Gentrifying the Peri-urban: Land use Conflicts and institutional dynamics at the Frontier of an Indonesian Metropolis

This paper aims to specify the meaning of gentrification in rapidly peri-urbanising metropolitan regions in the context of Indonesia’s rapid transition to decentralisation and democracy. It discusses a case study of conflict over an environmental revitalisation project in a peri-urban area of Bandung City. The analysis focuses on the political processes, tactics and strategies supporting and opposing peri-urban gentrification and their consequences. The analysis illustrates how these political dynamics mediate the interaction between the movement of capital and the spatial reorganisation of social classes. It is argued that in the context of a peri-urbanising metropolis, gentrification needs to be narrated less in terms of class-based neighbourhood succession and more in terms of competing cross-class coalitions emerging at local and regional levels.

Small farmers and sustainability: institutional barriers to investment and innovation in the Malaysian palm oil industry in Sabah

The Malaysian palm oil industry is well known for the social, environmental and sustainability challenges associated with its rapid growth over the past ten years. Technologies exist to reduce the conflict between national development aims of economic uplift for the rural poor, on the one hand, and ecological conservation, on the other hand, by raising yields and incomes from areas already under cultivation. But the uptake of these technologies has been slow, particularly in the smallholder sector. In this paper we explore the societal and institutional challenges that influence the investment and innovation decisions of micro and small enterprise (MSE) palm oil smallholders in Sabah, Malaysia. Based on interviews with 38 smallholders, we identify a number of factors that reduce the smallholders' propensity to invest in more sustainable practices. We discuss why more effective practices and innovations are not being adopted using the concepts of, firstly, institutional logics to explore the internal dynamics of smallholder production systems, including attitudes to sustainability and innovation; and, secondly, institutional context to explore the pressures the smallholders face, including problems of access to land, labour, capital, knowledge and technical resources. These factors include limited access to global market information, corruption and uncertainties of legal title, weak economic status and social exclusion. In discussing these factors we seek to contribute to wider theoretical debates about the factors that block innovation and investment in business improvements in marginal regions and in marginalised groups.

Urocortin – From Parkinson’s disease to the skeleton

Urocortin (Ucn 1), a 40 amino acid long peptide related to corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) was discovered 19 years ago, based on its sequence homology to the parent molecule. Its existence was inferred in the CNS because of anatomical and pharmacological discrepancies between CRF and its two receptor subtypes. Although originally found in the brain, where it has opposing actions to CRF and therefore confers stress-coping mechanisms, Ucn 1 has subsequently been found throughout the periphery including heart, lung, skin, and immune cells. It is now well established that this small peptide is involved in a multitude of physiological and pathophysiological processes, due to its receptor subtype distribution and promiscuity in second messenger signalling pathways. As a result of extensive studies in this field, there are now well over one thousand peer reviewed publications involving Ucn 1. In this review, we intend to highlight some of the less well known actions of Ucn 1 and in particular its role in neuronal cell protection and maintenance of the skeletal system, both by conventional methods of reviewing the literature and using bioinformatics, to highlight further associations between Ucn 1 and disease conditions. Understanding how Ucn 1 works in these tissues, will help to unravel its role in normal and pathophysiological processes. This would ultimately allow the generation of putative medical interventions for the alleviation of important diseases such as Parkinson's disease, arthritis, and osteoporosis.