Re Aligning Actors In An Urbanized World Governance And Institutions From A Development Perspective

This title was first published in 2003. In the 1980s, discussions on urban, regional and international development were dominated by those advocating liberalism and free markets. In the 1990s, the experiences of many countries from the previous Soviet Union and those following socialist development models in the South have led to a renewed interest in the democratic institutions that underpin economic development processes. Thus, the state has come back into focus as an "enabler", a co-ordinating agency working with a variety of other organizations in different forms of partnership aimed at urban and regional development. At the same time, increasing disparities between rich and poor have led poor urban households to organize collectively against poverty and to promote community and neighbourhood development. This title examines how both these processes take place, looking at patterns of fundamental re-aligning between state, civil society and the market in an integrated manner. It focuses on urban and regional development, because at the local and regional levels the direct interface between local government, the local and global market, and civil society organizations occurs. The question of re-alignment is considered from three main perspectives: governance and community organization issues at local level, urban areas as motors of economic development and their interface with globalization processes, and urban areas as the nodes of regional development. In each part of the book, one of these perspectives is taken. The contributions of the different authors are grouped around these complementary perspectives. Changing alignment patterns also have far-reaching implications. In the last section, the relation between research and policy around these issues is considered, based on reflections by policy makers and academics who have been influential both nationally and internationally.

Analyzes the rise and fall of the Red de Trueque (launched in 1995 by a group of environmentalists who exchanged goods and services at their own 'market' using a system of mutual credit) in Argentina. This book identifies rules of governance and sustainability for institutional settings in which state regulation is minimal.

This volume investigates the impact of energy issues on geostrategy. The crucial importance of energy and the fact that fossil fuels are not equally distributed among countries means that decisions are not only based on financial arguments, but also on the political impact. It can be said that "Energy is Politics". In three parts - 1) Energy Economy; 2) Finance; and 3) Geostrategy - academics and practitioners address both economic and political questions and present cases from several countries. This is the sixth volume in a series on energy organized by the Centre for Energy and Value Issues (CEVI). The previous volumes in the series were: Financial Aspects in Energy (2011), Energy Economics and Financial Markets (2012), Perspectives on Energy Risk (2014), Energy Technology and Valuation Issues (2015) and Energy and Finance (2016).

This state-of-the-art critical ‘development’ reader examines the inter-relationships between globalisation, poverty and conflict. It complements current debates in the field of development studies and, in an era in which development fatigue seems to have become more profound than ever before, it brings the importance of development once again to the forefront. The contributions represent current thinking on (and practice of) development policy, poverty reduction, the need for multi-level democratic institutions, and the containing and prevention of conflicts.

With a current population inflow into cities of 200,000 people per day, UN Habitat expects that up to 75% of the global population will live in cities by 2050. Influenced by forces of globalization and global change, cities and urban life are transforming rapidly, impacting human welfare, economic development and urban-regional landscapes. This poses new challenges to urban governance, while emerging city networks, advancing geo-technologies and increasing production of continuous data streams require governance actors to re-think and re-work conventional work processes and practices. This book has been written to enhance our understanding of how governance can contribute to the development of just and resilient cities in a context of rapid urban transformations. It examines current governance patterns from a geographical and inclusive development perspective, emphasizing the importance of place, space, scale and human-environment interactions, and paying attention to contemporary processes of participation, networking, and spatialized digitization. The challenge we are facing is to turn future cities into inclusive cities that are diverse but just and within their ecological limits. We believe that the state-of-the-art overview of topical discussions on governance theories, instruments, methods and practices presented in this book provides a basis for understanding and analyzing these challenges.

More than 2.6 billion people in the developing world lack access to safe water and sanitation service. The Millennium Development Goal’s (MDG) target is to halve the number of people without access to a sustainable source of water supply and connection to a sewer network by 2015. That target is unlikely to be met. If there is anything that can be learnt from European experience it is that institutional reform occurs incrementally when politically enfranchised urban populations perceive a threat to their material well-being due to contamination of water sources.

This book reviews the theoretical perspectives on institutional development (ID) and third world city management. It considers the practice of ID in city management by reviewing two related cases; on organizational strengthening and building a planning capability - both in local government. The synthesizing chapters offer some guidelines on, and tests for, ID in city management practice. The book therefore seeks to identify some general principles to guide the ID process in relation to third world city management.