Weekly Urban News Update
August 21, 2020
In This Update
Israel Pilot Project Shows How Cities Can Rapidly Detect COVID-19 in Wastewater
Evictions in India Continued During COVID-19 Lockdown Despite Court Ban
Bangkok Rethinks Tourism After COVID-19
The Implications of COVID-19 on Land and Property Rights
Research Suggests Slum Tourism Glosses Over Hardships Faced by Residents
The United Kingdom May Overhaul its Planning System
In the News And Around the Web
Israel Pilot Project Shows How Cities Can Rapidly Detect COVID-19 in Wastewater
A pilot by the wastewater management technology company Kando and leading Israeli universities in the City of Ashkelon, Israel found that COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater more quickly than testing people. Wastewater detection can also help can help cities pinpoint places of infection and then determine specific streets and neighborhoods to lock down, rather than shutting down the entire city.
Kando Vice President for Product Yaniv Shoshan believes wastewater detection will allow cities to act quicker to contain the virus as it often takes more than two weeks from someone first realizing symptoms to get a test and receive results, during which time they could have spread the virus.

Read more here.
Evictions in India Continued During COVID-19 Lockdown Despite Court Ban
At least 20,000 people in India were evicted from their homes between March and July despite a temporary court ban on evictions during lockdown, according to a report by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN). The report further asserts that authorities did not follow due process to notify tenants and only a quarter of those evicted were resettled. HLRN Executive Director Shivani Chaudhry explains: “Many of these evictions were likely carried out during the lockdown to take advantage of the curfew-like conditions, when movement of affected persons was restricted and they did not have access to legal means."

Read more here.
Bangkok Rethinks Tourism After COVID-19
COVID-19 is forcing Bangkok, the world's most visited city, to rethink its urban economy. Last year, 39.8 million people visited Thailand last year, but this year, only 8 million tourists are expected. Tourism often has unintended consequences for locals, including overcrowding, hiked rent prices, and pressure on infrastructure like public transit, so some see this as an opportunity to develop new economies. But, David Robinson, director of Bangkok River Partners points out: “Cities build up tourism profiles and associate economies over time. They come to depend on these and will not want to change approach unless they have to.” For now, Bangkok will allow a limited number of business travelers and medical tourists while pushing for more domestic tourism. 

Read more here.
The Implication of COVID-19 on Land and Property Rights
The New America Foundation, Landesa, Land Portal, the Global Protection Cluster, and Land Academy released a series of briefs on Land, Housing, and COVID-19 which examines the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s land rights, evictions, displacement and deurbanization, and land administration and governance which has exacerbated issues like tenure insecurity, especially for women and growing economic inequality. The briefs, which draw on the Land Portal COVID-19 webinar series hosted in May offer immediate and long-term recommendations for governments such as improved data collection, equitable access to services, and social safety nets.

Find the reports here.
Research Suggests Slum Tourism Glosses Over Hardships Faced by Residents
“Slum tourism,” leads to a skewed understanding of poverty and its causes, according to a study that examined 452 TripAdvisor reviews for Cape Town township tours in Langa and Imizamo Yethu. Researchers found that reviewers understated challenges facing the residents that live there, instead describing the townships as “productive, vibrant cultural spaces, rich in non-material assets, inhabited by happy and hard-working people.” For instance, only four reviews commented on water, sanitation, and sewerage and only two noted that the vast majority live without water access in their own home. Researcher Monique Huysamen noted: “Issues like inadequate sanitation…are too often glossed over, and the need for radical social and infrastructural change is invisible from their TripAdvisor reviews.

Read more here.
The United Kingdom May Overhaul Planning System
The United Kingdom government may overhaul its planning system by introducing zoning into planning for the first time. The premise of the government's new legislation is that development regulations are inhibiting housing supply and that zoning would loosen regulations to allow British cities and towns to deliver housing more quickly. But the plan faces strong criticism from architects, local authorities, and anti-homelessness advocates who disagree that planning blockages are the cause of an inadequate housing supply. Critics instead risk point to the proliferation of high-end housing and developer strategies of holding onto land without developing it. 

Read more here.
In the News and Around the Web

  • Beirut Under Lockdown: Lebanon imposed a lockdown in Beirut following a surge in coronavirus cases, two weeks after a deadly explosion occurred in the city.

  • UN-Habitat Publishes Settlement Profiling Tool: UN-Habitat and the UN High Commission for Refugees developed a settlement profiling tool to help stakeholders inform future urban development plans and policies in displacement affected contexts.

  • Culture for Resilience: World Bank economists Sameh Wahba, Ernesto Ottone R, and Rana Amirtahmasebi explain why culture matters for COVID-19 recovery.
Pictured: The Imizamo Yethu settlement in Cape Town, South Africa
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