Analyses of Ghana's e-waste import tend to focus on the dangerous effects of its informal processing. Richard Grant and Martin Oteng-Ababio employ the concept of urban mining to take a more differentiating look at a thriving informal economy.
Cities are experienced differently by their residents due to a multitude of factors. Analysing several neighbourhoods in Egypt's Greater Cairo Region, Professors Diane Singerman and Danielle Higgins call for an intersectional approach that considers gender, employment status, and geography when trying to understand causes of urban inequality.
Migrant workers in cities often experience exclusion and discrimination. Hoang Phuong Thao explains the particular situation of women migrant workers in Vietnam, and why SDG implementation is a great tool for integrating disadvantaged groups into the urban development process.
When opening creative spaces, it is not enough to simply designate a space and add tools and technology, says Roman Vydro, co-Founder of Garage Hub, a community workshop in Kharkiv, Ukraine. What is way more important, is to include a variety of people and let their input create an entire creative ecosystem.
Across Latin America, software developers are urgently needed. Laboratoria, an organisation launched in Lima, Peru, focusses on meeting this demand – and, at the same time, opens urban labour markets for women.
"LivelyHoods" forges economic opportunities for youth and women in Kenyan slums – while at the same time promoting clean energy. What are the project's success factors and what challenges does it face?
In Lagos, youth are believed to constitute about 50 per cent of the population, equalling over 10 million people. Facing high rates unemployment and an ever-growing population, decision-makers need to understand both the challenges and the opportunities that characterise youth employment in Lagos, argues Oje Ivagba
With many young Nigerians relocating from rural to urban areas, unemployment is on the rise. Charles Ogheneruonah Eghweree and Festus Imuetinyan sketch out possible policy responses.
Living as a refugee is difficult, and often aggravated by not being able to work and earn money in your host country. In Southern Jordan, refugees and locals take part in urban regeneration efforts.
Housing and labour are mutually dependent, but their connection is overlooked in economic policies most of the time. Edmundo Werna, Ramin Keivani and Youngha Cho argue that a closer look and a different understanding of how the two markets are linked will lead to more effective solutions and better housing and livelihood conditions, especially in the Global South.
Cities throughout the world face the challenge of how to create more – and decent – jobs. On Labour Day, Edmundo Werna makes the case for an extensive urban dialogue as a necessary condition for a proactive employment policy.
In precarious working environments, cooperatives hold an immense potential to increase social and economic inclusion of marginalized groups. Sonia Dias uses the examples of waste pickers cooperatives to illustrate how the concept of cooperatives helps implement the four pillars of the International Labor Organisation’s Decent Work Agenda—and calls on policy makers to create a favourable environment for this organisational form.
Part I presented two subsequent paradigms related to the world of work, Fordism and Post-Fordism. Subsequently, it was argued that there are two contrasting trends in the world of (urban) labour: flexibility and stability. This is the second and concluding part of the article, which includes considerations about policies.
"Our Struggle for Global Sustainability will be won or lost in cities", said Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations. The present article argues that our struggle for good urbanisation will be won or lost depending on the opportunities and conditions of work.
In many countries, informal employment still makes up a large proportion of the economy. Yet local governments often do nothing to protect these workers and instead they are frequently subject to discrimination. Marty Chen, Sally Roever and Caroline Skinner from the WIEGO Network show ways in which they can organize to claim their rights and be better included in urban policy processes.
