Mainstreaming SDGs and city master planning share commonalities, as both try to guide future development through actionable goals and targets. It is increasingly recognized that the SDGs can be achieved through integration with master planning; however, this integration remains superficial in Pakistan despite claims of such efforts. This inductive study, based on the authors' engagement with planning departments of Sindh, Pakistan, identifies four distinct challenges in mainstreaming SDGs. First, the lack of understanding about SDGs and the approach to integration; second, inherent flaws in traditional methods of master planning; third, the treatment of the master plan as a one-time project rather than a process; and fourth, shortcomings inherent in the SDGs framework, which are further of two types: firstly, the multiplicity of SDG goals, due to which it is difficult to create synergies; and second, the absence of a spatial pillar, which involves a lack of spatial, geographic and territorial dimensions.
This paper explores women's experiences in Wallacedene, a Cape Town informal settlement, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Qualitative interviews and thematic analysis reveal how structural inequalities shaped healthcare access, economic security, safety, and mobility. The study identifies a spatial curfew, a restriction of movement enforced by risky geography rather than law, facilitating gender-based violence and enforcing the exclusion of women from public spaces. Findings show that spatial and socio-economic disadvantages heightened everyday risks. Although digital resilience offers a critical form of agency, the study conceptualizes this as a spatial bypass limited by the material failures of the built environment and the platform paradox. The study frames these experiences through intersectionality and spatial justice linking local realities to global development priorities (SDG 5, 10, 11). The study calls for gender-responsive interventions that dismantle the spatial curfew through inclusive urban design and leverage digital tools to foster sustainable livelihoods.
A successful refugee resettlement program requires a network of actors to collaborate to support new residents in the US. Yet little is known about how these actors collaborate with one another and empower their clients. This exploratory study of Erie County, NY and Kent County, MI maps out the network of local and county governments, local resettlement agencies, and ethnic community-based organizations that support resettled refugees. I examine how they collaborate to meet the refugee population's needs and work to empower these population groups. The need for more cross-sectoral collaboration and empowerment of clients - especially among local and county governments and resettlement agencies - is recommended.
