative inequality after 2000 come from extreme sensitivity towards either end of the distribution (i.e., stagnation of the very poor or high concentration of income among the very rich). I analyze trends in global income distribution since 1950 using a new companion WIID dataset with standardized country income percentiles. I investigate the robustness of these trends with respect to key data choices, as well as the degree to which the inequality trend depends on specific distributional views (such as the use of absolute versus relative inequality, or relative emphasis at the bottom versus the top). The results show a robust increase in absolute inequality, along with a more nuanced trend in relative inequality, with a very robust decline after 2000 that was interrupted by the COVID crisis but is expected to continue at least until 2028. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing accessibility and improving cycling safety are the primary objectives of cities and policymakers. In the literature, there are several studies examining cycling safety and few studies examining cycling accessibility. However, few studies conduct a joint examination of these two topics to understand the relationship between them. This paper aims to develop and apply a methodological framework to conduct a joint zone-based analysis of traffic safety and accessibility. The developed framework integrates route choice modelling and four-step modelling into traffic safety and accessibility analysis and the outcome is a novel zone-based crash risk estimation incorporating traffic crashes with trip characteristics (including, trip purpose, origin-destination, and alternative routes). The proposed framework was applied in a case study to examine the injury crash risk imposed on commuting cyclists and job accessibility in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands. The results illustrate the need to embed trip characteristics into zone-based traffic safety estimation to be able to compare the spatial distribution of traffic safety with other mobility and transport-related indicators. Moreover, the findings reflect on significance of taking route choice features into account in accessibility analysis to avoid overestimating accessibility levels. They show that safety and accessibility levels are not equally distributed in the city of Utrecht. For example, low-income areas generally have lower job accessibility levels and higher cycling crash risks which imply the spatial and social inequalities in the transport system's effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, the most populated Spanish cities have experienced significant spatial, social, and economic changes. The new urban economies have played an essential role in the acceleration of such transformations, entailing a range of both positive and negative impacts at the spatial, social, economic, and environmental levels. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of how the advancement of the globalization and deindustrialization processes has encouraged social polarization in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia, as well as a significant increase in intra-urban socioeconomic residential segregation. The article concludes by arguing that the increase in levels of social inequality and residential segregation reflects the trend towards polarized urban models, which reproduce in urban space the differences observed in the social structure. • Large Spanish cities have experienced significant changes due to globalization and deindustrialization processes. • The advancement of structural processes has led the emergence of a polarized occupational that tends towards greater wage inequality. • Social inequality has become a structural phenomenon in Spanish global cities • Residential segregation has increased due to the gentrification and touristification of urban centres and the suburbanization of poverty. • This dynamic indicates the emergence of polarized urban spaces, which reproduce in the territory the differences observed in the social structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]