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1. Recycling Regime, Environment, and Exclusion of Electronic Scrap Workers in Delhi

Author:
Gayatri Jai Singh Rathore
Publication Date:
11-2026
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
In recent years, the Indian e-waste sector has undergone a process of formalisation through the implementation of E-waste Management Rules (2016), leading to the creation of what I call recycling regime. The upper and middle classes, along with NGOs and industry actors, are frontrunners in thinking about e-waste policies. They were prompted by a twofold motive: the desire for a “world-class”, clean, and pollution-free city; and seizing business opportunities by extracting value from e-waste. Rather than replacing the State, they co-opted the State so that it would legislate to safeguard the environment, and address toxicity and health problems associated with e-waste. Recycling regime relies on formalisation processes embedded in multiple technologies – technicity, capital-intensive facilities, certifications, authorisations, and licences – that work together to exclude the “informal” sector from the e-waste governance system. Recycling technologies act as “technologies of domination” that further contribute to sidelining the “informal” labour of scrap workers or e-kabadis, who as Muslims already find themselves on the margins of society. However, the recycling regime fails to safeguard the environment in the end as e-waste trickles down back to the informal sector via authorised actors.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, Environment, Globalization, Health, Markets, Poverty, Governance, Law, Urbanization, Emerging States, and Norms
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

2. Urbanized and Savvy – Which African Firms are Making the Most of Mobile Money?

Author:
Charles Ackah, Aoife Hanley, Lars Hecker, and Michael Kodom
Publication Date:
09-2024
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Abstract:
Our analysis of over 500 Ghanaian firms sheds light, for the first time, on how certain firms managed to extract value from mobile money. Our regressions point to the usefulness of this form of cashless payments in stabilizing sales during the COVID pandemic. Perhaps the most important message from our analysis is the recognition that the benefits from mobile money extend beyond its purpose as a tool for transacting cashless payments. We reveal that firms using these additional tools supported by MoMo (e.g. for planning or saving purposes) report higher sales resilience, all things equal. Our findings appear to echo the literature on private householders (e.g. Jack and Suri, 2014). However, while the latter report a positive effect due to remittances, our finding is more likely driven by enhanced ability of businesses to streamline their planning and sales.
Topic:
Emerging Markets, Globalization, Urbanization, Money, Innovation, and Digitalization
Political Geography:
Africa

3. Who Will Cities Be For? Inequality, Housing, and the Future of African Urbanization

Author:
Paula Sevilla Núñez
Publication Date:
04-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center on International Cooperation (CIC)
Abstract:
As urban areas absorb most of the population growth in the upcoming decades, urbanization presents unique opportunities to transform a society’s economic, social, and political landscape. How cities perform in these dimensions will determine whether societies can become more peaceful, just, and inclusive, and be effectively prepared to respond to future crises. In an urban age shaped by inequalities, policies on housing can either be a catalyzer of equitable and sustainable development or contribute to a vicious cycle of exclusion that hinders governments’ ability to address today’s global challenges. Approaching the issue of housing from a purely technical lens overlooks its political nature, wherein the tension between ensuring residents’ right to housing and promoting real estate financialization for economic gain encapsulates broader questions such as who belongs in a city, or a society’s vision of its own future. Housing is therefore not just a technical or financial issue, but also one of governance. Two-thirds of African cities that will exist in 2050 have yet to be built. Making space to house these new urban residents by building new homes presents an opportunity to do it with a people-centered approach. Effective housing governance requires dismantling past structures that perpetuate exclusionary practices; challenging simplistic narratives of urban glory that end up promoting the financialization of housing; and building coalitions that work for a renewed social contract through access to housing.
Topic:
Urbanization, Inequality, Cities, and Housing
Political Geography:
Africa

4. Amérique latine. L'année politique 2023

Author:
David Recondo
Publication Date:
01-2024
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
Amérique latine. L’Année politique 2023 est une publication de l’Observatoire politique de l’Amérique latine et des Caraïbes (Opalc) du CERI-Sciences Po. Il prolonge la démarche du site www.sciencespo.fr/opalc en offrant des clés de compréhension d’un continent en proie à des transformations profondes.
Topic:
Civil Society, Crime, Democratization, Politics, Governance, Urbanization, European Union, Multilateralism, Regional Integration, Memory, and Social Policy
Political Geography:
Latin America

5. Public Attitudes Towards Social Spending: Evidence from Hong Kong and Singapore

Author:
Alfred M. Wu and Qin Gao
Publication Date:
02-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University
Abstract:
This lecture examines the psychosocial impact of rural-to-urban migration on youth in China using a multisystemic resilience framework and discusses potential interventions to promote more sustainable and equitable urbanization. This event is part of the 2022-2023 lecture series on “Urbanization, Well-being, and Public Policy: China from Comparative Perspectives” and is sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and cosponsored by Columbia's China Center for Social Policy.
Topic:
Migration, Urbanization, Youth, Urban, and Rural
Political Geography:
Asia, Singapore, and Hong Kong

6. Causes and Effects of Water and Environmental Pollution: A Way Forward

Author:
Tahira Mumtaz, Ammara Tariq Cheema, and Rabia
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Political Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Pollution is not a new marvel, yet it is still one of the world's most prominent human issues, with its driving reasons for sickness and demise. Human activities through urbanization, industrialization, and mining are major factors of worldwide Pollution. Both advanced and developing states share this impulse, even though cognizance and flexibility in advanced states primarily affect the security of their current situation. Although worldwide attention regarding Pollution, the effect is as yet felt because of its drawn-out adverse consequences. All kinds of pollution are discussed in this study. The majority of researchers emphasize the study of water pollution. The fundamental changes it makes to humans, animals, plants, soil, and the environment as a whole are what give it significance. The study discusses water pollution caused by dumping solid, carbon-based, and liquid materials into lakes and waterways that comprise toxic chemicals like lead, mercury, and metals. One of the most significant kinds of pollution from nuclear activity is harmful pollution, which occurs when materials flow into the water and become toxic and polluting substances. The majority of factories do not use pesticides and fertilizers to industrial drainage regulations, so the waste reaches the water. Additionally, home waste outflows contribute to water pollution. In addition, it focuses on the most significant causes of groundwater pollution and the stages of its usage and distillation, highlighting hygiene sources as the most significant sources of water pollution.
Topic:
Environment, Water, Urbanization, Pollution, and Contamination
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and Global Focus

7. Urbanisation and Social Cohesion: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Africa

Author:
Tekalign Gutu Sakketa
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
Africa is currently undergoing the most rapid urbanisation process globally, and this trend is forecast to persist in the coming decades. Many believe that this ongoing rapid urbanisation process is changing the social fabric and reshaping social cohesion. This study explores the theoretical channels through which urbanisation affects social cohesion and provides empirical evidence of their interrelationship. Specifically, the study asks: given the vast social, economic, cultural, political and environmental transformation associated with urbanisation, is there a link between urbanisation and social cohesion? Combining a novel national panel data set on social cohesion from Afrobarometer with urbanisation and other socioeconomic data from world development indicators, the study shows that urbanisation is negatively correlated with the three attributes of social cohesion, namely trust, inclusive identity, and cooperation for the common good. These associations persist even after controlling for country socioeconomic conditions and year fixed effects. Moreover, the magnitude of this association varies across attributes, with trust and inclusive identity showing a higher correlation than cooperation for the common good. Urbanisation-induced change in economic and environmental structure, such as employment, infrastructure, and pollution, are the main channels affecting social cohesion. Overall, the findings underscore the need for inclusive urban development and policies focused on ameliorating social fragmentation resulting from rapid urbanisation unfolding across Africa.
Topic:
Development, Urbanization, and Social Cohesion
Political Geography:
Africa

8. Migration and Displacement in Secondary Cities: Insights from Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda

Author:
Samuel Davidoff-Gore and Camille Le Coz
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
Abstract:
The world is becoming increasingly urbanized, driven both by long-standing patterns of rural-urban migration and the growth of new small and mid-sized cities. While sprawling megacities often receive the most policy and public attention, secondary cities are some of the fastest growing in many parts of the world, including sub-Saharan Africa. Migrants and displaced persons, often drawn to small and mid-sized cities by the promise of greater economic opportunities and better access to services than exist in rural areas, can nonetheless face a variety of challenges, as can the communities in which they settle. This study explores these dynamics in Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda. These countries and the studied cities within them are emblematic of urbanization trends in West and East Africa, respectively, and they illustrate a range of migration and displacement experiences and policy approaches that offer lessons for refugee- and migrant-receiving secondary cities. The report examines common challenges to migrants’ socioeconomic inclusion in secondary cities, including the gender dynamics at play beneath broader trends. It also looks at how cities, local representatives of the central government, and civil-society organizations have sought to respond to migration-related challenges and factors that have limited their actions. The report is part of a multiyear research partnership between MPI and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation's Thematic Section Migration and Forced Displacement to support the development of global solutions for migration-related challenges.
Topic:
Migration, Urbanization, Employment, Economy, Displacement, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Uganda, Africa, and Côte d'Ivoire

9. To what extent can urbanisation mitigate the negative impact of population ageing in China?

Author:
Alicia Garcia-Herrero and Jianwei Xu
Publication Date:
10-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Bruegel
Abstract:
China is experiencing population ageing caused by a rapidly declining fertility rate and increased life expectancy. This demographic transition poses economic challenges, yet the intensity of these challenges depends on a number of factors, with the move of people from rural to urban areas being of central importance. To gain a clearer understanding of how urbanisation interacts with population ageing, we investigate changes in the Chinese labour force in both rural and urban areas. Our findings suggest a modest shrinking of the overall labour force up until 2035. However, until 2035, the labour force is projected to contract only in rural areas, while the urban labour force will continue to grow. As urban employment is more productive than rural employment, the combined effect of demographic change and urbanisation on growth will remain moderately positive (0.4 percent per year). Beyond 2035, fertility rate decline will begin to affect the working-age population in both rural and urban areas, especially since the urbanisation process is expected to level off by then. In such circumstances, China’s shrinking population will shave off 1.4 percent from GDP growth annually. These results, however, do not take into account the impact of population aging on labour productivity. China’s fast move towards robotisation and artificial intelligence might help mitigate any negative impacts by increasing productivity, but there is no sign yet that this is the case.
Topic:
Demographics, Urbanization, Economic Growth, and Aging
Political Geography:
China and Asia

10. Awareness of artificial intelligence: Diffusion of information about AI versus ChatGPT in the United States

Author:
Rajeev K. Goel and Michael A. Nelson
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
Abstract:
This paper addresses the awareness about the artificial intelligence across states in the United States. We uniquely create indices of Google internet search results for general AI awareness and about ChatGPT, normalizing alternatively by internet users and land area. An understanding of the awareness about AI would provide useful insights into regulatory attempts to monitor and guard the AI technologies, besides suggesting alternatives for laggard states to catch up. Econometric results to explain the drivers of AI awareness show that, ceteris paribus, more prosperous states had greater awareness about AI and ChatGPT. On the other hand, states with greater economic freedom had a lower awareness. States with more men to women has lower AI awareness when hits were normalized by area, but the reverse was true when weighted by internet users. States with a higher proportion of the elderly population were no different from the other states, while those with greater urbanization had more AI/ChatGPT awareness when the internet hits were weighted by land area. Finally, states bordering Canada were no different from other states, while states bordering Mexico generally had a lower AI/ChatGPT awareness.
Topic:
Urbanization, Innovation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Digitalization, Gender, and ChatGPT
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America