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Climate variability, accompanied by rapid urbanization and rising population disproportionality, impacts urban poor settlements. This paper aims to analyse the climate resilience for the urban poor in Ahmedabad through the lens of WASH development strategies. To assess the adaptive capacities of urban poor communities, a framework in the form of a vulnerability matrix has been used consisting of four key parameters – tenure, basic services, mobilization and partnership and disaster management capacities. The matrix implicitly recommends area-specific interventions to boost adaptive capacities and improve resilience based on WASH services.

This paper was designed to assess the climate resilience of WASH services in the urban poor settlements of Ahmedabad city. In all, seven slums were selected using a stratified sampling approach considering topography, access to WASH services and urban heat island effect. These slums were then assessed using a theoretical framework having four key parameters – tenure, basic service, mobilization and partnership and disaster management capacities. The data for the analysis was collected from both secondary and primary sources. For the latter, semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, observational field visits and focused group discussions with the communities were done.

A ladder form of assessment matrix was derived from a thorough literature review and various pre-existing theories. This matrix consists of four key parameters – tenure, basic service, mobilization and partnership and disaster management capacities. The slums were evaluated by applying this framework, and direct and indirect relationships were established between the said parameters.

This paper was adapted in the light of various obstacles put forward by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of the interviews with the bureaucrats and external researchers were conducted online, while the engagement with the slum dwellers was in-person, considering appropriate social and/or physical distancing norms. Implications of the Covid-19 second wave restricted the involvement of researchers with the communities at an ethnographic level.

The ladder form of vulnerability assessment framework has been developed and contextualized using the insights from literature review, field visits and multi-stakeholder consultations. It was helpful in identifying aspects that require suitable interventions for improving and imparting resilience among the urban poor settlements. The learnings from this paper are significant for planners and decision-makers in identifying and prioritizing context-specific future projects for a city.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new service framework for managing nature and physical resources that balances the needs of people and planet.

The process used in this paper was a rapid literature review and content analysis of 202 articles in service journals and learned that there are limited papers on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6 (clean water and sanitation) or SDG #7 (affordable and clean energy) and very few articles on SDG #12 (responsible production and consumption) that focused on environmental components of services. This highlighted the need to conceptualise a service framework for managing these resources sustainably.

The proposed regenerative service economy framework for managing natural and physical resources for all humans (without harming the planet) reflects insights from analysing the available service articles. The framework draws on the circular economy, an Indigenous wholistic framework and service thinking to conceptualise how service research can manage natural and physical resources in ways that serve both people and the planet.

This paper introduces the regenerative service economy framework to the service literature as an approach for guiding service researchers and managers in sustainably managing natural and physical resources in a sustainable way.

Despite the fact that hygiene and sanitation are becoming more critical for improving the present situation in developing nations, the factors that affect them are not well covered in the present research. This paper investigates the quality of the hygiene and sanitization factors and identifies the interrelations between the identified factors.

A graph theory-based approach is proposed to assess the factors influencing the practice, and a critical service index (CSI) is used to quantify the same.

Two Indian villages are used to illustrate the implementation of the suggested approach. This represents the validation of the suggested method, as well as assisting in the development of essential suggestions for increasing the quality of hygiene and sanitization in the Indian context. In spite of the increasing importance of hygiene and sanitation for improving the current situation in developing countries, the factors that influence them are not well-researched.

This study contributes in two ways. First, it provides an organized methodology for quantifying hygiene and sanitation factors and a critical service index that incorporates the findings. The suggested approach may also be used to evaluate and classify other sectors. Second, it shows how the methodology was used to create key recommendations for two Indian villages, which may be considered the first effort in India’s hygiene and sanitation initiatives.

This research discussed improvements in sanitation and hygiene habits among Indian households, which have not been achieved as expected under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

This study aims to deepen the understanding of the challenges and implications entailed by deploying mobile clinics in conflict zones to reach populations affected by violence and cut off from health-care services.

This research combines an integrated literature review and an instrumental case study. The literature review comprises two targeted reviews to provide insights: one on conflict zones and one on mobile clinics. The case study describes the process and challenges faced throughout a mobile clinic deployment during and after the Iraq War. The data was gathered using mixed methods over a two-year period (2017–2018).

Armed conflicts directly impact the populations’ health and access to health care. Mobile clinic deployments are often used and recommended to provide health-care access to vulnerable populations cut off from health-care services. However, there is a dearth of peer-reviewed literature documenting decision support tools for mobile clinic deployments.

This study highlights the gaps in the literature and provides direction for future research to support the development of valuable insights and decision support tools for practitioners.

This study focused on exploring the performance factors (PFs) that impact Infrastructure Sanitation Projects (ISSPs) in the construction sector. The aim was twofold: firstly, to identify these crucial PFs and secondly, to develop a robust performance model capable of effectively measuring and assessing the intricate interdependencies and correlations within ISSPs. By achieving these objectives, the study aimed to provide valuable insights into and tools for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of sanitation projects in the construction industry.

To achieve the study's aim, the methodology for identifying the PFs for ISSPs involved several steps: extensive literature review, interviews with Egyptian industry experts, a questionnaire survey targeting industry practitioners and an analysis using the Relative Importance Index (RII), Pareto principle and analytic network process (ANP). The RII ranked factor importance,  and Pareto identified the top 20% for ANP, which determined connections and interdependencies among these factors.

The literature review identified 36 PFs, and an additional 13 were uncovered during interviews. The highest-ranked PF is PF5, while PF19 is the lowest-ranked. Pareto principle selected 11 PFs, representing the top 20% of factors. The ANP model produced an application for measuring ISSP effectiveness, validated through two case studies. Application results were 92.25% and 91.48%, compared to actual results of 95.77% and 97.37%, indicating its effectiveness and accuracy, respectively.

This study addresses a significant knowledge gap by identifying the critical PFs that influence ISSPs within the construction industry. Subsequently, it constructs a novel performance model, resulting in the development of a practical computer application aimed at measuring and evaluating the performance of these projects.

This beginning chapter offers a comprehensive overview of community development, tracing its historical roots and societal implications. It underscores community development’s role in fostering social cohesion and positive change. Beginning with its foundational principles of collective action, participation, and empowerment, the chapter delves into its evolution in response to industrialization and urbanization. It explores diverse scales, contexts, tools, and strategies used in community development and its broader societal impact. The chapter advocates for inclusivity and active engagement of community members, emphasizing tailored solutions that address unique challenges. It acknowledges complexities like ethical dilemmas, power imbalances, and cultural sensitivities, underscoring the importance of integrity and local context understanding in community development.

This study examines the appropriate measures that need to be intensified among African countries to achieve sustainable environment to mitigate climate change.

The study employs panel data covering the period 2000 to 2020 among 54 African countries and Cox proportional hazard model for the analysis.

Estimates indicate that the practice of carbon farming, the development of rooftop gardens, renewable energy production and consumption contribute positively toward achieving sustainable environment, while governance adversely affects this objective of achieving sustainable environment.

The study recommends that governments should enforce the constant practice of carbon farming among these countries through passing laws to enforce its application among farmers and allocate 2% of ministry of agriculture's budget toward financing carbon farming for poor farmers.

Empirical studies have been carried out exploring measures to deal with climate change. Nonetheless, the appropriate measures of achieving sustainable environment to mitigate climate change have less been explored in literature on Africa. Hence, this study fills the gap in existing empirical studies.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0290.

In the space of slums are many stakeholders; the extent to which their assistance contributes to slum administration is sparsely studied. The study aims to examine how external stakeholders contribute to slum administration within the Ghanaian context.

Using the stakeholder theory, the study used an exploratory qualitative design based on face-to-face, in-depth interviews among 21 respondents. Participants were purposively selected from stakeholder organisations and slum residents based on the stake in slums governance in Ghana.

The results indicate that stakeholders have contributed towards slums livelihoods in the general areas of housing, trading, skill development and capacity building. It shows that stakeholders’ contributions tend to enhance slums’ living conditions and affect local assemblies positively. The study finds that slum dwellers categorise stakeholders’ contributions as short-term relief and long-term solutions. Additionally, it emerged that in the areas of policy design, implementation and policy feedback, external stakeholders have supported the government in that regard.

The conclusion drawn from the study is limited to the four communities and the stakeholder organisations. However, communities with similar characteristics globally might benefit from the findings.

The study uncovers a context-specific role and assistance of external stakeholders in the domain of slums. This provides a guide to the government regarding key areas of stakeholder collaboration towards slum governance in the Ghanaian context. Theoretically, this study has contributed to new knowledge about stakeholders’ contribution to the overall governance of slums.

The study expands the frontiers of knowledge in the field of slum administration by focusing on external stakeholders. This study departs from previous studies, which have examined, in broader perspectives, stakeholders’ roles within the space of slums.

Several studies have examined the relationship between service quality and willingness to pay in many industries. However, this relationship has not been explored through the lens of customer perceived value and their willingness to pay for improving and sustaining water service. This study aims to examine the impact of technical and functional service quality dimensions on customer perceived value and assess the influence of customer perceived value and socio-economic factors on customers' willingness to pay for improving and sustaining the water service.

Technical service quality includes core water service such as water delivery and maintenance, while functional service quality refers to the appearance of facilities, employees’ dress, and communication. SERVQUAL questionnaire responses were collected from 333 Palestinian household customers. Cronbach’s alpha was conducted to measure internal consistency and convergent validity. Path analysis was utilized to evaluate a causal diagram by examining the relationships among the constructs.

The results showed that technical and functional service quality and relative price explain 52% of the customer perceived value variation. Additionally, the results revealed that customer perceived value, technical service quality, and relative price significantly impact the customer’s willingness to pay for improving and sustaining service. In contrast, the functional service quality and socio-economic factors have insignificant effects. These predictors explain 60% of the customer’s willingness to pay for improving and sustaining service.

The study suggests that water providers should prioritize improving and sustaining technical service quality to increase customer willingness to pay. Furthermore, they should be aware that other factors, such as employee appearance and politeness, are less influential in driving customers’ willingness to pay.

The study presents a water service improvement model that utilizes data from a developing country to assess the influence of perceived customer value, along with its dimensions, on the willingness to pay for improving and sustaining water service quality.