The Bible is clear about God’s love for the city, be it Babylon,Nineveh, or Jerusalem. Thousands of years later, His lovehasn’t changed—and God still calls His people to speak truth to the cities of the world. In City Changers, Alan Platt shows how we need to be in the classrooms, boardrooms, and marketplaces of our communities, engaged with society and ready to offer hope to the broken. Alan gives practical answers and inspiration for influencing the spiritual, social, and cultural dimensions of where we live, as he tells his remarkable story of watching God’s church deeply affect cities around the world. Generations of changed lives tell us that Christianity can radically transform society, beginning with spiritual transformation in the lives of individual people. As Alan writes, the church is called as a missional presence to instill the character and presence of Christ into the core of the community.
Exploring the ways that contemporary urban life takes the Holocene for granted, this multidisciplinary book warns that anthropogenic environmental impacts are on course to challenge the viability of most human settlements. It highlights how, despite increased warnings, most cities appear to be in denial of the potential impending catastrophes and remain ill-prepared to handle major disruptions.
The world has changed, and we minister in places we have never been in before. As the world screams for our focus, it's essential to become attentive to God, our congregation, and our community. Kevin Ford and Jim Singleton call for attentive churches with attentive leaders to discern cultural and organizational change and pivot accordingly.
Culture refers to not only the arts but also other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. It similarly refers to the customs, institutions, and achievements of a social group, a people, or a nation. Innovation refers to the action or process of change, alteration, or revolution; a new method of idea creation or product that may bring about change. It is easy to assume that innovation may be juxtaposed to the preservation of culture and time-tested rituals. Yet as human settlements grew; and as streets and squares evolved through the diverse exchanges of people trading, celebrating, rallying and socially interacting, it should come as little surprise that cities and its places would become, and continue to be, centres of culture and innovation that can be inextricably linked. Culture and Innovation in cities can potentially take on different complexions if viewed through the lens of academics and practitioners drawn from different geographies, disciplines, or fields of expertise when addressing particular urban challenges. It is through this complexity of views that this book seeks to provide a broad perspective on culture and innovation in the context of global cities today; and a rich cornucopia of insights from thought leaders within their respective fields to shape the cities of tomorrow.
Trevor Herbert has provided us with an extraordinarily important book of selfreflection. The globe and Africa have been experiencing the twin trauma of the COVID 19 pandemic and more recently unsettling race relations...Herbert’s final admonition is to lead. We are in a critical moment not unlike the first century where the first disciples knew that the furtherance of the gospel was more important than the longevity of their own lives...Leaders do what leadership requires. What happens in Africa will alter the trajectory of 21st century Christianity as much as any other region of the world.
This textbook serves as a guide to real estate students and educators on the various property innovations and digital technologies that continue to shape the property industry. The advancement of PropTech in the last few decades has led to significant changes in real estate systems, operations, and practice, and this new textbook provides insight on the past, present, and future of PropTech innovations that have spread across the value chain of real estate through planning, development, management, finance, investment, operations, and transactions. The textbook approaches this subject from the real estate components, asset classes, and submarkets and links them to the associated innovations and digital technologies. It concludes by reviewing the role of education, innovation, skill development, and professionalism as major elements of the future of real estate operations and practice. This book’s unique contributions are in putting the “property” element at the forefront and then illustrating how technology can enhance the various areas of real estate; the focus on how the different innovations and technologies can enhance the economic, environmental, social, and physical efficiency of real estate; and its coverage of some non‐technological innovations like flexible working and more practical areas of real estate innovation such as skills, employability, creativity, and education. It contains 21 case studies and 29 case summaries, which can serve as practice exercises for students. This book will be useful to students in helping them build a knowledge base and understanding of innovation and digital technologies in the industry. Real estate educators can use the textbook as a guide to incorporate real estate innovation and digital technologies into their current teaching and also to develop their real estate curricula through PropTech‐related modules and courses where necessary. It will also be valuable to real estate researchers in search of the theoretical and conceptual linkages, as well as industry practitioners who seek insight into the current and future potential of digital technologies and their applications to real estate operations and practice.
Estimates show that about seventy percent of children who grow up in active Christian families opt out of church and church life in adulthood. Research indicates that one of the reasons is a lack of connection between faith, work and community involvement. How do we build communities in our congregations that foster a faith that endures through all the phases of life, yet which is an innovative faith that gives courage and initiative to take the lead in creating a good society — for all? This book challenges the reader to think more holistically about the Church’s mission to be ‘salt and light’ in the twenty–first century, and is intended as inspiration to break out of the isolation and retreat that can easily result in the face of our highly secular, modern societies.
For anyone burdened by stress and anxiety, just the thought of trying to make a positive life change can feel utterly overwhelming. Wanting to live a healthier life may sound easy, but what about the time needed for meal prepping? What about the added meal plan costs to your budget? Do you have to wake up at dawn to take that meditation class? When you are surrounded by stress, it’s all too easy to completely derail yourself…with more stress. Life is hard enough—the road to a stress-free life should feel easy! Dietitian and health coach Jessica Cording is here with one simple solution: focus on healthy living for your real life. Just like you, she doesn’t have time for a step-by-step plan or a one-size-fits-all, gimmicky solution to all your stress- or anxiety-related health and wellness problems. Cording’s short, simple, no-nonsense advice will help you make healthy choices to improve eating habits, sleep, energy levels, mentalities, and exercise routines. These 50 mind, body, and spirit hacks will dial down the drama and find workable ways to nurture health and wellness when life gets real. Cording’s insight and experience will have you laughing, rolling your eyes with her, and exclaiming “Aha!” more than once. This book is for anyone and everyone who wants to chill the heck out and feel a little—or a lot—better. Watch out health and wellness goals—we’re coming at you with some game changers!
The Low Countries -- an area roughly embracing the present-day Netherlands and Belgium -- formed a patchwork of varied economic and social development in the Middle Ages, with some regions displaying a remarkable dynamism. Manors and Markets charts the history of these vibrant economies and societies, and contrasts them with alternative paths of development, from the early medieval period to the beginning of the seventeenth century. Providing a concise overview of social and economic changes over more than a thousand years, Bas van Bavel assesses the impact of the social and institutional organization that saw the Low Countries become the most urbanized and densely populated part of Europe by the end of the Middle Ages. By delving into the early and high medieval history of society, van Bavel uncovers the foundations of the flourishing of the medieval Flemish towns and the forces that propelled Holland towards its Golden Age. Exploring the Low Countries at a regional level, van Bavel highlights the importance of localized structures for determining the nature of social transitions and economic growth. He assesses the role of manorial organization, the emergence of markets, the rise of towns, the quest for self-determination by ordinary people, and the sharp regional differences in development that can be observed in the very long run. In doing so, the book offers a significant contribution to the debate about the causes of economic and social change, both past and present.
