Comments for Calogero.us http://calogero.us planning, politics, and urbanization Mon, 07 May 2012 13:06:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Kabul: research and data by Pietro http://calogero.us/kbl/#comment-285 Pietro Mon, 07 May 2012 13:06:09 +0000 http://calogero.us/?page_id=48#comment-285 In some of the chapters of the dissertation I do talk about service delivery in Kabul. I cannnot speak about other cities, because I did not study them. For Kabul, the challenge in 2002-2007 was that the Municipality did not want the new refugee-returnees to settle in informal areas. Informal, irregular settlements violated the Master Plan. So from the city government's point of view, it did not make sense to deliver water, sewerage, or even road-construction to areas that should be demolished and rebuilt as proper, organized urban settlements. In fact the Ministry of Rural Reahbilitation and Development installed several thousand hand-pump wells in the outlying, informal settlements of Kabul so that people got access to water, but the City government did not have to acknowledge their presence. In some of the chapters of the dissertation I do talk about service delivery in Kabul. I cannnot speak about other cities, because I did not study them.
For Kabul, the challenge in 2002-2007 was that the Municipality did not want the new refugee-returnees to settle in informal areas. Informal, irregular settlements violated the Master Plan. So from the city government’s point of view, it did not make sense to deliver water, sewerage, or even road-construction to areas that should be demolished and rebuilt as proper, organized urban settlements. In fact the Ministry of Rural Reahbilitation and Development installed several thousand hand-pump wells in the outlying, informal settlements of Kabul so that people got access to water, but the City government did not have to acknowledge their presence.

]]> Comment on Kabul: research and data by Hamidullah Afghan http://calogero.us/kbl/#comment-284 Hamidullah Afghan Sun, 06 May 2012 07:46:46 +0000 http://calogero.us/?page_id=48#comment-284 Thanks for publishing such useful information about Kabul and Urbanization in Kabul. I am writing my Master thesis about Municipal Governance in Afghanistan in the Context of Urbanization. It would be a comparative study of at least three cities namely Kabul, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif. I would greatly appreciate if you have any data about Municipal service delivery in any city in Afghanistan and what is the strategy of Municipalities in dealing with increased urban population and settlement, be it natural or caused by in-migration. Thanks, Hamid Thanks for publishing such useful information about Kabul and Urbanization in Kabul. I am writing my Master thesis about Municipal Governance in Afghanistan in the Context of Urbanization. It would be a comparative study of at least three cities namely Kabul, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif. I would greatly appreciate if you have any data about Municipal service delivery in any city in Afghanistan and what is the strategy of Municipalities in dealing with increased urban population and settlement, be it natural or caused by in-migration.

Thanks,
Hamid

]]> Comment on Foreclosures by race: Black Exodus by Pietro http://calogero.us/2012/04/05/foreclosures-by-race-oakland/#comment-212 Pietro Tue, 10 Apr 2012 21:07:41 +0000 http://calogero.us/?p=440#comment-212 Interesting comment in relation to the posting. What I felt when I compiled this post was grief and dismay. Interesting that it comes across as rage and fury. I tend to think of rage and fury as blinding--the uncommunicative condition of violence--whereas ticking through census data to compile GIS maps seems pretty cool-headed and measured. As for the naivete of this analysis: I wrote Elvin Wyly about exactly this problem yesterday. It is hard for me to believe that no-one has shown this foreclosure data in graphic form before. I posted these maps in response to a specific request by Occupy Oakland last week. This is no peer-reviewed academic journal submission; I explicitly disclaim <em>expertise</em> in this issue, and I am eager to find out the current state of research on East Bay foreclosures. What I need are references to substantive research: your own work, for instance! I am sorry that it seems I am depersonalizing African-Americans as victims in the way this post is written. I am not focusing on voluntary movement, and the agency and preferences of people who move to suburbs. What I still seek is more information on involuntary moves. All I have here is data on homes that were foreclosed. As you say, it does not show which are rental properties; nor does it show short-sales; nor does it show homes in default but not yet auctioned. So much is not yet shown. Interesting comment in relation to the posting. What I felt when I compiled this post was grief and dismay. Interesting that it comes across as rage and fury. I tend to think of rage and fury as blinding–the uncommunicative condition of violence–whereas ticking through census data to compile GIS maps seems pretty cool-headed and measured.
As for the naivete of this analysis: I wrote Elvin Wyly about exactly this problem yesterday. It is hard for me to believe that no-one has shown this foreclosure data in graphic form before. I posted these maps in response to a specific request by Occupy Oakland last week. This is no peer-reviewed academic journal submission; I explicitly disclaim expertise in this issue, and I am eager to find out the current state of research on East Bay foreclosures.
What I need are references to substantive research: your own work, for instance! I am sorry that it seems I am depersonalizing African-Americans as victims in the way this post is written. I am not focusing on voluntary movement, and the agency and preferences of people who move to suburbs. What I still seek is more information on involuntary moves. All I have here is data on homes that were foreclosed. As you say, it does not show which are rental properties; nor does it show short-sales; nor does it show homes in default but not yet auctioned. So much is not yet shown.

]]> Comment on Foreclosures by race: Black Exodus by alex http://calogero.us/2012/04/05/foreclosures-by-race-oakland/#comment-211 alex Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:10:36 +0000 http://calogero.us/?p=440#comment-211 Alas, Pietro, I love your anger and politics, but you are missing a few things. First of all, it is not true that DCRP has been tracking anything. Some people at DCRP have from time to time done research on the subject, but there is no there there and you know this. Second, the language of expulsion and displacement is correct, but your analysis allows your fury to displace your logic. Foreclosures are actually worse in many of the places where people are moving to, and to characterize black suburbanization as simply a case of displacement removes agency from a community. People of color are Americans, and Americans like suburbs. Many moved because it was nicer, not simply because of displacement. Hi rates of foreclosure in the neighborhood did not just hit single family owners - many were absentee landlords, so the displaced in fact were renters, and some of those owners were in fact fellow POC's who kept the old house when they bought a new place in East County or the CV, and then perhaps lost both when the loans reset. This is a much more complex story that your text indicates, and it takes away from the power of the maps. The maps tell you that once again African Americans have been disproportionate victims of a housing crisis, one which was certainly watched over by policymakers, and it is certainly a major issue of racial and spatial justice. But don't simplify..... Alas, Pietro, I love your anger and politics, but you are missing a few things. First of all, it is not true that DCRP has been tracking anything. Some people at DCRP have from time to time done research on the subject, but there is no there there and you know this. Second, the language of expulsion and displacement is correct, but your analysis allows your fury to displace your logic. Foreclosures are actually worse in many of the places where people are moving to, and to characterize black suburbanization as simply a case of displacement removes agency from a community. People of color are Americans, and Americans like suburbs. Many moved because it was nicer, not simply because of displacement. Hi rates of foreclosure in the neighborhood did not just hit single family owners – many were absentee landlords, so the displaced in fact were renters, and some of those owners were in fact fellow POC’s who kept the old house when they bought a new place in East County or the CV, and then perhaps lost both when the loans reset.

This is a much more complex story that your text indicates, and it takes away from the power of the maps. The maps tell you that once again African Americans have been disproportionate victims of a housing crisis, one which was certainly watched over by policymakers, and it is certainly a major issue of racial and spatial justice. But don’t simplify…..

]]> Comment on Kabul: research and data by Drew http://calogero.us/kbl/#comment-65 Drew Wed, 29 Feb 2012 13:57:53 +0000 http://calogero.us/?page_id=48#comment-65 Pietro, I just spent the last three years studying Kabul (with a small, talented team), as well as portions of the rest of Afghanistan. I would be extremely interested in setting up a dialog, and sharing information. I found your website based on this article http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/polis-blog/35381/planning-kabul-interview-pietro-calogero and am going to sift through your website for more info. Thanks for publishing this! Pietro,

I just spent the last three years studying Kabul (with a small, talented team), as well as portions of the rest of Afghanistan. I would be extremely interested in setting up a dialog, and sharing information.

I found your website based on this article http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/polis-blog/35381/planning-kabul-interview-pietro-calogero and am going to sift through your website for more info. Thanks for publishing this!

]]> Comment on Kabul: research and data by Dr. Ramat Zirakyar http://calogero.us/kbl/#comment-55 Dr. Ramat Zirakyar Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:47:36 +0000 http://calogero.us/?page_id=48#comment-55 send me information about anything you do in Afghanistan send me information about anything you do in Afghanistan

]]> Comment on Kabul: research and data by Pietro http://calogero.us/kbl/#comment-53 Pietro Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:38:33 +0000 http://calogero.us/?page_id=48#comment-53 I do have a file from July 20, 2003, so it is public information. Alas I do not have anything more recent. I will send it to you. I do have a file from July 20, 2003, so it is public information. Alas I do not have anything more recent. I will send it to you.

]]> Comment on Kabul: research and data by Alex Sidles http://calogero.us/kbl/#comment-52 Alex Sidles Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:20:54 +0000 http://calogero.us/?page_id=48#comment-52 Do you by chance have the "Afghanistan Settlements" shapefile from AIMS? Their website's latest update has made their GIS files undownloadable, and I need that particular one for a school project. They so far have not answered my requests for assistance. Alex Sidles Do you by chance have the “Afghanistan Settlements” shapefile from AIMS? Their website’s latest update has made their GIS files undownloadable, and I need that particular one for a school project. They so far have not answered my requests for assistance.

Alex Sidles

]]> Comment on Istanbul by Five cities, four weeks | Calogero.us http://calogero.us/2007/07/06/istanbul/#comment-50 Five cities, four weeks | Calogero.us Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:03:55 +0000 http://calogero.us/?p=194#comment-50 [...] Calogero.us planning, politics, and urbanization Skip to content HomeDissertationEssaysKabul Log in ← Paying respects for the dead Istanbul → [...] [...] Calogero.us planning, politics, and urbanization Skip to content HomeDissertationEssaysKabul Log in ← Paying respects for the dead Istanbul → [...]

]]> Comment on The Hijra-Solar (H.S.) calendar by Proposed post-codes for Kabul | Calogero.us http://calogero.us/2007/04/27/hijra-solar-calendar/#comment-49 Proposed post-codes for Kabul | Calogero.us Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:36:41 +0000 http://calogero.us/?p=160#comment-49 [...] 09 Novem ber 2007 / 18 Aqrab 1386 [...] [...] 09 Novem ber 2007 / 18 Aqrab 1386 [...]

]]>