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The Covid-19 pandemic added an additional layer of pressure onto an already stressed housing system in Southeast Queensland (SEQ). Housing is a complex system and we argue that thinking about the separate components of housing in isolation, we are unable to consider the resiliency of housing as a whole system. The purpose of this paper is to inform and help structure resilient housing policy and strategy development in SEQ. Using qualitative methodologies, data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 18 participants associated with the housing sector in SEQ, during the pandemic period. Participants were invited from five groups: community, government, consultants, developers and peak housing bodies. We found that rather than relying on reactive mechanisms, there needs to be a commitment from governments to work with other sectors to strategically plan for proactive and resilient-led approaches and policies to prepare for shocks. There is an opportunity at local, state and federal level governments to learn from this study to better understand what makes a housing system more resilient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its most recent report, the Academy of the Social Sciences Australia (ASSA, 2021: 10) identified social inequality as a "grand challenge" for the social sciences, arguing that social scientists have a pivotal role to play in "understanding, addressing and guiding us towards a narrowing of a two‐tier society." Nevertheless, the social sciences continue to be regularly positioned as "soft" and esoteric in relation to the natural sciences, while also sustaining disproportionate funding cuts. In this article, we—a multidisciplinary group of social science researchers forming part of the Inequalities and Social Action Research Cluster based at The University of Queensland (Australia)—draw on the existing literature and our diverse experiences to reflexively consider how academic social scientists might play the active role that ASSA foresees to address social inequalities into the future. This includes by countering the inherent imperialism of the Western academy itself. We explore the roles, barriers and tensions that social scientists face and conclude by offering a framework of key strategies to improve the translational impacts of social science research for addressing social inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a book review titled "Book Review: Romit Chowdhury, City of Men: Masculinities and Everyday Morality on Public Transport." The book explores the linkages between heterosexual masculinities and urban spaces, specifically focusing on the experiences of transport workers and traffic police in Kolkata, India. It examines how men inhabit city spaces and how their inhabitations produce the city as gendered. The book provides insights from the fields of urban studies, mobility studies, and critical studies of men and masculinities, offering a new context to the discussion of the gendered use of spaces in cities. [Extracted from the article]

Access to public space for earning livelihoods is important for street vendors in global south cities. However, due to continuous population growth and the demand for lands by the real estate development sector, pressure on land is very high in the global south. Consequently, global south cities such as Dhaka provide 'no place' for its poor migrant citizens. Yet, the urban poor are able to appropriate public space for livelihoods. Drawing on a case study of Sattola slum in Dhaka, this article investigates how the urban poor access to public space for livelihoods and construct counter-spaces by breaking the planned order of the city. This article argues that the urban poor are able to construct counter-spaces with the tacit support of translocal social networks as well as with the support of a range of state and non-state powerful actors who are compromised by the benefits and profits they extract from vendors. This article draws on qualitative data generated through in-depth interviews with 94 informal workers and 37 key informants. This article contributes to urban sociology literature demonstrating that the urban poor are able to construct counter-spaces drawing on a range of everyday tactics and appropriating public space by quietly breaking the planned order of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital platforms are the newest technological wave that is reshaping and reconfiguring the economic and labour landscape. Digital platforms often known as the gig economy are increasingly adopting app‐based models to connect consumers with workers to complete their on‐demand tasks. However, on‐demand platforms continue to rely on the unequal division of labour and the precarious nature of the work to create labour markets that can respond accordingly to the increase in service provision. This review highlights two main themes that have emerged within the on‐demand gig economy in the current literature—mythical autonomy and algorithmic control and misclassification of labour and the complexity of migrant workers in navigating this space. Finally, this review calls for further research into the inside/outside dichotomy of migrant labour within the gig economy and their experiences of labour exploitation through app‐based digital platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many studies report a significant association between a lifetime measure of intimate partner violence (IPV) and low birth weight (LBW) in low-income and economically developed countries. However, it remains relatively unclear how different forms of IPV affect LBW in low-income countries. This study examines the associations of various forms of IPV with two measures of birth outcomes - LBW and birth weight in India. Methods: This study used the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015–2016 data of India. The analysis included 11,423 women aged 15–49 years. Using both logistic and linear regression analyses, we assessed the associations of various forms of IPV with binary and continuous measures of birth weight. The analysis controlled for several potential covariates. Results: In fully-adjusted regression models, women who experienced any IPV, compared to those who had not experienced any IPV, were 1.19 times (95% CI: 1.02–1.37) as likely to give birth to an LBW baby. Compared to those who had not experienced any physical violence (PV), women who experienced any PV were 1.16 times (95% CI: 1.00–1.35) as likely to have an LBW baby. Moreover, compared to those who had not experienced any emotional violence (EV), women who experienced any EV were 1.29 times (95% CI: 1.06–1.56) as likely to have LBW babies. Linear regression analysis found that any IPV exposure was associated with a significant decrease in birth weight in the fully-adjusted model (b = −32.39; 95% CI: −63.39 to −1.73). Further, experience of any PV (b = −28.40; 95% CI: −60.13 to 3.36) and any EV (b = −51.69; 95% CI: −93.97 to −9.42) appear to be negatively associated with a continuous measure of birth weight. Conclusion: Findings have implications for public health policies and interventions that protect women from exposure to intimate partner violence for ensuring better maternal health and birth outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We are an international collective of Early Career Academics (ECAs) who met throughout 2020 to explore the implications of COVID-19 on precarious academics. With this intervention, our aims are to voice commonly shared experiences and concerns and to reflect on the extent to which the pandemic offers opportunities to redefine Higher Education and research institutions, in a context of ongoing precarity and funding cuts. Specifically, we explore avenues to build solidarity across institutions and geographies, to ensure that the conduct of urban research, and support offered to ECAs, allows for more inclusivity, diversity, security and equitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial from the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, published on February 19, 2024. The editorial discusses the increasing interest in Southern cities and perspectives emerging from the Global South in the field of urban studies. It highlights several articles in the journal that offer critical overviews of the state of the art and provide insights into emerging themes, such as knowledge production, urban green spaces, noncommunicable diseases, and poverty and disasters. The editorial emphasizes the importance of addressing knowledge gaps and promoting inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable urban environments in the Global South. [Extracted from the article]

As governments around the globe navigate the effects of COVID‐19 crisis, the urban poor endure the unevenly distributed socio‐economic impacts of the pandemic. This burden is more pronounced in Global South megacities, where millions of people engage in precarious informal employment. We examine how the urban poor in Delhi (India), Dhaka (Bangladesh), and Manila (Philippines) have been disproportionately affected by the crisis. A cross‐case analysis was undertaken to determine how the realities and relations of one context can enrich our understanding of the other. We argue that the current COVID‐19 pandemic has exposed the unequal urban citizenship in these three metropolises. Drawing on research reports, news articles, and interviews with urban poor leaders, we explain how limited government assistance has forced some to retreat to their rural hometowns or rely on self‐help and mutual aid practices to survive. We consider the patterns both in governments' treatment of impoverished citizens and in the unjust effects of lockdown enforcement on marginalised populations. We also discuss the roles that women and non‐government organisations (NGOs) have played in facilitating solidarity‐based practices to help urban poor communities cope with COVID‐19 vulnerabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of new forms of data-driven surveillance – often referred to as 'dataveillance' – is reshaping how marginalised social groups are governed. It is generally thought that dataveillance replaces the manual monitoring of specific individuals and spaces with automated monitoring of disembodied and deterritorialised populations. This article challenges this view. Drawing on an ethnographic study of surveillance and homelessness governance in Brisbane, Australia, we argue that embodied surveillance persists in the age of dataveillance due to its capacity to address certain 'power/knowledge challenges' associated with the governance of marginalised social groups. We show how the manual monitoring of individuals and spaces is central to how governing actors keep track of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and prevent them falling into 'surveillance gaps' arising from the extreme social and spatial marginalisation that homelessness entails. We also show how these practices are experienced as a 'mixed blessing' by people experiencing homelessness, as they have the capacity to result in both punitive targeting, as well as protection and housing-focused support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor markets are still heavily gendered everywhere, even when women's participation in the labor market is greater now than at any other time in history. Existing research shows poor women's participation in the informal economy is higher than men's in many parts of the Global South. However, this is not the case in Bangladesh. Poor Muslim women's participation, particularly where they require access to public space, is lower than men due to persistent patriarchal norms, reflected in social and religious expectations of women. Drawing on interview data with female street vendors from a slum in Dhaka, this article explores the dynamics of social and religious norms that constrain poor Muslim women's access to public space to earn income. This article contributes to the literature on gender, religion, and work by highlighting that the parochial realm offers a safer space for operating businesses without breaking social norms and by arguing that poor Muslim women experience social and religious barriers rather than legal ones. Non‐legal barriers are more amenable to change as a result, which is important for empowering women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Munn, Luke Automation is a myth. Stanford University Press: Stanford, CA, 2022; i + 184 pp.; ISBN: 1503631117, $67.65 (hbk) Automation has become a buzzword that we often hear in our everyday life. However, Luke Munn in his book I Automation is a Myth i challenges this monolithic discourse that automation is everywhere and everything will be automated in the future. This book will be useful to those interested in automation, media studies, science and technology studies, sociology, and critical race studies. [Extracted from the article]

The book starts with an introduction and six subsequent chapters. The intro chapter further provides a discussion on the research methods that the author employed to navigate the dynamics of colonial feminism. The intro chapter sets up the book with an overview of the intersections of gender and the coloniality of power and colonial feminisms. [Extracted from the article]