This paper explores the interplay between social and physical aspects of food retail in disaster and post-disaster contexts and discusses how it can inform better market support interventions and food retail modernization agendas. To this end, this paper draws on a case study analysis of three distinct marketplaces in metropolitan Port-au-Prince to explore aspects of food provision and access. The findings demonstrate the pertinence of beneficial reciprocal relationships among traders and between traders and customers, as well as the physical preconditions for the existence and maintenance of these relationships over time. The study also reviews the impacts of destroyed and changing physical infrastructure in disaster and post-disaster contexts on these social relationships. It concludes by calling for an acknowledgement of the interrelated attributes of solidarity, proximity and stability of existing marketplaces in urban planning and humanitarian practices in the efforts to improve urban food security and disaster recovery.

This paper identifies aspects of resilience taking effect in the marketplace and their influences on the roles of low-income traders and customers towards their households. Building on the concept of marketplace resilience and drawing from the findings from 42 publications on urban marketplaces in Africa, Asia and Latin America, this paper identifies the main functions and attributes of marketplaces that contribute or hinder the activities of traders and customers, the main disturbances they can experience in the marketplace and their strategies in building resilience. While this paper demonstrates the significance of marketplaces for the households of traders and customers, it also illustrates how disturbances in the marketplace and trade-offs to maintain trade during crises can negatively impact household needs and conditions, as well as the limited capacities of traders for improving their conditions. The paper finally argues for including marketplaces in resilience assessments and infrastructure studies in low-income urban contexts.

At a time when the UK construction workforce should be expanding and up-skilling to meet new demand for homes and critical infrastructure, underlying demographic trends are causing it to shrink. Oft-repeated warnings about skills shortages are now joined by fears over the impact of Brexit, which could restrict even further the UK’s access to skills. Examining the rising demand for construction services against the industry’s chronic structural weaknesses, this essay asks whether British contractors are at risk of being sidelined by bigger and better capitalised foreign firms, particularly from China, who are able to deploy vast reserves of both technical expertise and labour.