Urban Poverty Measure

A Urban Poverty Measure is a geographically-specific systemic poverty measure that characterizes urban economic deprivation.

• AKA: City Poverty Measure, Metropolitan Poverty Measure, Inner-City Poverty Measure, Municipal Poverty Measure, Slum Poverty Measure, Urban Destitution Measure.
• Context:
  • It can typically measure Urban Economic Deprivation through urban income inequality, urban unemployment rates, urban cost of living, and urban wealth gaps.
  • It can typically reflect Urban Residential Segregation concentrating urban poor populations in disadvantaged neighborhoods, informal settlements, and urban ghettos.
  • It can typically indicate Urban Employment Challenges in informal urban economy, low-wage service sectors, precarious urban work, and urban underemployment.
  • It can typically demonstrate Urban Housing Crisis through urban overcrowding, urban homelessness, substandard urban housing, and urban evictions.
  • It can typically reveal Urban Service Access Inequality affecting urban healthcare, urban education, urban sanitation, and urban transportation.
  • It can typically manifest Urban Environmental Hazards including urban pollution, urban flooding, urban heat stress, and urban disease.
  • It can typically perpetuate Urban Social Stratification through class divisions, ethnic segregation, and caste separation.
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  • It can often correlate with Urban Crime Rates, urban violence, and urban social disorder across cultural contexts.
  • It can often result from Urban Economic Restructuring including deindustrialization, urban automation, global city formation, and urban financialization.
  • It can often create Urban Food Deserts, urban nutritional insecurity, and urban hunger in poor urban neighborhoods.
  • It can often perpetuate Urban Social Exclusion through spatial stigmatization, urban discrimination, urban opportunity hoarding, and urban marginalization.
  • It can often vary with Urban Governance Systems, urban social policy regimes, and urban political economy.
  • It can often reflect Urban Migration Patterns including rural-urban migration, international migration, and forced displacement.
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  • It can range from being a Working Urban Poverty to being a Jobless Urban Poverty, depending on its urban labor market participation.
  • It can range from being a Concentrated Urban Poverty to being a Dispersed Urban Poverty, depending on its urban spatial pattern.
  • It can range from being a Ancient Urban Poverty to being a Contemporary Urban Poverty, depending on its historical period.
  • It can range from being a Neighborhood Urban Poverty to being a Citywide Urban Poverty, depending on its urban geographic scale.
  • It can range from being a Formal Urban Poverty to being a Informal Urban Poverty, depending on its urban economic sector.
  • It can range from being a Visible Urban Poverty to being a Hidden Urban Poverty, depending on its urban social visibility.
  • It can range from being a Absolute Urban Poverty to being a Relative Urban Poverty, depending on its urban poverty measurement.
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  • It can be measured using Urban Poverty Rates, urban deprivation indexes, urban multidimensional poverty indicators, and urban vulnerability assessments.
  • It can affect Urban Poor Populations across world cities, historical periods, and urban systems.
  • It can be addressed through Urban Anti-Poverty Policies, urban renewal programs, urban social protection, and slum upgrading initiatives.
  • It can interact with Urban Migration, urban informal economy, urban political movements, and urban civil society.
  • It can influence Urban Public Health, urban social cohesion, urban quality of life, and urban resilience.
  • It can shape Urban Culture, urban identity, urban social movements, and urban politics.
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• Example(s):
  • Ancient Urban Poverty Examples:
    • Ancient Rome Urban Poverty in Subura district with insulae housing urban plebs.
    • Ancient Athens Urban Poverty affecting metics and urban slaves in port districts.
    • Ancient Chang'an Urban Poverty during Tang Dynasty in ward system poor quarters.
    • Ancient Babylon Urban Poverty among debt slaves and day laborers.
    • Ancient Alexandria Urban Poverty in ethnic quarters and dock districts.
    • Ancient Tenochtitlan Urban Poverty affecting macehualtin in calpulli district.
    • Ancient Varanasi Urban Poverty among untouchables in segregated quarters.
  • Medieval Urban Poverty Examples:
    • Medieval London Urban Poverty in Southwark and East End among urban poor.
    • Medieval Paris Urban Poverty affecting day laborers and beggars in Cour des Miracles.
    • Medieval Cairo Urban Poverty in cemetery cities and urban fringes.
    • Medieval Venice Urban Poverty among arsenal workers and ghetto residents.
    • Medieval Constantinople Urban Poverty affecting refugees and urban unemployed.
    • Medieval Delhi Urban Poverty under Delhi Sultanate affecting artisans and laborers.
    • Medieval Kyoto Urban Poverty among hinin and burakumin in outcast quarters.
  • Early Modern Urban Poverty Examples:
    • 17th Century Amsterdam Urban Poverty in jordaan district among migrant workers.
    • 18th Century London Urban Poverty in gin lanes and workhouses.
    • Colonial Calcutta Urban Poverty in black towns and bustees.
    • Colonial Mexico City Urban Poverty affecting indigenous populations and mestizos.
    • Edo Period Tokyo Urban Poverty in nagaya tenement housing.
    • Qing Beijing Urban Poverty in outer city among banner servants.
  • Industrial Era Urban Poverty Examples:
    • Victorian London Urban Poverty in East End slums and rookeries.
    • 19th Century Manchester Urban Poverty in factory districts and cellar dwellings.
    • Gilded Age New York Urban Poverty in Five Points and Lower East Side.
    • Industrial Paris Urban Poverty in Belleville and working-class suburbs.
    • Meiji Era Tokyo Urban Poverty in slum districts and factory dormitories.
    • Industrial Berlin Urban Poverty in rental barracks and working-class quarters.
    • Industrial Chicago Urban Poverty in packinghouse districts and immigrant ghettos.
  • 20th Century Urban Poverty Examples:
    • Great Depression Urban Poverty in Hoovervilles across American cities.
    • Post-War European Urban Poverty in bombed cities and displaced person camps.
    • Apartheid Urban Poverty in Soweto, District Six, and townships.
    • Cultural Revolution Urban Poverty affecting sent-down youth and urban unemployed.
    • Latin American Urbanization Poverty in emerging favelas, villa miserias, and pueblos jóvenes.
  • Contemporary National Urban Poverty Examples:
    • Contemporary Chinese Urban Poverty affecting migrant workers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen.
    • Contemporary Indian Urban Poverty in Dharavi, Kolkata slums, and Delhi jhuggis.
    • Contemporary Brazilian Urban Poverty in Rio favelas, São Paulo cortiços, and urban peripheries.
    • Contemporary American Urban Poverty in Detroit, Baltimore, South Side Chicago, and Skid Row Los Angeles.
    • Contemporary Nigerian Urban Poverty in Lagos Makoko, Abuja satellite towns, and Port Harcourt waterfronts.
    • Contemporary Mexican Urban Poverty in Neza, Ecatepec, and border city slums.
    • Contemporary Egyptian Urban Poverty in Cairo City of the Dead, Manshiyat Naser, and informal areas.
    • Contemporary South African Urban Poverty in Khayelitsha, Alexandra, and informal settlements.
    • Contemporary Indonesian Urban Poverty in Jakarta kampungs, Surabaya slums, and urban villages.
    • Contemporary Pakistani Urban Poverty in Orangi Town, Karachi katchi abadis, and Lahore slums.
    • Contemporary Bangladeshi Urban Poverty in Dhaka slums, Chittagong bustees, and urban fringes.
    • Contemporary Philippine Urban Poverty in Tondo, Smokey Mountain, and urban informal settlers.
    • Contemporary Kenyan Urban Poverty in Kibera, Mathare, and Nairobi slums.
    • Contemporary French Urban Poverty in banlieues, cités, and zone urbaine sensibles.
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• Counter-Example(s):
  • Rural Poverty Measure, which measures rural poverty across time and space.
  • Suburban Poverty, which affects suburban areas with different characteristics.
  • National Poverty, which aggregates across all geographic areas.
  • Urban Affluence, indicating wealth concentration in urban areas.
  • Refugee Camp Poverty, affecting displaced populations in temporary settlements.
• See: Poor People Population, Rural Poverty Measure, Poverty Measure, Systemic Poverty Measure, Economic Deprivation Measure, Urban Development, Inner City, Urban Inequality, Slum, Informal Settlement, Urban History, Global Urbanization, Urban Social Policy, Urban Planning, Urban Sociology.

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