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Mobility innovation at the urban margins.
- Source :
-
City . Dec2011, Vol. 15 Issue 6, p647-661. 15p. - Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- With the consolidation of democratic governments in the 1980s and 1990s, wholesale evictions of entire neighbourhoods ceased to be a solution to urban problems in Latin America. This paper discusses an example of a new generation of municipal programmes aimed at physically upgrading informal settlements while integrating them both physically and socially into the fabric of the city. In Medellín, a city with a recent history of violence and social inequality, the audacious use of well-established ski-slope aerial cable-car technology in dense and hilly low-income informal settlements was followed by major neighbourhood upgrading comprising new social housing, schools and other social infrastructure, as well as support to micro-enterprises. Although lack of mobility contributes to social inequality and poverty, the paper argues that the introduction of quick-fix highly visible transport technology on its own is unlikely to help reduce poverty. Although urban upgrading programmes and the symbolic value of cable-car systems have instilled among the local population a feeling of inclusion and integration into the ‘modern’ city, they can also be understood as mechanisms for the ‘normalisation’ of informal sectors of the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *INTERNAL migration
*PUBLIC transit
*POVERTY
*EQUALITY
*URBAN policy
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13604813
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- City
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 69603864
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2011.609007