While the knowledge of disrepair in inner-city schools is fairly common, the impact that school facilities are having on students and faculty is not as widely known. More recently, the closing of inner city schools has greatly increased across the United States; Reduction in public school enrollment from 2006-2013: Detroit -63%, Cleveland -32%, Indianapolis -27%, D.C. -23%, L.A. -23%,etc. (Journey For Justice Alliance,2014). Due to budget cuts, threat of school closings from poor facility conditions, large class size, and pressure to raise test scores, inner city schools struggle to keep teachers (Journey For Justice Alliance,2014). Poor teacher retention along with a lack in care for educational facilities has created a toxic environment for inner-city students. Although there are many reasons that inner-city schools suffer, negativity within school culture seems to be a common denominator within many of these problems. With larger population percentages of minority, economically disadvantaged and disabled students, difficulties arise in communicating student-to-student and teacher-to-student (Bellwether Education Partner, 2016). The question becomes, how does one design a space to provide comfort, safety and communication in order to foster healthy relationships? This research will inform the design of a middle school that focuses on community and communication. The goal will be to design a school where flexibility and team work is made easier through furniture and layout solutions in order to foster growth and respect for students and teachers.

This dissertation examines the ways in which Ferréz Sacolinha, Junot Díaz and Ernesto Quiñonez negotiate the global subordination of diasporic subjects in São Paulo and New York. Through a street aesthetic of the urban underworld, these four writers explore social inequalities tied to race and social class in the urban periphery. In São Paulo, Ferréz and Sacolinha use the public transit system to examine the contained mobility of residents of the periferia. Through encounters with criminality, Ferréz critiques the image of the criminoso associated with the marginal space of the periferia. Sacolinha analyzes systemic inequalities through the cobrador's use of the perua, which functions as a subversive tactic against governmental organizations. In New York, Junot Díaz and Ernesto Quiñonez address the marginalization of urban Latino youth on the streets of the inner city. Díaz complicates the fractured identity of Dominican American youth who experience stigma in relation to the U.S.'s black-white racial binary. By dissecting the relationship between crime and hegemonic social structures, Quiñonez traces Spanish Harlem residents' colonized, racialized status as Puerto Ricans in New York. In the literary works of the four authors, young protagonists roam the streets, maintaining a macho demeanor to conceal their insecurities and to appear to others -- and more importantly to themselves -- as tough individuals who will not crack under pressure. The aggressive, fearless attitude that they embody allows them to survive the inner city streets. They face an endless cycle of suspicion, racial discrimination and lack of resources, which limits their chances for social mobility.

This dissertation examines geographies of schooling in relation to how a group of new teachers in Canada conceptualize “inner city” schooling as a uniquely Canadian construct. The study uses a critical approach that explores issues of race, and their intersections with issues of gender, social class, and other identity markers. Seven new teachers graduating from a 2009-2010 teacher education program in the province of Ontario, Canada took part in this study. As a function of the inner city, the inner city school is problematized as a particular geographical space, complete with its own meanings. Results of this study indicate that new teacher conceptualizations of Canadian inner city schools are not uniform and coherent, but complex, contradictory, and dependent upon each individual teacher’s experiences with difference. Overall, participants demonstrated limited ability to speak to their own racial identities in relation to teaching in such schooling contexts. Because most participants learned to teach in predominantly White field-placement settings, they perceived race to be a non-issue and recognized it as a construct only if raced bodies were present. With respect to issues of gender, participants most often discussed what is often referred to as the feminization of teaching in elementary schools. However, there was a profound sense in which inner city schools were conceptualized as “male space” or as space from which female teachers needed protection. This was informed by a widespread conception that male teachers could more effectively manage inner city students. Classroom management emerged as an issue that concerned participants with the least experience with difference. Finally, there was a direct relationship between the theoretical approaches used by the teacher education program in discussing inner city schooling and individual teacher ability to articulate their pedagogical approaches to teaching in this milieu. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-07-11 20:54:49.407

Im Sommer 2012 führte das IÖR im Rahmen eines BMVBS/BBSR-Forschungsvorhabens eine bundesweite Umfrage zur Erhebung von Innenentwicklungspotenzialen (IEP) durch. Neben der Konzeption und Durchführung der Befragung und ergänzenden Experten-Interviews in ausgewählten Fallbeispielstädten beinhaltet das Projekt die Erarbeitung von Grundlagen und Konzepten für eine Verstetigung eines bundesweiten Monitorings von Innenentwicklungspotenzialen sowie die Berücksichtigung neuer Daten-Quellen und automatisierter Verfahren. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden ausgewählte Ergebnisse aus der Befragung vorgestellt. Schwerpunkt bildet dabei die Ermittlung und Validierung der Quantitäten von Innenentwicklungspotenzialen in Deutschland. An der bundesweiten standardisierten Online-Befragung beteiligten sich rd. 4 % der deutschen Städte und Gemeinden aller Größenklassen in proportionaler geographischer Verteilung nach Regionstypen und Bundesländern. Große Städte verfügen über gute Kenntnisse über zu vorliegenden Potenzialen, Kleinstädte und Landgemeinden sind dagegen oft auf Schätzungen angewiesen. Etwa die Hälfte der beteiligten Kommunen sieht sich in der Lage, die Daten regelmäßig fortzuschreiben. Tendenziell unterschätzen die befragten Kommunen die Potenziale in ihrem Territorium. Die Analyse möglicher Ursachen hierfür erlaubt die Auslotung von Bandbreiten nach oben. Vorliegende Hochrechnungen weisen IEP in Höhe von mindestens 15 m² je Einwohner (oder 120 000 ha) auf Brachen und Baulücken aus. Diese Größenordnung entspricht ca. 5 % der Gebäude- und Freifläche. Unter Berücksichtigung von Korrekturschätzungen kann der Gesamtwert auf ca. 20 m² je Einwohner (165 000 ha) steigen.

Abordamos os romances Guia afetivo da periferia, do escritor brasileiro Marcus Vinícius Faustini, e Marginais, do escritor cabo-verdiano Evel Rocha, com o interesse de estudar seus protagonistas, personagens pobres que vivem em zonas urbanas. Motivou-nos o interesse de entender como estão representadas e, por isso, tratamos de investigar suas experiências cotidianas, a partir do que pudemos identificar algumas de suas características e atitudes. Essa investigação teve como suporte teórico textos que defendem a importância de uma hermenêutica do cotidiano, recomendando a sua realização como uma forma de se potencializar a documentação de experiências de vidas anônimas e de demandas sociais legítimas, mas escondidas para a conveniência dos grupos hegemônicos. Essa hermenêutica se baseia na compreensão de que aquilo que se vive informalmente deve ser entendido como uma alavanca para o conhecimento humano. Analisamos cinco unidades temáticas mínimas que se evidenciaram comuns aos romances: vida, morte, doença, trabalho e território. Constatamos que a forma como os dois textos retratam a vida na periferia são complementares, não obstante, individualmente, privilegiem visões unívocas da realidade social que retratam. Também constatamos que os romances tanto inovam na abordagem de alguns temas, como o combate à tuberculose e a opção pelo autoemprego, como, de algum modo, ratificam posições que cerceiam os seres humanos, como quando atrelam a noção de decência ao fato de se estar ou não empregado e a pobreza à criminalidade. / We have addressed the novels Guia afetivo da periferia, by the Brazilian writer Marcus Vinícius Faustini, and Marginais, by the Cape Verdean writer Evel Rocha, in order to study their protagonists, characters that live in poverty in urban areas. Our motivation was the need to understand how they are portrayed. We therefore delved into the investigation of their daily experiences, and from that we were able to identify some of their characteristics and attitudes. The investigation was based on theoretical texts that defend the importance of a hermeneutic of everyday life, pointing to it as a way of optimizing the recording of anonymous life experiences and legitimate social demands that are hidden at the hegemonic groups\' convenience. Such hermeneutic is based on the understanding that informal life experiences should be understood as leveraging human knowledge. We have analyzed five motifs that proved to be common to both novels: life, death, disease, work and territory. We found that the way both texts portray life in the inner cities are complementary, although, individually, they emphasize one-sided visions of the social reality they portray. We have also found that the novels innovate in the way they address some themes, such as the fight against tuberculosis and the option for self-employment, and at the same time somehow ratify positions that restrain human beings, for example when they link the notion of decency to having or not employment contract and poverty to criminality.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan Stockholms parker och offentliga grönområdena i relation till den rådande förtätning staden genomför. Stockholm har en tydlig strategi på att skapa en tät stad vilket medför effekter på stadens parker och offentliga grönområden. Studien diskuterar de värden som tillkommer och går förlorade när exploateringen av staden ökar samtidigt som den totala arealen grönområden minskar. Vidare diskuteras det offentliga grönområdenas funktion i den täta staden. De metoder som använts i studien består av semistrukturerade informantintervjuer i kombination med telefon- och e-postintervjuer följt av en bred litteraturundersökning. Materialet i studien utöver vetenskapliga artiklar inkluderar planer, styrdokument och program på lokal, regional, nationell och internationell nivå. Den täta staden kan såväl generera en bättre livsmiljö och minska en negativ miljöpåverkan likväl som att den kan bli ohållbar och skapa sämre livsmiljöer. Parker och offentliga grönområden fyller viktiga funktioner för Stockholm. Parallellt minskar mängden grönområden i städerna och centrala värden förbises i den fysiska planeringen. Med bra planering går det emellertid att utveckla en tätare stad och samtidigt skydda grönområden.

A building in the heart of Newtown, Johannesburg that incorporates a mix of uses appropriate to its context. / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted

Serious inequities in our K-12 public education system, particularly in regard to the quality of education in predominately Black inner-city schools, are well-documented in the literature (Freeman, 1998; Ross, 1998). Moreover, there is general agreement that the most effective means of ameliorating that situation is through well-thought-out after-school programs and partnership initiatives (Beck, 1993; Gardner et al., 2001). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the programmatic interventions of a youth enrichment program for inner-city Black youth currently in place at the Overtown Youth Center (OYC) in Miami, Florida, in order to: (a) discern those factors that support its claim that it is making a difference in students’ lives, (b) explore how any such factors are implemented, and (c) determine whether its interventions have served to equalize the playing field for these youth. Two primary methods of data collection were used for this study. The first was participant observation conducted over the course of two years through a partnership initiative established and led by this author. The second was through in-depth interviews of the Center’s founder, staff, and students. Secondary methods used were the recording of informal conversations and the analysis of written documents. Analysis of the data yielded four features of the Center that are indispensible to the students’ growth. The center provides the youth with (a) physical and psychological safety, (b) supportive relationships, (c) exposure to cultural and educational opportunities, and (d) assistance in building self-esteem. The most significant finding of the study was that OYC has been successful at making a difference in students’ lives and at increasing their aspirations to attend college. By addressing the full spectrum of their needs, the Center has given them many of the necessary tools with which to compete and thereby helped equalize their opportunities to succeed in school and in life. The study also noted a number of challenges for the Center to examine. The main issues that need to be addressed more seriously are staff turnover, staff indifference, nepotism, inconsistent student attendance, and insufficient focus on racial issues and African-American-centered education. Meeting those challenges would engender even greater positive outcomes.

Inner city urban blight is a prevalent area of research in particularly in the industrialized Northern cities. There are also significant scientific discussions on characterizing inner city urban blight, which is usually associated with unemployment, poverty, depopulation and social exclusion, and empirical work to address this problem. But compared to the Northern cities, similar research in the Global South shows a low profile, and even much lower in the South Asian region that accommodates a substantial number of mega cities. City cores are the most densely populated area and very important business and industrial zone in case of South and also South East Asian cities, unlike North American or European inner cities. These City cores could be generally characterized with poor housing condition, buildings of heritage value, inadequate and poor quality of urban services, deteriorating physical environment and sometimes also social problems. Thus, urban renewal in this context requires a review of traditional approaches. This research concentrates on urban renewal to address urban blight in the historical city core of Dhaka, a South Asian mega city. This is a qualitative and exploratory research using a single case study in detail, which is a small street called Shankhari Bazar in old Dhaka. beside the literature, information is collected through semi structured interviews, group discussion and workshops with different stakeholders, participant observation and relevant legal documents. This research aims at improving the living condition of the traditional city center in the megacity of Dhaka, which is considered as a blighted area in the planning documents and also perceived as well as recognized to be blighted largely in the professional and academic field. To do that, it has taken the course of investigating a number of issues. Such as, understanding the urban blight features in Dhaka, driving forces that foster urban blight to set in neighborhoods, relevant examples of urban renewal in South and South-East Asian cities, hurdles that check improvement of blight situation, role of different actors in different perspectives such as fostering, addressing and fighting urban blight as well as their role, capacity and willingness in improving the situation. The results identify the intricate complexity of the local socio-cultural-political-administrative setup and indicates the difficulty of large scale intervention. Instead, the study identifies the scopes where interventions are required and possible to achieve meaningful improvement with minimal mediation. Although the research focuses on the inner city of Dhaka but it also considers the wider regional scale and includes similar conditions in a few historical cities in South Asia. Consequently, the results of this study are also relevant for the regional scale to varying extent if not exactly.

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