Settlement dynamics case studies

Question 1

Rural challenges in HICs

Answer 1

Ageing population means a higher dependency ratio and less money for local services. Second home ownership, lack of jobs

Question 2

Threlkeld: What are the issues being faced?

Answer 2

• High levels of second home ownership leading to high house prices and low service provision
• Lack of funding for local services such as Threlkeld Primary School which are funded on a per-pupil rate

Question 3

Threlkeld: What percentage of homes are second homes?

Answer 3

• 35% of properties in Threlkeld alone were permanently unoccupied throughout the year in 2022

Question 4

Threlkeld: Bottom-up solutions to these problems

Answer 4

• £700,000 was raised locally for the construction of a Threlkeld Community Hub and Cafe, including a food bank, youth club as well as attracting walkers and tourists

Question 5

Threlkeld: larger scale solutions

Answer 5

• £7.9 million investment into the Keswick to Threlkeld railway path, a 5km long paved track connecting the two towns, is expected to bring a** £2 million cash injection to the local economy** by attracting cyclists and walkers to the community centre (and obviously the pub)
• Local occupancy restrictions on new home developments and the requirement for a proportion to be affordable housing

Question 6

Threlkeld: How is technology being used to crack down on unoccupies properties?

Answer 6

• The Lake District National Park Authority has created an online map of all properties in the Keswick area (incorporating Threlkeld) which have local occupancy restrictions on them
• If locals suspect these properties are being let out to tourists or sold as second homes, this can be more easily identified and reported to combat the problem as everyone has access to the map

Question 7

Threlkeld: Evaluating the responses

Answer 7

• Keswick community centre and hub is a long term solution to supporting locals and attracting tourists
• Local occupancy restrictions will likely prevent the situation from worsening, but at the current level the village is suffering significantly from this issue nonetheless

Question 8

Rio: What is the origin of the problems facing Rio?

Answer 8

• Rio imported 11x more slaves than the US, and even after slavery ended they didn’t have the same rights or socio-economic standpoint to be able to leave poverty
• There is significant wealth division in the city - often described as the asphault vs the hill - and 25% live in the favelas
• Favelas are informal settlements without public transport, sewage systems or official infrastructure

Question 9

Rio: What are the two greatest problems facing Rio?

Answer 9

• Social exclusion is a particularly large problem, reflected in the fact that pre-2013 0.001% of Rio’s favelas appeared on google maps, they were essentially a blank spot to anyone who didn’t live in or know the area
• Crime is the largest problem. In 2008 alone there were 3,856 people murdered and 1 in 23 arrests in Brazil ends in a fatality (1 in 37,000 in the US)
• Bolsonaro has repeatedly said “a good criminal is a dead criminal” and police brutality (predominantly against young, poor, black men) is one of the worst in the world

Question 9

Rio: Solution to the problem: Pacification

What was it? How much did it cost? What was its goal

Answer 9

• Beginning in 2008, the Pacifying Police Units (UPP) programme was rolled out across many of the city’s favelas, including the largest - Rocinha
• Between 2008 and 2011 $560 million was spent on the pacification program
• By 2016 - 38 pacification units were created and 9500 police officers deployed.
• The effort was intended to bring peace to the crime-ridden favelas ahead of the 2014 world cup and 2016 Olympics

Question 10

Rio: Evaluation of pacification: Failures

Answer 10

• Armed gang members still guard and operate drug businesses as little as 150m away from armed officers, suggesting the inefficacy of the pacification and potential police corrpution
• Five years after the pacification programs began, homicides suddenly spiked again. Killings in 2013 returned to the pre-UPP level, with 3,879 murders in Rio and Baixada Fluminense as emboldened gangs carried out brazen attacks on police.
• Over 43% of favela residents surveyed thought the pacification would end after the Olympics - it was intrinsically going to be a short term solution to cover up the wider, uncontolled crime problem in the city
• Pacification became too expensive to maintain, leading to pacification units being spread too thin.
• Police brutality made it difficult for the pacifying officers to communicate with the locals, especially after the death of Amarildo Souza in 2013.

Question 11

Rio: Evaluation of pacification: Successes

Answer 11

• **By 2012 **the homicide rate in Rio and the surrounding Baixada Fluminense area had dropped by 40% since 2008
• In smaller favelas such as Santa Marta the reduction in crime allowed for more tourism around the World Cup and Olympics and promoted investment in the area

Question 12

Rio: Solution to social exclusion: Afroreggae + google

Answer 12

• In 2016, Afro-reggae (A Rio NGO that aims to tackle crime, drugs and disease in the favelas through artistic education) and Google organised favela mapping teams to make the favelas more accessible to the tourists from the brazil world cup
• By July 2016 they had mapped 26 favelas and added over 10,000 businesses to google maps
• This was aimed to promote tourism and economic growth in the Favelas by bringing visibility to local businesses ahead of the influx of foreign tourists with the olympics

Question 13

Rio: Afroreggae + google evaluation

Answer 13

• Some of the sections of the favelas, such as Maré, still have outdated maps from 2011, with this being a particular problem due to the architecturally dynamic nature of the favelas
• Santa Marta and Vidigal were not mapped as part of the initiative, despite being some of the most popular areas for tourists to visit the favelas

Question 14

Rio: Waze controversy that hindered social inclusion

Answer 14

• In December 2013 actors Tadeu Aguiar and Sérgio Menezes had their phones, sound equipment and car stolen after Waze directed them to take a detour through the Costa Barros favela
• In December 2015, 70-year-old Regina Múrmura was killed when she and her husband Francisco followed their GPS into the Caramujo favela
• In response to increased media attention over Waze sending people into particiularly dangerous areas, they impemented a loud auditory warning and bright red pop-up when driver entered one of 25 predetermined areas with a “risk of crime”
• Locals say this was unhelpful as it reinforced stigmas around the favelas and may have led to increased social exclusion as a result of a couple of highly publicised infrequent events