News

The Urban Social Forum opens in Naples with a field visit from the UN Special Rapporteur

Published in Monday September 10th, 2012 In Social movement news

Naples gave a warm welcome to the second Urban Social Forum (USF). The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing accompanied a USF delegation to the popular neighbourhood Scampia, where she held a reunion with social organizations and the inhabitants of the Giugliano roma camp, who live under an eviction order threat.

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Cameron and Clegg unveil planning reforms in the UK

Published in Monday September 10th, 2012 In In the media

September 06, 2012 Coalition announces measures designed to boost housing and growth through cash injection and loosening of laws David Cameron and Nick Clegg have announced a package of measures designed to boost the housing industry and growth through an injection of cash, looser planning laws and the lifting of requirements for developers to build affordable […]

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Nicaragua eruption forces 3,000 to evacuate

Published in Monday September 10th, 2012 In In the media

September 09, 2012 The San Cristobal volcano in Nicaragua rumbled to life Saturday with three explosions, forcing the evacuation of 3,000 residents, authorities said. Television footage showed a column of smoke and ash rising from the cone of the volcano, Nicaragua’s tallest at 1,745 meters (5,725 feet), in the northeast. The civil defense agency said […]

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Planning policy in the UK: Don’t blame the countryside for our lack of housing

Published in Monday September 10th, 2012 In In the media

September 06, 2012 Britain is desperately inefficient in its land use, and there are still no measures to bring empty property back on the market The government’s learning curve on planning is like an ant climbing a mountain. Desperate for someone to blame for the lack of growth, David Cameron has fallen back on the […]

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Scores of Roma face imminent forced eviction in Romania

Published in Monday September 10th, 2012 In Social movement news

September 06, 2012 More than 100 Romani adults and children will be forcibly evicted from an informal settlement in northern Romania unless local authorities back down on a pledge to demolish their homes, Amnesty International said today. Local officials in the northern town of Baia Mare have given 26 Romani families living in the Pirita […]

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UN stresses positives of urban growth with new tool to track city prosperity

Published in Thursday September 6th, 2012 In In the media

September 05, 2012 Cities should be seen as drivers of economic growth and human development, says report published at World Urban Forum A new index to measure and track the prosperity of cities has been unveiled by UN-Habitat, the UN human settlements programme, in a bid to encourage a more upbeat view of the world’s […]

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In Ruined Apartments, a Symbol of Ireland’s Fall

Published in Wednesday September 5th, 2012 In In the media

September 3rd, 2012 To visit Graham Usher’s dream apartment in Priory Hall, the most notorious of Ireland’s ruined ghost developments, is to see what Ireland aspired to be, and what it became instead. The apartment, bought for $315,000 in early 2006, is now covered by a brick facade that looks as if some giant creature had raked […]

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In Kenya, floods displace thousands of people

Published in Wednesday September 5th, 2012 In In the media

September 5, 2012 Thousands of people have been displaced in parts of Kenya’s Rift Valley Province as floodwaters continue to submerge houses and schools and destroy crops. They are among more than 240,000 people throughout eastern Africa are estimated to be affected by seasonal flooding. An estimated 642 households have been affected by flooding in […]

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In Sudan, rains destroy 300 homes

Published in Wednesday September 5th, 2012 In In the media

September 4, 2012 A resident from Abu Shouk camp in El-Fasher, North Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that heavy rains destroyed more than 300 homes on Sunday, 2 September. He said one child drowned in a deep-water pond. A camp’s activist informed Radio Dabanga that dozens of families are now living in open areas and that […]

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In Uganda, refinery project will require 8,000 people evicted

Published in Wednesday September 5th, 2012 In In the media

September 5, 2012 The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has released a draft map showing details of the population and properties of people who settled on the land earmarked for the construction of an oil refinery in Buseruka Sub-county in Hoima district. Bashir Hangi, the refinery project’s communications officer said the draft maps are […]

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