Local Governance In The New Urban Agenda

The book explores and discusses some of the changes, challenges and opportunities confronting local governance in the context of the new urban paradigm associated with the HABITAT III New Urban Agenda, a 20-year strategy for sustainable urbanization, adopted in October 2016 in Quito, Ecuador. The chapters included in the book address public policy issues from different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches, written by authors from different academic disciplines within the broad area of social sciences (Geography, Political Science, Public Administration, Spatial Planning, Law, Regional Science, among other fields), and offer an inter-disciplinary vision of these issues. The chapters are written by members of the International Geographical Union (IGU) Commission on Geography of Governance.

This book explores significant aspects of the New Urban Agenda in the Asia-Pacific region, and presents, from different contexts and perspectives, innovative interventions afoot for transforming the governance of 21st-century cities in two key areas: (i) urban planning and policy; and (ii) service delivery and social inclusion. Representing institutions across a wide geography, academic researchers and development practitioners from Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America have authored the chapters that lend the volume its distinctly diverse topical foci. Based on a wide range of cases and intriguing experiences, this collection is a uniquely valuable resource for everyone interested in the present and future of cities and urban regions in Asia-Pacific.

This book addresses and explores recent trends in the field of local and urban governance. It focuses on three domains: institutional reforms in local government; inter-municipal cooperation; and citizen participation in local governance. In the last decades, in different regions of the world, there is ample evidence that sub-national government, in particular the field of local governance, is in a permanent state of change and reflux, although with differences that reflect national particularities. Since these institutional changes have an impact in the local policy process, in the delivery of public services, in the local democracy, and in the quality of life, it is mandatory to monitor these continued institutional changes, to learn and develop with these changes, if possible before these experiences are transferred and replicated in other countries. The editor and contributors address issues of interest for a wide audience, comprising of students and researchers in various disciplines, and policy makers at both national and sub-national tiers of government.

This book discusses innovative responses and reforms developed in critical areas of urban governance in European countries. It examines the impact of European Union’s policies on the urban agenda and on local governance, and the impact of the transition to democracy in Central and in Southern Europe on local self-government systems. The book is divided into three parts: i) Crisis, Reform and Innovation in Local Government; ii) EU Policies, the Urban Agenda and Local Governance; and iii) Citizen Participation in Local Government. Providing an extensive and updated overview of key challenges in the governance of cities in Europe, the book will be of interest to students and researchers in the broader field of urban studies, and for policy-makers, especially those engaged in urban governance in European countries. /div

​This book will provide one of the first comprehensive approaches to the study of smart city governments with theories and concepts for understanding and researching 21st century city governments innovative methodologies for the analysis and evaluation of smart city initiatives. The term “smart city” is now generally used to represent efforts that in different ways describe a comprehensive vision of a city for the present and future. A smarter city infuses information into its physical infrastructure to improve conveniences, facilitate mobility, add efficiencies, conserve energy, improve the quality of air and water, identify problems and fix them quickly, recover rapidly from disasters, collect data to make better decisions, deploy resources effectively and share data to enable collaboration across entities and domains. These and other similar efforts are expected to make cities more intelligent in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, transparency, and sustainability, among other important aspects. Given this changing social, institutional and technology environment, it seems feasible and likeable to attain smarter cities and by extension, smarter governments: virtually integrated, networked, interconnected, responsive, and efficient. This book will help build the bridge between sound research and practice expertise in the area of smarter cities and will be of interest to researchers and students in the e-government, public administration, political science, communication, information science, administrative sciences and management, sociology, computer science, and information technology. As well as government officials and public managers who will find practical recommendations based on rigorous studies that will contain insights and guidance for the development, management, and evaluation of complex smart cities and smart government initiatives.​

The New Urban Agenda (NUA), adopted in 2016 at the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Quito, Ecuador, represents a globally shared understanding of the vital link between urbanization and a sustainable future. At the heart of this new vision stand a myriad of legal challenges – and opportunities – that must be confronted for the world to make good on the NUA’s promise. In response, this book, which complements and expands on the editors’ previous volumes on urban law in this series, offers a constructive and critical evaluation of the legal dimensions of the NUA. As the volume’s authors make clear, from natural disasters and resulting urban migration in Honshu and Tacloban, to innovative collaborative governance in Barcelona and Turin, to accessibility of public space for informal workers in New Delhi and Accra, and power scales among Brazil’s metropolitan regions, there is a deep urgency for thoughtful research to understand how law can be harnessed to advance the NUA’s global mission of sustainable urbanism. It thus creates a provocative and academic dialogue about the legal effects of the NUA, which will be of interest to academics and researchers with an interest in urban studies.

Among the many ways the world has changed in recent decades, using technology for city planning has become one of the most innovative. Using new, pioneering methods that are reshaping the world into a more efficient and effective society has become the new reality. Citizen-Responsive Urban E-Planning: Recent Developments and Critical Perspectives is a collection of innovative research that presents and discusses various perspectives on facets of citizen engagement in open urban policy processes, all of them based on the widespread use of information and communication technologies in the field of urban/spatial planning. The book offers an updated outline of recent advances in this field as well as a critical perspective of the challenges with which citizen e-participation in urban e-planning is confronted. While highlighting topics including smart ecosystems, urban development, and global intelligence, this book is ideally designed for urban planners, IT consultants, government officials, policymakers, academicians, researchers, students, and industry professionals.

Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide: An introduction to sustainable development planning