Leif Petersen
Biographic Data
| ID | 3783038 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leif Petersen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leif |
| FAMILY NAME | Petersen |
| SIGNATURE | PETERSEN L |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sustainable Livelihoods Foundation |
| ORCID | 0009-0009-4268-4889 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 22 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1978 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Co-developing best bets for participatory disaster risk management in a postcolonial harmscape
The conditions that characterize marginal and informal settlements in the Global South make the environmental hazards resulting from the current Climate Crisis more dangerous, giving rise to multifaceted risks that can be characterized as Anthropocene harmscapes. As such settlements are home to a large and growing population, this is an increasingly widespread problem that, if not addressed, could result in deaths, unrest and increasing numbers o…
Place-pedagogies of water stress
This article explores the pedagogical affect of water in a place of water stress and illustrates its entanglement with dynamics of power and control. The current climate crisis is rendering already drought-prone regions ever drier, and it is often the already socially and economically disadvantaged who experience the most immediate impacts. In this article, we describe the experiences of residents in one township in South Africa’s Cape Flats to e…
Decay without mourning: Future-Thinking Heritage Practices
This paper seeks to further heritage theory and practice by considering decay as a transformative process contributing to heritage formation and value. Informed by our expertise in a variety of fields bordering heritage studies, we highlight the interplay of generative and degenerative aspects in different modes of decay and suggest that partnering with decay epistemologically, artistically, academically, practically, and democratically would all…
Policy engagement as ‘empowered representation’: Democratic mediation through a participatory research project on climate resilience
Drawing on the theoretical framework of 'political mediation', the policy engagement process is characterised as a positive instance of democratic mediation through 'empowered representation', with some specified limitations
Understanding resilience capitals, agency and habitus in household experiences of water scarcity, floods and fire in marginalized settlements in the Cape Flats, South Africa
A significant percentage of the urban population in most low- and middle-income countries live in informal settlements. Due to poor quality housing, dense settlement patterns and lack of risk reducing infrastructure, informal settlements are least prepared and at higher risk for climate change issues. Marginalized communities in settlements in the Cape Flats region of South Africa face a range of environmental hazards and risks including recurren…
‘Hampers’ as an effective strategy to shift towards sustainable diets in South African low-income communities
Transitioning towards sustainable diets is imperative to avoid the worst effects of climate change, environmental degradation, and malnutrition. In South Africa, households most vulnerable to food insecurity employ various strategies to access food. These include purchasing hampers; a combination of staple foods sold in bulk at a discounted price, which are cake wheat flour, super maize meal, white sugar, cooking oil, and white parboiled rice. We…
Living the life of floods: Place-based learning in an Anthropocene harmscape
This article explores how place-based learning and the development of landscape literacies unfold in a place suffused with a complex set of risks resulting from inter-operating and intersecting sociohistorical, political and environmental factors. By analysing assemblages of images and accompanying texts produced through a photovoice process undertaken by co-researchers in an informal settlement in South Africa’s Cape Flats, we show that resident…
The role of family in the township informal economy of food and drink in KwaMashu, South Africa
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a qualitative investigation of family employment dynamics in the KwaMashu township economy. Design/methodology/approach Using a small area census research method, the researchers identified 1,556 businesses located in a settlement of 2 km 2 . Of these enterprises, 694 (45 percent) traded in fast moving consumer goods, notably food and/or drink. The main retailers were small shops (spaza shops) and l…
Small Area Census Approach to Measure the Township Informal Economy in South Africa
In this article, we describe a research approach to undertaking a small area census to identify informal economy activity, using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative tools. The method focuses on enterprise activity. The approach enables the researcher to record a broader spectrum of informal micro-enterprises through identifying businesses in situ within an area of sufficient scale to broadly reflect area-level market conditions and business…
Bush Doctors and Wild Medicine”: The Scale of Trade in Cape Town's Informal Economy of Wild-Harvested Medicine and Traditional Healing
South Africa's organically emerged cultural business of traditional healing is almost exclusively reliant on wild-harvested resources extracted from wilderness areas or open-access commons. The wild medicine business has been described for much of South Africa, although is little understood in Cape Town, the urban centerpiece of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR). A census of different traditional healer typologies in five typical working-class resi…
Formalising urban informality: Micro-enterprise and the regulation of liquor in Cape Town
In early 2012, South Africa's Western Cape Province enacted new alcohol control legislation amid mounting concern with the costs of alcohol-related harms. This has focused on urban shebeen closure to control the informal, unlicensed trade and the harms it generates through crime, violence and injury. In contrast to policy discourse, this paper contends that rather than existingoutside regulation, the city's shebeeners embrace multiple (self and c…
Sustainability Appraisal of Shifting Cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
An integrated socioeconomic and erosion study on the sustainability of traditional shifting cultivation (Jhum) carried out in 1998 and 1999 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh showed the system to be nonsustainable under the current conditions with fallow periods of only 3-5 years and lack of land rights. An estimated input (mainly labor) of USD 380 ha(-1) yr(-1) results in only a total output of USD 360 ha(-1) yr(-1) and Jhum culti…
Sustainability Appraisal of Shifting Cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
An integrated socioeconomic and erosion study on the sustainability of traditional shifting cultivation (Jhum) carried out in 1998 and 1999 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh showed the system to be nonsustainable under the current conditions with fallow periods of only 3–5 years and lack of land rights. An estimated input (mainly labor) of USD 380 ha–1 yr–1 results in only a total output of USD 360 ha–1 yr–1 and Jhum cultivated ar…
Changes in soil nutrient content under shifting cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, shifting cultivation is an age-old practice. Usually tribal people practiced slash-and-burn agriculture in the same area with long fallow periods of 15–20 years. But, with the rapid increase of population in the hills this rotation has come down to 3–5 years, allowing insufficient time for the soils to regain their natural productivity. Although less than 5% of the hill area is used for shifting …
Jordbundsudvikling under ager og nåleskov
Petersen, Leif og Karsten Rasmussen: Jordbundsudvikling under ager og nåleskov. Geografisk Tidsskrift 87: 65–67, . København, juni 1987. A comparative investigation of arable soils and soils with spruce vegetation is described. The arable soils are less acid and have higher contents of P, Ca, Mg and K than the forest soils. The spodic B-horizons, present in alt soils investigated, have lower contents of organic matter, iron and aluminium in the a…
Conditions for agricultural development in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
Petersen, Leif: Conditions for agricultural development in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Geografisk Tidsskrift 87: 49–56. Copenhagen, February 1987. The Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan is planned to receive a substantial number of settlers from Java. The settlers will be occupied in agriculture. In some areas the suitability of the land for agriculture is limited due to steep slopes, shallow soils, sandy soil texture or poor soil drain…
Possible Effects of Ground Water Lowering on Some Peat Soils in Sjælland
Petersen, Leif og Madsen, Henrik Breuning: Possible Effects of Ground Water Lowering on Some Peat Soils in Sjælland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 77:25–35 København, June 1, 1978. In four peatlands in the central part of Zealand nine profiles have been investigated to estimate the effect of a lowering of the groundwater level
Small Area Census Approach to Measure the Township Informal Economy in South Africa
In this article, we describe a research approach to undertaking a small area census to identify informal economy activity, using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative tools. The method focuses on enterprise activity. The approach enables the researcher to record a broader spectrum of informal micro-enterprises through identifying businesses in situ within an area of sufficient scale to broadly reflect area-level market conditions and business…
Bush Doctors and Wild Medicine”: The Scale of Trade in Cape Town's Informal Economy of Wild-Harvested Medicine and Traditional Healing
South Africa's organically emerged cultural business of traditional healing is almost exclusively reliant on wild-harvested resources extracted from wilderness areas or open-access commons. The wild medicine business has been described for much of South Africa, although is little understood in Cape Town, the urban centerpiece of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR). A census of different traditional healer typologies in five typical working-class resi…
Changes in soil nutrient content under shifting cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, shifting cultivation is an age-old practice. Usually tribal people practiced slash-and-burn agriculture in the same area with long fallow periods of 15–20 years. But, with the rapid increase of population in the hills this rotation has come down to 3–5 years, allowing insufficient time for the soils to regain their natural productivity. Although less than 5% of the hill area is used for shifting …
Living the life of floods: Place-based learning in an Anthropocene harmscape
This article explores how place-based learning and the development of landscape literacies unfold in a place suffused with a complex set of risks resulting from inter-operating and intersecting sociohistorical, political and environmental factors. By analysing assemblages of images and accompanying texts produced through a photovoice process undertaken by co-researchers in an informal settlement in South Africa’s Cape Flats, we show that resident…
Formalising urban informality: Micro-enterprise and the regulation of liquor in Cape Town
In early 2012, South Africa's Western Cape Province enacted new alcohol control legislation amid mounting concern with the costs of alcohol-related harms. This has focused on urban shebeen closure to control the informal, unlicensed trade and the harms it generates through crime, violence and injury. In contrast to policy discourse, this paper contends that rather than existingoutside regulation, the city's shebeeners embrace multiple (self and c…
Sustainability Appraisal of Shifting Cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
An integrated socioeconomic and erosion study on the sustainability of traditional shifting cultivation (Jhum) carried out in 1998 and 1999 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh showed the system to be nonsustainable under the current conditions with fallow periods of only 3-5 years and lack of land rights. An estimated input (mainly labor) of USD 380 ha(-1) yr(-1) results in only a total output of USD 360 ha(-1) yr(-1) and Jhum culti…
Possible Effects of Ground Water Lowering on Some Peat Soils in Sjælland
Petersen, Leif og Madsen, Henrik Breuning: Possible Effects of Ground Water Lowering on Some Peat Soils in Sjælland. Geografisk Tidsskrift 77:25–35 København, June 1, 1978. In four peatlands in the central part of Zealand nine profiles have been investigated to estimate the effect of a lowering of the groundwater level
Jordbundsudvikling under ager og nåleskov
Petersen, Leif og Karsten Rasmussen: Jordbundsudvikling under ager og nåleskov. Geografisk Tidsskrift 87: 65–67, . København, juni 1987. A comparative investigation of arable soils and soils with spruce vegetation is described. The arable soils are less acid and have higher contents of P, Ca, Mg and K than the forest soils. The spodic B-horizons, present in alt soils investigated, have lower contents of organic matter, iron and aluminium in the a…
Conditions for agricultural development in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
Petersen, Leif: Conditions for agricultural development in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Geografisk Tidsskrift 87: 49–56. Copenhagen, February 1987. The Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan is planned to receive a substantial number of settlers from Java. The settlers will be occupied in agriculture. In some areas the suitability of the land for agriculture is limited due to steep slopes, shallow soils, sandy soil texture or poor soil drain…
Changes in soil nutrient content under shifting cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
In the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh, shifting cultivation is an age-old practice. Usually tribal people practiced slash-and-burn agriculture in the same area with long fallow periods of 15–20 years. But, with the rapid increase of population in the hills this rotation has come down to 3–5 years, allowing insufficient time for the soils to regain their natural productivity. Although less than 5% of the hill area is used for shifting …
Sustainability Appraisal of Shifting Cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
An integrated socioeconomic and erosion study on the sustainability of traditional shifting cultivation (Jhum) carried out in 1998 and 1999 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh showed the system to be nonsustainable under the current conditions with fallow periods of only 3-5 years and lack of land rights. An estimated input (mainly labor) of USD 380 ha(-1) yr(-1) results in only a total output of USD 360 ha(-1) yr(-1) and Jhum culti…
Sustainability Appraisal of Shifting Cultivation in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh
An integrated socioeconomic and erosion study on the sustainability of traditional shifting cultivation (Jhum) carried out in 1998 and 1999 in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh showed the system to be nonsustainable under the current conditions with fallow periods of only 3–5 years and lack of land rights. An estimated input (mainly labor) of USD 380 ha–1 yr–1 results in only a total output of USD 360 ha–1 yr–1 and Jhum cultivated ar…
Bush Doctors and Wild Medicine”: The Scale of Trade in Cape Town's Informal Economy of Wild-Harvested Medicine and Traditional Healing
South Africa's organically emerged cultural business of traditional healing is almost exclusively reliant on wild-harvested resources extracted from wilderness areas or open-access commons. The wild medicine business has been described for much of South Africa, although is little understood in Cape Town, the urban centerpiece of the Cape Floristic Region (CFR). A census of different traditional healer typologies in five typical working-class resi…
Formalising urban informality: Micro-enterprise and the regulation of liquor in Cape Town
In early 2012, South Africa's Western Cape Province enacted new alcohol control legislation amid mounting concern with the costs of alcohol-related harms. This has focused on urban shebeen closure to control the informal, unlicensed trade and the harms it generates through crime, violence and injury. In contrast to policy discourse, this paper contends that rather than existingoutside regulation, the city's shebeeners embrace multiple (self and c…
Small Area Census Approach to Measure the Township Informal Economy in South Africa
In this article, we describe a research approach to undertaking a small area census to identify informal economy activity, using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative tools. The method focuses on enterprise activity. The approach enables the researcher to record a broader spectrum of informal micro-enterprises through identifying businesses in situ within an area of sufficient scale to broadly reflect area-level market conditions and business…
The role of family in the township informal economy of food and drink in KwaMashu, South Africa
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a qualitative investigation of family employment dynamics in the KwaMashu township economy. Design/methodology/approach Using a small area census research method, the researchers identified 1,556 businesses located in a settlement of 2 km 2 . Of these enterprises, 694 (45 percent) traded in fast moving consumer goods, notably food and/or drink. The main retailers were small shops (spaza shops) and l…
Understanding resilience capitals, agency and habitus in household experiences of water scarcity, floods and fire in marginalized settlements in the Cape Flats, South Africa
A significant percentage of the urban population in most low- and middle-income countries live in informal settlements. Due to poor quality housing, dense settlement patterns and lack of risk reducing infrastructure, informal settlements are least prepared and at higher risk for climate change issues. Marginalized communities in settlements in the Cape Flats region of South Africa face a range of environmental hazards and risks including recurren…
‘Hampers’ as an effective strategy to shift towards sustainable diets in South African low-income communities
Transitioning towards sustainable diets is imperative to avoid the worst effects of climate change, environmental degradation, and malnutrition. In South Africa, households most vulnerable to food insecurity employ various strategies to access food. These include purchasing hampers; a combination of staple foods sold in bulk at a discounted price, which are cake wheat flour, super maize meal, white sugar, cooking oil, and white parboiled rice. We…
Living the life of floods: Place-based learning in an Anthropocene harmscape
This article explores how place-based learning and the development of landscape literacies unfold in a place suffused with a complex set of risks resulting from inter-operating and intersecting sociohistorical, political and environmental factors. By analysing assemblages of images and accompanying texts produced through a photovoice process undertaken by co-researchers in an informal settlement in South Africa’s Cape Flats, we show that resident…
Policy engagement as ‘empowered representation’: Democratic mediation through a participatory research project on climate resilience
Drawing on the theoretical framework of 'political mediation', the policy engagement process is characterised as a positive instance of democratic mediation through 'empowered representation', with some specified limitations
Co-developing best bets for participatory disaster risk management in a postcolonial harmscape
The conditions that characterize marginal and informal settlements in the Global South make the environmental hazards resulting from the current Climate Crisis more dangerous, giving rise to multifaceted risks that can be characterized as Anthropocene harmscapes. As such settlements are home to a large and growing population, this is an increasingly widespread problem that, if not addressed, could result in deaths, unrest and increasing numbers o…
Place-pedagogies of water stress
This article explores the pedagogical affect of water in a place of water stress and illustrates its entanglement with dynamics of power and control. The current climate crisis is rendering already drought-prone regions ever drier, and it is often the already socially and economically disadvantaged who experience the most immediate impacts. In this article, we describe the experiences of residents in one township in South Africa’s Cape Flats to e…
Decay without mourning: Future-Thinking Heritage Practices
This paper seeks to further heritage theory and practice by considering decay as a transformative process contributing to heritage formation and value. Informed by our expertise in a variety of fields bordering heritage studies, we highlight the interplay of generative and degenerative aspects in different modes of decay and suggest that partnering with decay epistemologically, artistically, academically, practically, and democratically would all…
Geography (11 works) · Economics (8 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Agriculture (6 works) · Environmental Science (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · Business (4 works) · Ecology (4 works)