This article presents a social analysis and a spatial outline of this quarter. On the basis of two cross-sections it is possible to study the social and spatial effects of industrialisation on this neighbourhood. Petrus Regout founded glassworks and a pottery there in the 1830’s. The demographic pressure increased, the population rejuvenated, became more homogeneous (in occupations), was reduced to poverty (at least in housing) and was immobilized. The preindustrial labour market changes into an industrial one. The perspectives of employment at the Sphinx led to a crowding of people in increasingly miserable housing conditions. Further research into life-courses in context is needed to get answers to questions concerning generational (dis)continuity in culture of poverty
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Citizens living in food poverty can easily get caught up in a vicious cycle. Socio-economically disadvantaged people often rely on food assistance and are more likely to suffer from diseases caused by unhealthy diets, such as diabetes. They may also experience isolation and lack social networks, as they do not have the financial means to participate in social life. Moreover, this group is often overlooked in decision-making processes regarding healthy and sustainable food environments. To create equitable food environments in urban areas, it is crucial to incorporate the everyday challenges and needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged people. In our collaborative research, we explore the needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged people regarding a healthy and sustainable diet in Switzerland and the Netherlands. The aim is also to develop, in a participatory way, ideas on how to create more socially just and inclusive food environments.Keywords: food poverty, food environments, social participation, participatory action research
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Mechanisms that drive the intergenerational transmission of poverty have been studied widely, but to understand how these mechanisms are at work in real life we require studies on perspectives of families who themselves are living in poverty. In this study, we combine the perspectives of multiple generations of family households in a rural area in the Netherlands. We want to understand from their own perspective what prevents these families from escaping poverty. Twenty-three family households participated in intergenerational interviews. Results show that recurrent mechanisms were often perceived to relate to rearing practices, norm-setting and geographical mechanisms (immobility and perceived place-based stigma). Family habitus structures the mechanisms that prolong and perpetuate poverty.
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The phenomena of urbanization and climate change interact with the growing number of older people living in cities. One of the effects of climate change is an increased riverine flooding hazard, and when floods occur this has a severe impact on human lives and comes with vast economic losses. Flood resilience management procedures should be supported by a combination of complex social and environmental vulnerability assessments. Therefore, new methodologies and tools should be developed for this purpose. One way to achieve such inclusive procedures is by incorporating a social vulnerability evaluation methodology for environmental and flood resilience assessment. These are illustrated for application in the Polish city of Wrocław. Socio-environmental vulnerability mapping, based on spatial analyses using the poverty risk index, data on the ageing population, as well as the distribution of the areas vulnerable to floods, was conducted with use of a location intelligence system combining Geographic Information System (GIS) and Business Intelligence (BI) tools. The new methodology allows for the identification of areas populated by social groups that are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of flooding. C 2018 SETAC Original Publication: Integr Environ Assess Manag 2018;14:592–597. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4077
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This thesis has increased our knowledge of the needs of homeless people using shelter facilities in the Netherlands and of the needs and wishes of people living in persistent poverty. It provides guidance for policy and further professionalization and quality improvements to the services and support provided to homeless people and people living in persistent poverty. The results underscore the importance of broad and integrated policy measures to strengthen socioeconomic security, and emphasize the need for including the views of clients and experts by experience in the development of policy. Our research also stresses the need for services to employ peer workers to support homeless people and people living in persistent poverty and to apply a more human-to-human approach.
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Hoe kunnen professionals betekenisvol maatwerk bieden aan mensen in generatiearmoede? De Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RUG) deed jarenlang onderzoek naar de rol van professionals in het werkveld rondom (generatie)armoede in De Veenkoloniën. Aan het kennisniveau van professionals of het beschikbare instrumentarium schort het niet. De belangrijkste obstakels voor maatwerk ervaren professionals in de randvoorwaarden voor hun werk.
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At present, leading international agencies, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, are largely focused on what they claim to be ‘win-win’ scenarios of ‘sustainable development’ rhetoric. These combine social, economic and environmental objectives. However, as noted by the ‘Scientists’ Warning to Humanity’, environmental integrity is the essential precondition for the healthy functioning of social and economic systems, and thus environmental protection needs to be prioritized in policy and practice. Ecological sustainability cannot be reached without realizing that population growth and economic growth, with attendant increased rates of depletion of natural resources, pollution, and general environmental degradation, are the root causes of unsustainability. This article argues that to strategically address ecological unsustainability, the social, economic and political barriers to addressing the current economic model and population growth need to be overcome. Strategic solutions proposed to the current neoliberal economy are generic – namely, degrowth, a steady-state economy, and a ‘circular economy’. Solutions to demographic issues must be sensitive to the countries' cultural, social, political and economic factors to be effective as fertility differs from country to country, and culture to culture. As discussed here, Mediterranean countries have the lowest fertility in the world, while many countries in Africa, and some in Asia, South America have stable but consistently high birthrates. This is discussed using three case studies - Tanzania, Italy, and Cambodia, focusing on the "best case" policy practice that offers more realistic hope for successful sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-019-0139-4 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Intergenerationele armoede en kansenongelijkheid zijn hardnekkige en groeiende problemen, ook in de Veenkoloniën. Huidig beleid slaagt er niet in om de situatie voor mensen in armoede te verbeteren en behaalt haar doelstellingen tot nu toe dus nog niet. Dit essay presenteert de hoofdconclusies en aanbevelingen van het meerjarig onderzoek naar het effectief terugdringen van intergenerationele armoede in de Veenkoloniën, uitgevoerd door de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, als onderdeel van het project 'Alliantie van Kracht’ en in opdracht van de provincies Drenthe en Groningen. De belangrijkste conclusie is dat het doorbreken van intergenerationele armoede een benadering vereist die gericht is op families. Iedere familie is anders en heeft te maken met haar eigen manieren van armoede-overdracht. Daarnaast bevelen wij aan om zes randvoorwaarden te creëren die het individu of het gezin in armoede centraal zetten. Dit schept een raamwerk om intergenerationele armoede, in al haar diversiteit, succesvol aan te pakken.
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This thesis is about dilemmas, discretionary space and ethics in public welfare. In my position as a lecturer of ethics in socio-legal practices I am concerned with the way in which these practices open up to an ethical development of their professionals. Thus, this thesis is a search for the most fundamental themes and issues in understanding and judging public welfare as a, perhaps, ethical socio-legal practice. In the field of public services professionals function as the intermediary between government and citizen. In their daily work public welfare professionals take care of the important societal task and goal of poverty alleviation. During the last decades, public welfare has developed into a civil right that involves many obligations on the part of the client in return. The requirement to see to it that the client fulfils these obligations has complicated the public welfare professional’s task of helping citizens in need.
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Implementation of the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (UN CRPD) requires countries to harmonise their legislative frameworks with it. This paper investigates the national legislative frameworks of four Asian countries to see the extent to which they provide support services in accordance with Article 19 of the UN CRPD. The UN CRPD requires persons with disabilities to have access to and choice and control over support services. To analyse the policy alignment with the UN CRPD, an analytical framework based on the Capability Approach (CA) was developed. The results show that most countries address support services, including assistive devices, only from the perspective of a social security measure for persons with disabilities living in poverty, failing to uphold the rights of those not meeting those eligibility criteria. However, while support services are inseparably linked to social security, they also are a right for persons with disabilities. Therefore, a paradigm shift is required in the approach of support services and the distributive systems of countries, from one that addresses persons with disabilities as those requiring care considered a burden, to one that considers them rights holders with equal opportunities, for which, support services are a pre-requisite.
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