Shared projects and symbiotic collaborations: Shenzhen and London in comparative conversation

This paper presents ‘shared projects’ and the ‘symbiotic’ relations they engender to capture accounts of state and society actors collaborating to turn individual constraints into collective opportunities for pursuing urban experiments which are institutionally-shaped but also institution-shaping. The concepts are developed through a sequential and recursive comparison – that is, a ‘comparative conversation’– between a case of urban village upgrading in Shenzhen and Community Land Trust Development in London. The paper uses a pragmatist approach to capitalist transformation as a starting point for comparison between these supposedly ‘incomparable’ cases. I build both heterogeneous and generalisable accounts of the pathways and progressive potential of collaborations on shared projects by recursively composing analytical proximities across the cases and their contexts of state entrepreneurialism and austerity localism. Theoretically, this paper contributes to scholarship which focuses on the contingency and complexity inherent in urban transformation. State and society actors are seen as potential collaborators working pragmatically to solve systemic problems without necessarily targeting wholesale systemic change. Methodologically, it contributes to ongoing attempts to demonstrate the positive relationship between experimental comparisons and conceptual innovation through staging a ‘comparative conversation’.

A new Andean treefrog (Amphibia: Hyloscirtus bogotensis group) from Ecuador: an example of community involvement for conservation

We provide several lines of evidence to delimit a new species of Hyloscirtus and define its phylogenetic position inside the Hyloscirtus bogotensis group. The new species is the sister taxon to Hyloscirtus mashpi and is related to a clade formed by H. alytolylax and a putative new species from the province of El Oro in, southwestern Ecuador. Hyloscirtus conscientia sp. nov. is described from the montane forests of the Mira River basin in the extreme northwestern Ecuador. The new species is characterized as follows: tympanic annulus conspicuous, tip of snout in dorsal view subacuminate, middorsal stripe formed by melanophores larger and less dense, dorsal skin with individual iridophores forming dots, scarcely distributed across dorsum. Our study also highlights the importance of the Mira River Valley as a biogeographic barrier; suggesting research efforts north and south of the valley are likely to reveal additional endemic cryptic diversity. Finally, our partnership with Reserva: The Youth Land Trust, Rainforest Trust and EcoMinga Foundation has produced a novel and meaningful way to connect young people with biodiversity discovery and habitat conservation.

“Nobody's Children”? Political Responses to the Homecoming of First World War Veterans in Northern and Southern Ireland, 1918–1929

At the time when Irish veterans of the Great War were being demobilized, Ireland was in a period of profound social, political, and cultural change that was irreversibly transforming the island. Armistice and the veterans’ relief at having survived the conflict and being back with family could not eclipse the overwhelming political climate they met on their homecoming. This article draws on the 1929 Report by the Committee on Claims of British Ex-servicemen, commissioned by the Irish Free State to investigate whether Irish veterans were discriminated against by the Southern Irish and British authorities. The research also makes use of a range of underexploited primary sources: the Liaison and Evacuation Papers in the Military Archives in Dublin, the collection of minutes of the Irish Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Land Trust in the National Archives in London, and original material from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland and the National Archives of Ireland relating to economic programs for veterans. A comparative approach of to the respective demobilizations of veterans in Northern and Southern Ireland in the 1920s reveals that disparities in formal recognition of their sacrifice and in special provision for housing and employment significantly and painfully complicated their repatriation.

Investing in community: community land trusts and affordable housing in Calgary

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.

The ‘community' in community land trusts: the role of community control in pursuing community land trust activism

Housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is increasingly unaffordable due to rising housing costs. Community land trusts (CLTs) have recently emerged as a tool for providing affordable housing in the GTHA. This paper investigated the form that CLTs should take to ensure its long-term success for providing affordable housing. Through an analysis of academic and grey literature, the element of community control was identified as being a critical success factor. This paper explored four CLTs operating in American and European contexts to understand whether and how community control was manifested and the resulting implications it had on the CLT and residents. The findings of the paper confirm the importance of community control in the long-term functioning of CLTs, and that community control can be manifested in various forms. Planners operating in the GTHA must therefore be mindful of ensuring that community control is expressed in CLTs. Keywords: Community land trust; affordable housing; community control; Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

Investing in community: community land trusts and affordable housing in Calgary

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.

The ‘community' in community land trusts: the role of community control in pursuing community land trust activism

Housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) is increasingly unaffordable due to rising housing costs. Community land trusts (CLTs) have recently emerged as a tool for providing affordable housing in the GTHA. This paper investigated the form that CLTs should take to ensure its long-term success for providing affordable housing. Through an analysis of academic and grey literature, the element of community control was identified as being a critical success factor. This paper explored four CLTs operating in American and European contexts to understand whether and how community control was manifested and the resulting implications it had on the CLT and residents. The findings of the paper confirm the importance of community control in the long-term functioning of CLTs, and that community control can be manifested in various forms. Planners operating in the GTHA must therefore be mindful of ensuring that community control is expressed in CLTs. Keywords: Community land trust; affordable housing; community control; Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area