Private Sector Participation in Urban Water and Sanitation Provision in Ghana: Experiences from the Tamale Metropolitan Area (TMA)

African governments, like most countries in the developing world, face daunting tasks in their attempts to provide effective and equitable water and sanitation services for their ever increasing urban populations. Consequently, the past few years have witnessed increased private sector participation in urban water and sanitation provision, as many African governments strive to improve access to water and sanitation services for their citizens in line with Millennium Development Goal 7 (MDG7). Since the early 1990s, the government of Ghana and many local authorities have entered into various forms of public-private partnerships in urban water and sanitation provision. This article examines the outcome of such partnerships using the Tamale Metropolitan Area (TMA) as a case study with the aim of providing policy guidelines for the way forward. The article argues that the public-private arrangement for water supply and sanitation infrastructure management in the Tamale Metropolis has done nothing that an invigorated public sector could not have possibly achieved. It concludes that there can be no sustainable improvement in water and sanitation provision without political commitment, stakeholder ownership, and strong support for community driven initiatives.     

城市河涌污染治理技术的研究进展

随着经济的高速发展,大量污染物排放于城市河涌,导致城市河涌受到严重的污染。采取有效的技术措施治理河涌污染势在必行。结合近年来国内外河涌治理的研究成果,综述了河涌治理的主要技术的原理、特点、存在的问题,并指出目前各项技术的研究重点。     

桥梁-道路建设对西南山地城市扩展影响机制研究——以重庆嘉陵江两桥为例

交通因素对城市空间扩展的影响是一个研究热点,但国内外关于桥梁-道路建设对山地城市扩展影响机制的研究还不多见。基于桥梁-道路对城市待开发区域区位的影响,提出了点状辐射、线状辐射和环状辐射3种影响机制。以重庆嘉陵江大桥和黄花园大桥建设对嘉陵江北岸影响为例,将研究区划分为5个分区,基于Arc GIS软件提取各分区城市建成区与河岸的空间分布关系,并通过5个分区1940~2009年城市扩展差异比较印证3种影响机制。研究结果表明,桥梁和道路建设促进研究区建成区迅速扩张,但对不同分区的建成区扩展速度的影响有差异;第3分区城市扩展反映了桥梁-道路对城市扩展的点状辐射和线状辐射,而第4分区城市扩展反映了桥梁-道路对城市扩展的环状辐射。结论表明研究提出的点状辐射、线状辐射和环状辐射符合桥梁-道路建设对西南山地城市扩展的影响机制。     

The changing face of the Mary Valley: considering the fairness,sustainability and resilience of the agricultural system in a peri-urban setting

Agricultural systems around the world are being severely impacted by changing climate, extreme weather events, urbanisation and neo-liberal (free market) policies. Yet, there are currently few studies on the experiences of those affected by these compounding pressures captured at the local scale. Experiences of adaptive responses – along with recommendations for transformations of the agricultural systems provided by those working in local-level settings – have also not been captured. Yet, such responses provide valuable insights into what can be done, and what needs to be done, to bring about a more equitable and sustainable food system. In this paper, we draw upon the opinions and experiences of those involved in food production and distribution in the historically abundant, peri-urban, region of the Mary Valley, Queensland, Australia. Underpinning the practical and strategic recommendations made by participants is a need for supermarket and government policies to appropriately reflect the immense value of small-scale farmers in sustaining rural communities and enhancing the resilience and sustainability of Australia’s food security. Importantly, our participants in this case study location reiterate that the impacts of climate change are manageable if the farming business is able to generate enough profit to absorb the costs of preparation and recovery from disasters.     

Municipalities’ ambitions and practices: At risk of hypocritical sustainability transitions?

In contemporary planning discourse and practice, different planning ideas co-exists. How this affects the transition towards a sustainable development is an important question for both research and practice. The aim of this study is to explore potential conflicts between planning goals caught between growth-led planning and sustainability commitments in a case study of Fredericia, Denmark. The paper discusses the underlying, framing and controlling conditions for transition dynamics. The analysis builds largely on the formulated policies, strategies or national goal achievements towards sustainable futures. These are put in the context of planning and political practices, which are interpreted from a sustainability rationale. Here this study introduces hypocrisy as a theoretical-analytical perspective to dispute actual sustainability practices to respond to continuous ambivalent planning measures. The author concludes that disregarding the inherently different internal logics of growths and sustainability leads to planning paradoxes and impedes sustainable transitions pursued.     

Metal contamination of short-term snow cover near urban crossroads: correlation analysis of metal content and fine particles distribution

Snow samples were collected near crossroads in Novi Sad, Serbia, during December 2009 to assess metal concentrations (Ca, K, Zn, Fe, Cu, Mn, Al, Pb and Na), fine particle distribution and pH value. The filtered samples of melted snow were analysed, with a focus on particles smaller than a few μm. The most common values of the frequency number distribution curve were either in the range of 0.05-0.07 μm or one order of magnitude higher (0.2-0.5 μm). At examined locations metal concentrations varied from 0.0004 mg L⁻¹ for Pb to 18.9 mg L⁻¹ for Na. Besides Na, which mostly originated from de-icing salt, Ca is found to be the most abundant element in snow indicating the dominant influence of natural factors on snow chemistry. No significant difference was found in concentration of the elements at locations near crossroads with either low or high traffic volume, except for Na and Zn.To investigate how metals were related a correlation analysis was done for the concentrations of metals and with respect to the particle size distribution parameters and pH values. The major influence on the fine particle volume (mass) was concluded to be due to the elements from anthropogenic sources. This conclusion was based on the significant positive correlation between Fe, Zn and Al and the fine particle volume based distribution parameters.     

关于城市规划中规划环评的探讨

城市规划是将持续发展、科学发展作为基础,对于城市发展中的经济结构、环境影响等内容加以规划,以发挥指导规范城市发展的作用。在城市规划的编制过程中要对环境影响加以评价。本文以城市规划与环境评价为出发点,提出规划环境影响评价存在的几点问题及解决思路,在更大的范围内保证城市规划的合理性,为政府相关部门科学决策提供依据。     

城市河道水环境生态修复研究

如今城市河道水环境的污染问题越来越严重,已经严重影响了人类的生活以及城市的建设,因此加强城市河道水环境的生态修复已经成为目前急需进行的重要工作之一。本文针对城市河道水环境生态修复的相关问题展开了探讨,首先探讨了关于城市河道水环境生态修复的价值以及在修复过程中应该持守的各方面原则,并根据几种先进的水环境生态修复措施进行了详细的探讨,以期为城市河道水环境修复工作提供参考。     

我国城市污水处理回用现状与发展趋势

本文主要介绍在当前时代背景下,我国城市污水处理回用现状,同时探讨在当前状态下城市污水处理回用的未来发展态势。