HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. The Philippine electricity sector reform and the urban question Morgan MoutonTo cite this version:Morgan Mouton. The Philippine electricity sector reform and the urban question: How metro Manila's utility is tackling urban poverty. Energy Policy, Elsevier, 2015, Urban energy governance: local actions, capacities and politics, 78, pp.The electricity reform did not take the urban poor into consideration. The state retreated from issues of electrification. Decentralisation favoured the emergence of new, local actors for this aspect of energy policy. The distribution utility is left with an increased power over issues of access to electricity. Territorially and qualitatively, electrification programs are more diverse. a b s t r a c tIn the early 2000s, the Philippine government reformed its electricity sector following neoliberal principles: unbundling of the power industry, privatisation of assets and commodification of electricity. This paper shows that the reform was primarily driven by the need to secure electricity supply and cut down tariffs. These national objectives ousted other issues, and notably those that find their expression at the urban level, among which the question of access to electricity in Metro Manila's urban poor communities. The central state withdrew its attention from the issue of electrification, and local actors had to react as they were confronted to social tensions and practices of pilferage. As a consequence, city governments and local administrations are getting involved in this issue, which opens the way to participation of civil society. This paper shows how the "rolling back" of the central state led to new partnerships and arrangements between the distribution utility, local governments and community organisations. This movement points to an urbanisation of energy issues, which could bring positive results for end-users provided that it is accompanied by a clearer regulatory framework.1 The well-known World Bank (1993) paper The World Bank's role in the electric power sector: policies for effective institutional, regulatory, and financial reform received a lot of attention from Philippine policymakers. Beyond their mere influence, these two institutions had a more direct involvement in the reform with two loans that set precise requirements: a 1984 WB loan of USD 300 million required the adoption of laws on privatisation (that came to be Presidential Decrees 2029 and 2030), and a 1998 ADB loan (supported by the WB and the IMF) of another USD 300 mill...
This article explores the evolving role of real estate developers in the wider metropolitan region of Manila, the Philippines. We argue that, given the relational nature of these actors, they are a relevant object of analysis for the formulation of “mid-level” theories that take into account both global, macroeconomic trends and local, history-dependent contingencies. As we consider developers’ activities and interactions with a wide range of public and private actors, we retrace their gradual empowerment since the beginning of the postcolonial period. As a handful of powerful land-owning families created real estate development companies, urban production quickly became dominated by a strong oligarchy capable of steering urban development outside the realm of public decision-making. Philippine developers subsequently strengthened their capacity by stepping into infrastructure provision, seemingly expanding their autonomy further. More recently, however, we argue that while the role of private sector actors in shaping urban and regional trajectories has scaled up, their activities have been tethered more strongly to a state-sponsored vision of change. Both by reorienting public–private partnerships (PPP) toward its regional plans, and by initiating new forms of public–private partnerships that give it more control, the state is attempting to harness the activity of developers. We characterize this shift as a move from the “privatization of planning” to the “planning of privatization” of urban space.
Despite calls for the adoption of 'One-Health' approaches, dog-bite injuries remain neglected in healthcare and public health, and our study may help to understand why. Media coverage can influence policy directions, including policies that address dogs. We collected articles (n = 65) published in two local newspapers, 2012-2017, then carried out an ethnographically-informed discourse analysis of the dog-bite reports. The newspapers portrayed dog-bites mainly as matters of public disorder, as opposed to priorities for healthcare and public health. Even as our study took place in a city that has shown dog-bite reductions without recourse to 'breed bans' or restrictions (i.e., breed-specific legislation), journalists still tended to emphasize dog breed as a narrative element in explaining dog-bite incidents. Nonetheless, the news coverage did not reproduce a 'nature versus nurture' dichotomy. Rather, the journalists presented dog breed, and presumably associated aggressive behaviour, as entanglements with social, economic, and cultural contexts. Meanwhile, the news stories reduced contextual complexity to geographic locations, as codes for community reputation, in attributing causality and morality.
This article explores the material dimensions of ‘smart city’ initiatives in the context of postcolonial cities where urban utilities are qualified as deficient. It argues that while such projects may very well be another manifestation of urban entrepreneurialism, they should not be dismissed as an already-outdated research object. Rather, they can be analysed in light of postcolonial cities’ development agenda. Here, I document and analyse the ongoing construction of New Clark City, a smart city project that is envisioned by the current Philippine state administration as a solution to the crisis that Metro Manila’s urban infrastructure is going through. In doing so, I seek to integrate Science and Technology Studies’ insights on infrastructure provision with the literature on worlding efforts in cities of the global South.
The advent of 'smart' technologies has already transformed urban life, with important consequences for physical, mental, and social well-being. Population health and equity have, however, been conspicuously absent from much of the 'smart cities' research and policy agenda. With this in mind, we argue for a re-conceptualization of 'digital divides' in terms of socioeconomic gradients at the individual level, and we draw attention to digitally mediated connections as crucial elements for health promotion at an institutional level and for remedying inequities. We do so in part by reporting on a recent symposium. Overall, we begin to integrate the 'healthy cities' tradition with the current interest in 'smart cities'. Résumé Le déploiement des technologies numériques a d'ores et déjà transformé la vie urbaine, et entraîné des conséquences importantes sur le bien-être physique, mental et social. La santé des populations et l'équité sont cependant restées largement absentes des discussions politiques et académiques sur les « villes intelligentes ». Afin de contribuer à instruire ce débat, nous proposons de reconceptualiser la notion de « fracture numérique » en l'associant, à l'échelle de l'individu, à l'idée de gradients socio-économiques. De plus, nous transposons cette notion à l'échelle des organisations engagées dans la promotion de la santé et dans la lutte contre les inégalités, et pour qui l'accès aux technologies numériques et aux données est un enjeu de plus en plus décisif. Ce travail s'appuie sur les réflexions engagées lors d'un colloque organisé récemment, qui a permis d'esquisser un rapprochement entre le champ bien établi des « villes en santé » et l'intérêt actuel pour les « villes intelligentes ».
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