Write a research paper (min 2000 words not counting reference list) about a physical intervention/project in a city with slums (eviction, relocation/resettlement or upgrade) which can help reduce disaster risk.

Assignment Description: 

Write a research paper (min 2000 words not counting reference list) about a physical intervention/project in a city with slums (eviction, relocation/resettlement or upgrade) which can help reduce disaster risk. Use a variety of sources (Minimum 5 sources). Only 1 source from class used for section 5 counts towards the minimum 5 sources.

Each student must do a pre-research to identify a project in a city with slums and post it on the google doc on Canvas Week 6 for approval by Sunday Week 6 (first come, first served) LATE PENALTIES APPLY FOR MISSING or LATE PROPOSALS.

DO NOT STUDY POLICE INTERVENTIONS OR SOCIAL PROGRAMS, IT NEEDS TO BE EITHER AN EVICTION, RELOCATION OR AN UPGRADE WITH A CLEAR PHYSICAL COMPONENT. THE INTERVENTION NEEDS TO BE ALREADY IMPLEMENTED NOT JUST A PLAN.

Your final research paper should be a comprehensive description of the government/ NGO / Community organized physical intervention, characteristics of the case, disaster history and a critique of the approach implemented based on the content studied in class.

Content (all should be included in paper in independent sections) 

(100 POINTS):

1. Introduction to the study area (10 POINTS):location map, identify the country, city and slum name, population.
2. Socioeconomic characteristics (10 POINTS):History of the slum, how long has it been there? How did it come to exist?(rural migration, displaced population? etc.) Who lives in this slum? What types of jobs do they do?
3. Disaster history of the city and slum (20 POINTS): Describe the hazards in the slum area/city. Discuss the vulnerability analysis for each of the 4 types: Physical, Environmental, Social and Economic. Describe each type of vulnerability as it applies to the slum and also summarize it in a table, see example below. Provide both within this section. Review Coppola Chapter 3 reading on Week 5 for guidance on each vulnerability type (does not count for minimum 5 sources). Do not include the definitions for each type of vulnerability, just the analysis about your case.  
4. Description of the urban intervention (either eviction, relocation/resettlement or upgrade) (30 POINTS): (This should be the biggest section of the paper) When did the intervention start? Describe the goals of the intervention. What are the actions taken by the leading agency: community, government or NGO? How was it financed? How did the community react? 
5. Discussion of the results of the urban intervention (20 POINTS): What are the results of the intervention? Was it successful? Does it contribute to making this community more resilient to disasters? Explain how or why? You can talk about the project in your slum and further analyze how in the long term that project contributes to a more resilient community with less of the vulnerabilities discussed in section 3 or if it did not change anything. If not successful, what can be improved in this type of intervention? Discuss any future projects to follow up this one if available. Use at least one reading from class from the week covering your specific intervention type and other sources. Only 1 reading from class counts towards the minimum 5 sources. 
6. Reference list in APA style

Assignment Specifications (10 POINTS):

• Upload a word doc or docx only. Any other file types are not accepted.
• Times New Roman, Font Size 12, SINGLE SPACE. 1 Inch margins.
• Include a title page with the topic of your paper, your name, class and date.
• NO ABSTRACT or introduction sections allowed. Start with section and content on point #1.
• No separate conclusions section allowed, these tend to be redundant.
• Cite in text using the APA guides provided on the course library. Citing in text means to paraphrase and credit your source (i.e Brown, 2012). Always, always cite the source of your information.
• No direct quotes at all. Paraphrase and credit your source with APA in text citations i.e (Brown, 2012)
• Use a variety of sources (Minimum 5 sources). Include a reference list at the end in APA style as well. Does not count towards word count.
• Do not cite Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica (all definitions of terms for class are provided in the readings), Atlas Obscura, Culture trip or any blogs, non-academic or non-official publications. See our academic sources policy in your syllabus. 
• Organize paper by the sections described above (number 1-6), one section per topic. Give each section a name appropriate for the content.
• Pictures and graphs are encouraged, insert them close to the relative text. Provide source and a short description for each, underneath.
• Spell-check and re-read your responses. Grammar and sentence structure is part of your grade. Quality writing is a skill at all academic levels.
• Late policy: 10% off the paper grade by the deadline and additional 10% will accumulate for each extra week. That is a total of -20 points by the first Friday after the deadline! The last day to submit late papers is Friday April 19th by 11:59PM ET (- 40 points).