https:\/\/vimeo.com\/305698785<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
https:\/\/vimeo.com\/305698785<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-sisolson","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":74,"date":"2018-12-07T14:39:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T18:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=74"},"modified":"2018-12-11T01:31:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-11T05:31:25","slug":"rpp-9-mentor-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/12\/07\/rpp-9-mentor-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #9 – Mentor Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
I met with Dr. Conca on Tuesday, December 4th<\/sup> from 2:50pm to 4:00pm regarding the progress I\u2019ve made on my research project. The weekend prior, I emailed him my Interpretivist Research Design Sketch, as I decided on Interpretivist discourse analysis as my methodology of choice moving forward in 306. I asked for advice on how to analyze text in order to decipher to meaning-making symbols and representations. Dr.Conca, recommended that \u201cinterrogate the text\u201d\u2014a term quite common among interpretivist researchers, meaning that a researcher would treat the text as through it were an interviewee. A tool used in this interrogation would be a questionnaire, much like the questions outlined in the Carabine reading on lone mothers which we analyzed in class.[1]<\/a> The questions that make up this questionnaire should act as a filtration device, for example: What does this text tell me about the abilities of local people? Is there an underlying criminality imposed on slum dwellers? How does the UN and the World Bank speak about the employment and livelihoods of slum dwellers? What does building back \u201cbetter\u201d specifically entail? These questions are mere examples, but I know that if anytime I see something in the text that connects to the contents of my questionnaire, I should \u201cbag it and tag it.\u201d<\/p>\n Another concern I brought up with Dr. Conca was how I should address the counter-narrative. My interpretivist design sketch is a bit unique in that it focuses on one specific discourse\u2014the official discourse of \u201cbuild back better\u201d imposed by the United Nations and World Bank. I did not necessarily know how to incorporate narratives that opposed it, or even the extent by which I was required to do so. Dr. Conca said that doing a full-blown comparative analysis of the official narrative and the counter-narrative would be too overwhelming and advised to instead use the counter-narrative to interrogate the official narrative: Is \u201cbuilding back better\u201d actually producing \u201cbetter\u201d? By whose standards? To learn more about the counter-narrative, local discourse, Dr. Conca recommended I read a book titled The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster<\/em> by Jonathan M. Katz.[2]<\/a> I will be doing this over the break.<\/p>\n Furthermore, regarding further planning to consider, I was recommended to seek further expertise from the AU Community. Among the people he recommended was my International Development professor, Dr. Freeman\u2014who has done extensive ethnographic studies in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. In addition, there is a graduate professor in the School of International Service, who helped create the Flash Environmental Impact Tool used by USAID in post-disaster recovery for rebuilding physical infrastructure. I will need to ask for approval in order to formally interview them for my research project.<\/p>\n Work Cited\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a>\u00a0Carabine, Jean. \u201cChapter 7. \u2018Unmarried Motherhood 1830-1990: A Genealogical Analysis\u2019\u00a0 3.2,\u201d in Discourse as Data<\/em>, 2001, 267.<\/strong><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Katz, Jonathan M.\u00a0The Big Truck That Went by How the World Came to save Haiti and Left behind a Disaster<\/em>. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.<\/strong><\/p>\n Bibliography<\/p>\n Carabine, Jean. \u201cChapter 7. \u2018Unmarried Motherhood 1830-1990: A Genealogical Analysis\u2019\u00a0 3.2,\u201d in Discourse as Data<\/em>, 2001, 267.<\/p>\n Katz, Jonathan M.\u00a0The Big Truck That Went by How the World Came to save Haiti and Left behind a Disaster<\/em>. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I met with Dr. Conca on Tuesday, December 4th from 2:50pm to 4:00pm regarding the progress I\u2019ve made on my research project. The weekend prior, I emailed him my Interpretivist Research Design Sketch, as I decided on Interpretivist discourse analysis as my methodology of choice moving forward in 306. I asked for advice on how to analyze text in order to decipher to meaning-making symbols and representations. Dr.Conca, recommended that \u201cinterrogate the text\u201d\u2014a term quite common among interpretivist researchers, meaning that a researcher would treat the text as through it were an interviewee. A tool used in this interrogation would<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mentorship","category-research","category-sisolson","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":72,"date":"2018-11-12T01:47:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T05:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=72"},"modified":"2018-11-12T01:48:07","modified_gmt":"2018-11-12T05:48:07","slug":"rpp-8-qualitative-data-sources-for-interpretivist-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/11\/12\/rpp-8-qualitative-data-sources-for-interpretivist-research\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #8 – Qualitative Data Sources for Interpretivist Research"},"content":{"rendered":" I am studying participatory development as it is implemented in slum upgrading initiatives by UN Habitat. The popular discourse within the international community focuses on bottom-up development\u2014led by local leaders and direct input by community members. I specifically looked into the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP) which launched in 2008 and has since been implemented by 35 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific Islands. Among the program\u2019s key principles, as detailed on UN Habitat\u2019s website, are to \u201cempower and build partnership (community, governments, private sector),\u201d \u201ccreate and enforce enabling environment,\u201d and \u201cpromote people-centered participatory appro\u00adach.[1]<\/a>\u201d The language used by the United Nations do address slum upgrading programs illustrates a plan that places power in local governments and is addresses of socio-economic factors that lead to urban poverty. This message was reiterated in a 2012 documentary released by UN Habitat regarding the success of the program in Fiji, Ghana and Haiti[2]<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Though participation is deemed important in the implementation stage, the decision-making process is relatively devoid of input from slum dwellers themselves. This is evident from the New Urban Agenda, a resolution passed during the Habitat III Conference in Quito Ecuador, as it pushes for \u201csmart cities\u201d[3]<\/a>\u2014the antithesis of informal settlements. The initiatives summarized here clearly support replacing urban slums to \u201censure sustainable and inclusive urban economies.\u201d Here, the language shifts from people-centric bottom-up development to strategic top-down development focusing on economic growth.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> \u201cParticipatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP),\u201d UN Habitat<\/em>, accessed November 10, 2018, https:\/\/unhabitat.org\/urban-initiatives\/initiatives-programmes\/participatory-slum-upgrading\/.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme Documentary<\/em>, Nonprofits & Activism (UN Habitat, 2012), accessed November 11, 2018, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KO_zxTeT87o.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> \u201cNew Urban Agenda\u201d (United Nations, n.d.), accessed November 10, 2018, www.habitat3.org. 19<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme Documentary<\/em>, Nonprofits & Activism (UN Habitat, 2012), accessed November 11, 2018, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KO_zxTeT87o.<\/p>\n \u201cParticipatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP),\u201d UN Habitat<\/em>, accessed November 10, 2018, https:\/\/unhabitat.org\/urban-initiatives\/initiatives-programmes\/participatory-slum-upgrading\/.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Urban Agenda\u201d (United Nations, n.d.), accessed November 10, 2018, www.habitat3.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am studying participatory development as it is implemented in slum upgrading initiatives by UN Habitat. The popular discourse within the international community focuses on bottom-up development\u2014led by local leaders and direct input by community members. I specifically looked into the Participatory Slum Upgrading Program (PSUP) which launched in 2008 and has since been implemented by 35 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific Islands. Among the program\u2019s key principles, as detailed on UN Habitat\u2019s website, are to \u201cempower and build partnership (community, governments, private sector),\u201d \u201ccreate and enforce enabling environment,\u201d and \u201cpromote people-centered participatory appro\u00adach.[1]\u201d The language used<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":69,"date":"2018-10-29T01:25:53","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T05:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=69"},"modified":"2018-10-29T01:27:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T05:27:08","slug":"rpp-7-small-n","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/10\/29\/rpp-7-small-n\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #7 – Small-n"},"content":{"rendered":" For small-n analysis, I have decided to focus on what explains the existence and growth of informal settlements. For my large-n analysis, I tracked development projects to better living conditions within them\u2014a difficult and complicated processes given there was a lack of data on these Habitat results, made worse by the fact I was attempting to draw conclusions on an ongoing process. This week, I zoomed out, broadening the scope of my research inquiry past a time period or geographic region, and focused on the chain of causation that would explain the phenome that was the world\u2019s slums. In this small-n analysis, I have no variation in the dependent variable\u2014the existence of an informal settlement\u2014operationalized as a simple Y\/N. For my two cases, the favelas <\/em>of Brazil and slums of South Africa. The independent variables listed will be strung together to understand the causation from point A to B.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Informal settlements in both Brazil and South Africa found their roots after the abolition of slavery and the \u201clack of official urban socioeconomic integration\u201d[1]<\/a>. Huchzermeyer argues that social exclusion on the basis of race blocked access to land and shelter[2]<\/a>. Class domination was further reinforced through laws, causing certain groups to have high illiteracy rates, and have a lower income. I plan to operationalize these various independent values\u2014income inequality, literacy, land tenure using interval ratio, interval ratio and ordinal respectively.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Furthermore, both countries\u2019 history of colonialism and extraction has lent to dependence on certain industries (Brazil with coffee and South Africa with diamonds). The boom of these industries quickly created a thriving, economically successful metropolis (where power and money flows) and a poorer rural periphery. In the periphery of these cites, favelas<\/em> and slums began to take hold as legally prohibited from occupying \u201cwhite\u201d cities, but still needed to live within a reasonable proximity to their jobs.[3]<\/a> To operationalize these independent variables\u2014democratization, government rule, and exports[4]<\/a>— I will use ordinal, nominal and interval ration respectively.<\/p>\n Notes\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Marie Huchzermeyer, \u201cInformal Settlements: Production and Intervention in Twentieth-Century Brazil and South Africa,\u201d Latin American Perspectives<\/em> 29, no. 1 (January 2002): 83\u2013105, accessed October 29, 2018, http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0094582X0202900105., 86<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid, 95<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Idid, 84<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid, 84<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bibliography\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Marie Huchzermeyer, \u201cInformal Settlements: Production and Intervention in Twentieth-Century Brazil and South Africa,\u201d Latin American Perspectives<\/em> 29, no. 1 (January 2002): 83\u2013105, accessed October 29, 2018, http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/0094582X0202900105<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For small-n analysis, I have decided to focus on what explains the existence and growth of informal settlements. For my large-n analysis, I tracked development projects to better living conditions within them\u2014a difficult and complicated processes given there was a lack of data on these Habitat results, made worse by the fact I was attempting to draw conclusions on an ongoing process. This week, I zoomed out, broadening the scope of my research inquiry past a time period or geographic region, and focused on the chain of causation that would explain the phenome that was the world\u2019s slums. In this<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sisolson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":65,"date":"2018-10-11T00:54:44","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T04:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=65"},"modified":"2018-10-17T00:03:48","modified_gmt":"2018-10-17T04:03:48","slug":"rpp-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/10\/11\/rpp-6\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #6 – Quantitative Data Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":" For my research project, I will be evaluating quality of life as my dependent variable, and international community-funded urban development projects as my independent variable. The primary dataset I will be using to operationalize my dependent variable is the UN-Habitat Urban Data database [1]<\/a>. I will be comparing data across my cases, cities in Asia. I will be controlling the data based on region, so I will eventually create a dummy variable for \u201cAsia\u201d to be operationalized as a 0 or 1, however I will be observing data from all other continents. This database allows me to select the indicator \u201cSlum Dwellers,\u201d so that my data points are specific to the populations I am studying within each city. It also provides specific indicators of quality of life.<\/p>\n I am breaking down quality of life into three main indicators: health, shelter and economic well-being. Regarding health standards, I will be observing the size of the urban slum population, proportion of population with access to an improved water source, access to an improved toilet, proportion of population whose solid waste is collected (by public or private services). In terms of shelter, I will be observing proportion of urban population with durable housing, connection to electricity, and proportion of urban population living in a slum area. In terms of economic well-being, I will be observing income Gini coefficient.<\/p>\n The second dataset will be using to test development over time. The WIID \u2013 World Income Inequality Database from United Nations University [2]<\/a>, gives a more comprehensive overview of economic wellbeing. This dataset actually draws numbers from multiple other datasets from different sources. It also indicates Gini Index over the last few decades. I will use this to create \u201csnapshots\u201d that will show progress, or lack there-of over time. The first time interval will be 1978, when Habitat I\u2014the first UN Habitat Agenda\u2014was released. Habitat II was drafted in 1998, the second time interval. Habitat III was just recently released in 2016, the third and final time interval.<\/p>\n Notes\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n UN-Habitat Urban Data, <\/em>distributed by UN Habitat, http:\/\/urbandata.unhabitat.org<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Grad\u00edn, WIID \u2013 World Income Inequality Database<\/em> (January 2018), distributed by United Nations University, https:\/\/www.wider.unu.edu\/project\/wiid-world-income-inequality-database<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For my research project, I will be evaluating quality of life as my dependent variable, and international community-funded urban development projects as my independent variable. The primary dataset I will be using to operationalize my dependent variable is the UN-Habitat Urban Data database [1]. I will be comparing data across my cases, cities in Asia. I will be controlling the data based on region, so I will eventually create a dummy variable for \u201cAsia\u201d to be operationalized as a 0 or 1, however I will be observing data from all other continents. This database allows me to select the indicator<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sisolson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":63,"date":"2018-10-01T12:05:06","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T16:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=63"},"modified":"2018-10-01T21:43:07","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T01:43:07","slug":"rpp-5-research-topic-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/10\/01\/rpp-5-research-topic-post\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #5 – Research Topic Post"},"content":{"rendered":" I am proposing to research environmental and socio-economic vulnerabilities of informal settlements in Southeast Asia because I want to find out why affordable housing and slum upgrading projects succeed or fail in order to help my reader understand how state and non-state actors are addressing rapid urbanization in the \u201cGlobal South\u201d through development initiatives. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Habitat III Issue Papers from the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development, officially defined informal settlements and the issues within them. Informal settlements, also known colloquially as slums, were defined by UN Habitat as \u201cresidential areas where 1) inhabitants have no security of tenure vis-a\u0300-vis the land or dwellings they inhabit, with modalities ranging from squatting to informal rental housing, 2) the neighbourhoods usually lack, or are cut off from, basic services and city infrastructure and 3) the housing may not comply with current planning and building regulations, and is often situated in geographically and environmentally hazardous areas\u201d (1). As recognized by the international community, living conditions for slum dwellers are categorized by five depravations: \u201c1) access to improved water, 2) access to improved sanitation facilities, 3) sufficient living area \u2013 not overcrowded, 4) structural quality\/durability of dwellings, and 5) security of tenure\u201d (2). My overarching research puzzle aims to better understand the environmental and socio-economic vulnerabilities experienced by slum dwellers. Through understanding these, I will discover why urban development projects (e.g. affordable housing and participatory slum upgrading) have either failed or succeeded. The purpose of this research is to understand how state and non-state actors address rapid urbanization in the Global South through development initiatives.<\/span><\/p>\n Through my readings I have found three distinct buckets, which are my key independent variables: state-led development (by national governments), community-led development (by slum dwellers themselves) and international community-led development (by multinational organizations and the private-sector). From the variety of case studies I have read, it is evident that these three buckets often overlap to create institutional complexity. As stated by Auerbach, LeBas, Post & Weitz-Shapiro: \u201cBy institutional complexity, we refer to environments in which governance and services are provided by overlapping institutions and across multiple jurisdictions, by large and complicated bureaucracies, and by both state and non-state actors\u201d (264). This article was a collection of essays that highlighted innovative solutions to informal settlements that combined top-down and bottom-up processes. Unlike the UN reports, which I had read prior, it prioritizes the role of community-led development (bottom-up), specifically on improving interactions between the state and its citizens. <\/span><\/p>\n In a 2016 UN-Habitat evaluation report released by the UN Secretary-General, UN-Habitat\u2019s role in overseeing \u201cthe implementation, follow-up and review of the [New Urban Agenda]\u201d (15) was established. The New Urban Agenda (NUA) prompts a top-down approach for the urban development of informal settlements meaning that the international community will have greater control over the actions of the state, and in-turn the actions of communities within the state. Urban development initiatives brought about by these actors fall into two distinct categories: slum upgrading<\/span>, which builds upon and improves conditions within informal settlements or affordable housing<\/span>, which constructs new infrastructure to replace and eventually rid cities of informal\u00a0<\/span>settlements. The two articles I had read and written about in my last post exemplify case studies of each. In Cape Town, South Africa, government-led and private-sector driven affordable housing failed to alleviate the vulnerabilities experienced by slum dwellers in informal settlements (Bradlow, Bolnick, Shearing 267) In one of the largest informal settlements in Kenya, the strategy of slum upgrading, which was a largely community-led effort with the legal help from non-state actors, succeeded in improving overall quality of life for the slum\u2019s inhabitants (Toomey 234).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n With rapid urbanization and climate change, the topic of informal settlements has become all the more significant. Development practice conducted by state and non-state actors to address environmental and socio-economic vulnerabilities experienced by slum dwellers is what demands explanation. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n [1]\u00a0<\/span>Toomey, Bernard. “Slums of Hope: Land Tenure Reforms, Local Economic …” May 2010. Accessed September 24, 2018.<\/span> http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/02690941003784317<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n [2]\u00a0Bradlow, Benjamin, Joel Bolnick, and Clifford Shearing. “Housing, Institutions, Money: <\/span>The Failures and Promise of Human Settlements Policy and Practice in South Africa.” Environment and Urbanization 23, no. 1 (2011): 267-75. doi:10.1177\/0956247810392272.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Work Cited<\/strong><\/p>\n UN Habitat,<\/span> Habitat III Issue Papers 22 \u2013 Informal Settlements <\/span><\/i>(Quito: United Nations (2015), <\/span>available from <\/span>https:\/\/unhabitat.org\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Auerbach, A., LeBas, A., Post, A., & Weitz-Shapiro, R. (n.d.). State, Society, and Informality in Cities of the Global South.\u00a0Studies in Comparative International Development<\/i>,\u00a053<\/i>(3), 261\u2013280. doi:10.1007\/s12116-018-9269-y<\/p>\n United Nations, General Assembly, <\/span>Implementation of the outcomes of the United\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Nations <\/span><\/i>Conferences on Human Settlements and on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development and strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat): report of the Secretary-General, <\/span><\/i>A\/71\/1006 (1 August 2017), available from <\/span>http:\/\/www.un.org\/News\/dh\/infocus\/HLP\/UN-Habitat-Assessment- Report-3%20August-2017.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am proposing to research environmental and socio-economic vulnerabilities of informal settlements in Southeast Asia because I want to find out why affordable housing and slum upgrading projects succeed or fail in order to help my reader understand how state and non-state actors are addressing rapid urbanization in the \u201cGlobal South\u201d through development initiatives. The Habitat III Issue Papers from the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Development, officially defined informal settlements and the issues within them. Informal settlements, also known colloquially as slums, were defined by UN Habitat as \u201cresidential areas where 1) inhabitants have no security<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-sisolson","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":58,"date":"2018-09-24T03:39:59","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T03:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=58"},"modified":"2018-09-25T02:41:25","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T02:41:25","slug":"rpp-4-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/09\/24\/rpp-4-sources\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #4 – Article Comparison"},"content":{"rendered":" In \u201cHousing, Institutions, Money: The Failures and Promise of Human Settlements Policy and Practice in South Africa,\u201d Bladlow, Bolnick & Shearing critiqued the People\u2019s Housing Process (PHP) for the ineffectiveness of their projects to build affordable housing to replace informal settlements. The article advocated for \u201cpeople-centered\u201d development\u2014input from those the policies aim to help\u2014Cape Town’s poorest populations. The affordable housing project was dubbed a “subsidy-based housing machine that ensures private- sector profit with limited risk and creates segregated cities characterized by concrete slums and urban sprawl”[i]<\/a> This article, published in Environment & Urbanization<\/em>, was a large-N case study comparing individual cases of resident dissatisfaction over the newly constructed housing across the many settlement neighborhoods in Cape Town. The main argument was the implementation of people-centered development (led by the community) to fix the housing inequalities in Cape Town.<\/p>\n The second article I read titled \u201cSlums of Hope: Land Tenure Reforms, Local Economic Development and Environmental Improvement in a Kenyan Shanty Town\u201d was a small-N case study on the improvements made on a shanty town in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. In this study, Toomey explained the progress of one town, Kambi Moto, by provided a historical analysis of the events and policies that lent to its success. This housing development program was also entirely community-led but had help from NGOs to gain land tenure and decriminalize their informal settlements. The article\u2019s major points were that informal settlements should be made legal and development of these slums is not only possible, but results in greater benefits to community health within these slums.[ii]<\/a> Through housing upgrades, the Kenyan shanty town were able to gain access to clean water from inside the home, as well as grow vegetation in the surrounding areas. \u00a0Toomey\u2019s main argument local economic development can be achieved through community-led slum upgrading.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both articles I read today were neopositivist studies, according to Abbott\u2019s definition of positivist research[iii]<\/a>, that pinpointed the role of governance (good or bad) as a variable in the existence and state of informal settlements in large cities. Though the role of national governance is the bucket with the most extensive research, I believe there are more schools of thought the explain why and how these informal settlements came to be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n [i]<\/a> Bradlow, Benjamin, Joel Bolnick, and Clifford Shearing. “Housing, Institutions, Money: The Failures and Promise of Human Settlements Policy and Practice in South Africa.” Environment and Urbanization 23, no. 1 (2011): 267-75. doi:10.1177\/0956247810392272.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [ii]<\/a> Toomey, Bernard. “Slums of Hope: Land Tenure Reforms, Local Economic …” May 2010. Accessed September 24, 2018. http:\/\/www.tandfonline.com\/doi\/full\/10.1080\/02690941003784317<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [iii]<\/a> Abbott, Andrew. “Basic Debates and Methodological Practices.” In Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences, 19-22. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In \u201cHousing, Institutions, Money: The Failures and Promise of Human Settlements Policy and Practice in South Africa,\u201d Bladlow, Bolnick & Shearing critiqued the People\u2019s Housing Process (PHP) for the ineffectiveness of their projects to build affordable housing to replace informal settlements. The article advocated for \u201cpeople-centered\u201d development\u2014input from those the policies aim to help\u2014Cape Town’s poorest populations. The affordable housing project was dubbed a “subsidy-based housing machine that ensures private- sector profit with limited risk and creates segregated cities characterized by concrete slums and urban sprawl”[i] This article, published in Environment & Urbanization, was a large-N case study comparing individual<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-sisolson","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":56,"date":"2018-09-17T02:20:55","date_gmt":"2018-09-17T02:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=56"},"modified":"2018-09-17T02:20:55","modified_gmt":"2018-09-17T02:20:55","slug":"rpp-3-philosophical-wagers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/09\/17\/rpp-3-philosophical-wagers\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #3 – Philosophical Wagers"},"content":{"rendered":" As was discussed in Chapter 2, \u201cBasic Debates and Methodological Practices,\u201d in Abbott\u2019s Methods of Discovery, <\/em>ontology is the philosophical study of being. Under that broad umbrella, are debates that aim to explain existence and reality. For example, some the ontological debates mentioned in the reading were: 1) culturalism\u2014the symbolic systems that encode life, 2) individualism\u2014how self-interests produce the social world, 3) constructionism\u2014identity is fluid and circumstantial, therefore it is formed through interactions with others. Methodology, as explained in Chapter 2 as well is the systematic, theoretical analysis of methods as it is applied to the social sciences. In Chapter 1, \u201cExplanation,\u201d Abbott recognizes five methodological traditions: ethnography, historical narration, standard causal analysis, small-N comparison and formalization.<\/p>\n As researchers, try as we might, we cannot remain objective observers of the social world. On the very first in-class session, we were asked the question: who is research for? We agreed that research is, in large part, conducted for other people (as it should). Research, by definition a systematic production of knowledge, is nor a self-contained enterprise. We as researchers aim to build upon the works of past scholars through the process of knowledge addition. But inherently, through this knowledge addition, we are superimposing or agendas by choosing which <\/em>questions to ask, which methodologies to use, and the sources which we draw from. This thereby makes us a co-producer of the reality we \u201ccreated,\u201d though I believe the better word is \u201cperceived.\u201d Ultimately, the process of research is an intimate relationship between puzzle and scholar. In the Chapter \u201cIdeas and Puzzles,\u201d Abbott states that there are both personal and social sources for research puzzles but all \u201ccan be dangerous because they give us particular desires for particular kinds of results, because they can get mindlessly routine\u201d (p. 447). This stance pertains to my research in particular because as someone who will probably conduct a lot of statistical analysis, I will not be na\u00efve to the fact even number can certain biases.<\/p>\n Research is not limited to what can be seen with our eyes. That means exploration is open to invisible structures and phenomena, as well as social norms. However, substantive research is built on empirical data and facts. Therefore, claims to \u201cinvisible\u201d entities must be quantifiable in some form.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/p>\n Abbott, Andrew Delano.\u00a0Methods of Discovery Heuristics for the Social Sciences<\/i>. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As was discussed in Chapter 2, \u201cBasic Debates and Methodological Practices,\u201d in Abbott\u2019s Methods of Discovery, ontology is the philosophical study of being. Under that broad umbrella, are debates that aim to explain existence and reality. For example, some the ontological debates mentioned in the reading were: 1) culturalism\u2014the symbolic systems that encode life, 2) individualism\u2014how self-interests produce the social world, 3) constructionism\u2014identity is fluid and circumstantial, therefore it is formed through interactions with others. Methodology, as explained in Chapter 2 as well is the systematic, theoretical analysis of methods as it is applied to the social sciences. In Chapter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","category-sisolson","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":54,"date":"2018-09-09T16:27:11","date_gmt":"2018-09-09T16:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=54"},"modified":"2018-09-09T16:29:12","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T16:29:12","slug":"rpp-post-2-mentor-meeting-readings-research-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/09\/09\/rpp-post-2-mentor-meeting-readings-research-puzzle\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #2 – Mentor Meeting – Readings & Research Puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":" My initial meeting with Dr. Conca was during his office hours on Wednesday, September 5th<\/sup> from 1:30 to 2:00pm. During this thirty-minute meeting, we spoke mainly about broad research interests within natural disaster aid and response. I went over my initial interests during the application process last spring: the efficacy of crowd-sourced data in international disaster relief efforts. As interesting as this topic still is to me, I was honest about my desire to further explore another phenomenon I had seen in the Philippines this past summer\u2014the rise of affordable housing in flood-prone areas within coastal cities. Instead of natural disaster relief and aid, I was beginning to shift my issue more towards disaster risk reduction through housing and infrastructure. Dr. Conca shared the work he\u2019d done with communities in risk-reduction, and resilience-building. Most recently, he worked with communities in Ellicott City, Maryland after a deadly flash flood swept through earlier this year.[1]<\/a> After our conversation, he tasked me to draft research questions that fit my new interests. He reiterated the importance of asking explanatory questions when creating a research puzzle. He eased some of my anxiety over not having a solid research question, just yet by explaining that good research works like a funnel. At the start, you have broad ideas formed from reading a variety of scholarship within the scope of your research interests. Over time, as your argument matures, the research puzzle will become more evident. By taking this approach, you do not close yourself off to other (maybe even better) research puzzles. The day after our meeting, Dr. Conca sent me reading list of articles and scholarly sources to frame my research question and educate my further on modern debates in natural disaster relief and risk reduction. When we met once more on Friday, September 7th<\/sup>, I came prepared with four (tentative) research puzzles:<\/p>\n As it is still quite early research process, I acknowledge that these questions are in need of polishing, but they are a good start. During my second meeting with Professor Conca, from 10:30-11:10am on September 7th<\/sup>, we critiqued the questions I had formed and was honest about the underlying assumptions that are present in some of them. For example, in Question 3, among many underlying assumptions present, I assume that residents are disempowered or oppressed is some way. It may be a safe assumption, but I will still have to make that argument before continuing to make my broader argument. Empowerment in itself is complex, but I was inspired to ask this question none-the-less after I read an article about Makoko\u2014the world\u2019s biggest floating slum in Lagos, Nigeria.[2]<\/a> A man-made city which the Lagos government has called an \u201cenvironmental nuisance,\u201d it\u2019s residents are in constant threat of eviction\u2014a threat that has, in recent years, been acted upon. Dr. Conca and I spoke about how environmental justice is often devoid of input from the people it most affects. He gave me a book recommendation that spoke directly on this issue titled \u201cThe Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster.\u201d It is a critique of international aid after the devastating 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Dr. Conca also spoke on a study he had read claiming that approximately one-third of foreign aid given by NGOs is \u201cswept away\u201d or wasted due to natural disasters or conflict. This was especially evident in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. In a rush to relieve Haitians survivors in refugee camps, international aid agencies and NGOs built housing at rapid rates without conducting an environmental impact analysis prior. This oversight by many well-meaning NGOs leads to homes being built on flood plains and being swept away or destroyed the next time there is heavy rainfall. Cases such as these are worth exploring further as I continue to mold my research puzzle and read more scholarly sources on the issue of natural disaster risk reduction. This week, I will continue working on the reading list Dr. Conca has sent me.<\/p>\n Notes<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Halverson, Jeff. “Analysis | The Second 1,000-year Rainstorm in Two Years Engulfed Ellicott City. Here’s How It Happened.” The Washington Post. May 28, 2018. Accessed September 09, 2018. http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/capital-weather-gang\/wp\/2018\/05\/28\/the-second-1000-year-rainstorm-in-two-years-engulfed-ellicott-city-heres-how-it-happened\/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ac47b53d0f54.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ogunlesi, Tolu, and Andrew Esiebo. “Inside Makoko: Danger and Ingenuity in the World’s Biggest Floating Slum.” The Guardian. February 23, 2016. Accessed September 09, 2018. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/cities\/2016\/feb\/23\/makoko-lagos-danger-ingenuity-floating-slum.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My initial meeting with Dr. Conca was during his office hours on Wednesday, September 5th from 1:30 to 2:00pm. During this thirty-minute meeting, we spoke mainly about broad research interests within natural disaster aid and response. I went over my initial interests during the application process last spring: the efficacy of crowd-sourced data in international disaster relief efforts. As interesting as this topic still is to me, I was honest about my desire to further explore another phenomenon I had seen in the Philippines this past summer\u2014the rise of affordable housing in flood-prone areas within coastal cities. Instead of natural<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2643,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mentorship","category-research","category-sisolson","category-sisolson18"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":46,"date":"2018-09-02T09:12:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T09:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/?p=46"},"modified":"2018-09-03T04:44:06","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T04:44:06","slug":"research-interests-rethinking-natural-disaster-response-in-southeast-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/nailaricarte\/2018\/09\/02\/research-interests-rethinking-natural-disaster-response-in-southeast-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"RPP #1 – Research Interests – Rethinking Natural Disaster Response in Southeast Asia"},"content":{"rendered":" Applying to Olson Scholars last spring, I proposed a research topic on the role of innovative technologies, specifically geographical information systems, in changing natural disaster response in Southeast Asia. The overarching questions\/research puzzles I asked then were:<\/p>\n Backtrack to five years ago, Typhoon Haiyan\u2014the strongest tropic storm in history make landfall\u2014hit the Philippines, my home country. The storm affected the lives 16 million people, destroyed much of the infrastructure in the Visayas, economically devastated the already struggling nation. I remember my family and I packing huge boxes filled with canned goods, blankets, clothes etc. to ship back home and donate to the relief effort. Years later, I read an article titled \u201cResponding to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines\u201d [1]<\/a> outlining the major health and initiatives that took place in the storm\u2019s aftermath. Within the international community, emergency response in the Philippines was heralded as a huge success, but I often wondered how humanitarian aid at this large a scale was accomplished. Thus, my research interest in the efficacy of modern-day disaster relief efforts came to be.<\/p>\n Fast forward to now, I am an Alternative Break leader for an international program in Vietnam, Ghosts of War: Post Conflict Recovery after Four Decades<\/em>. My co-leader and I, both interested in the rapid economic growth within Southeast Asia, shifted the focus of this seasoned program to also discuss sustainable development. The research I have done for Alternative Break Vietnam has arisen new research questions pertinent to natural disaster risk reduction in that region:<\/p>\n After reading the first week’s reading in Abbott’s Methods of Discovery,\u00a0<\/em>I have some sense of how I want to conduct my research. Small-N Comparison is the most logical approach moving forward, as I am analyzing the efficacy of crowd-sourced data, and on a broader sense measuring social media’s impact in aid. I see my project taking a data-driven, statistical analysis path and exploring only a handful of cases.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n