Urban Politics

Urban Politics

Author: Bernard H. Ross

Publisher: M.E. Sharpe

Published: 2011-08-10

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0765630966

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This popular text mixes the best classic theory and research on urban politics with the most recent developments in urban and metropolitan affairs. Its very balanced and realistic approach helps students to understand the nature of urban politics and the difficulty of finding effective solutions in a suburban and global age. The eighth edition provides a comprehensive review and analysis of urban policy under the Obama administration and brand new coverage of sustainable urban development. A new chapter on globalization and its impact on cities brings the history of urban development up to date, and a focus on the politics of local economic development underscores how questions of economic development have come to dominate the local arena. The book traces the changing style of community participation, including the emergence of CDCs, BIDs, and other new-style service organizations. It analyzes the impacts of the New Regionalism, the New Urbanism, and much more at an approachable level. The eighth edition is significantly shorter and more affordable than previous editions, and the entire text has been thoroughly rewritten to engage students. Boxed case studies of prominent recent and current urban development efforts provide material for class discussion, and concluding material demonstrates the tradeoff between more ideal and more pragmatic urban politics. Source material provides Internet addresses for further research.


Strengthening Urban Management

Strengthening Urban Management

Author: Thomas L. Blair

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-03-08

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 146847586X

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Managing cities and providing housing, essential infra structure and public services in an era of great pressures on municipal resources are challenging domestic issues in all parts of the world. Increasingly, city administrators and local government authorities in developing countries and western industrial nations are seeking to share experiences and exchange information in a search for solutions. This highly informative volume attempts to meet this critical need and to aid development cooperation among municipalities. Strengthening Urban Management presents the practical problems and approaches to the provision of housing, trans portation, and the mobilization of the requisite finance and manpower for local government in contrasting urban situ ations. It draws upon selected papers contributed to inter national meetings and world congresses sponsored by the International Union of Local Authorities, The Hague, Netherlands. Subject areas are illustrated in city examples given by mayors, administrators and planners from Lusaka, Harare, Nairobi, Osaka. Jakarta. Bandung. Vienna, Stockholm, Caracas, and Rio de Janeiro. Theme introductions and contributions from leading international and national agencies highlight Hie important role and grave difficulties facing local government in urban management and planning.


Urban Planning, Management and Governance in Emerging Economies

Urban Planning, Management and Governance in Emerging Economies

Author: Jan Fransen

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2021-06-25

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 1800883846

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Exploring how urban professionals plan, manage and govern cities in emerging economies, this insightful book studies the actions and instruments they employ. It highlights how the paradigms of interventions and approaches to urban management are shifting, indicating that urban governance is becoming increasingly important in dealing with wicked issues, like climate change and social and economic inequalities in cities.


The Economics of International Environmental Problems

The Economics of International Environmental Problems

Author: Horst Siebert

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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The environment has been increasingly threatened in recent years. Notable examples are the rapid increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the loss of biodiversity. Since environmental resources, as well as their absorptive capacity for emissions, are not confined to national borders, governments face new challenges in designing institutions and developing instruments for environmental policy. In this volume, experts from all over the world discuss the nature of these challenges and the basic elements needed for a solution to international environmental problems. Of special interest are the implementation of international environmental agreements and how conflicts between efficient solutions and political constraints affect the content of international environmental agreements.


Cities Transformed

Cities Transformed

Author: Mark R. Montgomery

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1134031661

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Over the next 20 years, most low-income countries will, for the first time, become more urban than rural. Understanding demographic trends in the cities of the developing world is critical to those countries - their societies, economies, and environments. The benefits from urbanization cannot be overlooked, but the speed and sheer scale of this transformation presents many challenges. In this uniquely thorough and authoritative volume, 16 of the world's leading scholars on urban population and development have worked together to produce the most comprehensive and detailed analysis of the changes taking place in cities and their implications and impacts. They focus on population dynamics, social and economic differentiation, fertility and reproductive health, mortality and morbidity, labor force, and urban governance. As many national governments decentralize and devolve their functions, the nature of urban management and governance is undergoing fundamental transformation, with programs in poverty alleviation, health, education, and public services increasingly being deposited in the hands of untested municipal and regional governments. Cities Transformed identifies a new class of policy maker emerging to take up the growing responsibilities. Drawing from a wide variety of data sources, many of them previously inaccessible, this essential text will become the benchmark for all involved in city-level research, policy, planning, and investment decisions. The National Research Council is a private, non-profit institution based in Washington, DC, providing services to the US government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The editors are members of the Council's Panel on Urban Population Dynamics.


Managing the Sustainable City

Managing the Sustainable City

Author: Genie N. L. Stowers

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 1317509889

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We hear the term “sustainability” everywhere today. In the context of city management, the term often refers to environmental concerns, both locally and globally. Managing the Sustainable City examines not only how cities can prepare to weather the local effects of climate change, but also how urban centers can sustain themselves through other modern management challenges, including budgeting and finance, human resource management, public safety, and infrastructure. This clearly written and engaging new textbook provides a comprehensive overview of urban administration today, exploring the unique demographics of cities, local government political structures, intergovernmental relations, and the full range of service delivery areas for which cities are ever more responsible. Throughout the book, two important components of city management today—the use of technology and measuring performance for accountability—are highlighted, along with NASPAA accreditation standards and competencies. Particular attention is paid to incorporating Urban Administration standards to provide students using the text will have a thorough understanding of: The ethics of local government management The roles and relationships among local and elected/appointed government officials, as well as what makes local institutions different from other institutions Strategies for engaging citizens in local governance The complexities of intergovernmental and network relationships to develop skills in collaborative governance How to manage local government financial resources as well as human resources Public service values such as accountability, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, ethical behavior, and equity and emphasized throughout the text, and discussion questions, exercises, and "career pathways" highlighting successful public servants in a variety of city management roles are included in each chapter. Managing the Sustainable City is an ideal textbook for students of public administration, public policy, and public affairs interested in learning how cities can be sustainable—in their management, their policies, and their interactions with their citizens—as well as in preparing for and managing the impacts of climate change.


Fragile Urban Governance

Fragile Urban Governance

Author: Gangadhar Jha

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-06-13

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0429799047

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Urbanization is giving rise to a vibrant and volatile urban India. The urban local self-government (ULSG) is struggling to provide efficient, effective, inclusive and responsive urban services. Most ULSGs are too fragile to perform the mandated functions for enhancing the quality of life and making cities and towns livable. The book traces evolution of ULSGs, its decline after Independence, and steps taken to strengthen them, especially through the big-bang decentralization initiative of 1992 for their empowerment, by enacting the 74th Constitution Amendment Act (74th CAA). Analyzing facets of the decentralization initiative, views of two review Commissions, policy responses to it and processes for implementation of constitutional provisions, it alludes to conspicuous gaps at three levels such as (i) gaps and deficiencies in the 74th CAA (ii) gaps in the post-74th CAA municipal Acts that were required to conform to the constitutional provisions, and (iii) gaps due to half-hearted implementation of even the mandatory constitutional provisions. Empowerment and strengthening of ULSG being in the nature of an imperative, it explores plausible options within the constitutional autonomy of states. Empowerment denotes authority, power and clarity in municipal functional and fiscal domain. Therefore it also specifies experiential based rational framework and a strategy for strengthening ULSGs that must look beyond the existing predilection for mere training. It fills an existing void in ULSG literature on the subject. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka


The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies

The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies

Author: Anthony M. Orum

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2019-04-15

Total Pages: 2919

ISBN-13: 1118568451

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Provides comprehensive coverage of major topics in urban and regional studies Under the guidance of Editor-in-Chief Anthony Orum, this definitive reference work covers central and emergent topics in the field, through an examination of urban and regional conditions and variation across the world. It also provides authoritative entries on the main conceptual tools used by anthropologists, sociologists, geographers, and political scientists in the study of cities and regions. Among such concepts are those of place and space; geographical regions; the nature of power and politics in cities; urban culture; and many others. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies captures the character of complex urban and regional dynamics across the globe, including timely entries on Latin America, Africa, India and China. At the same time, it contains illuminating entries on some of the current concepts that seek to grasp the essence of the global world today, such as those of Friedmann and Sassen on ‘global cities’. It also includes discussions of recent economic writings on cities and regions such as those of Richard Florida. Comprised of over 450 entries on the most important topics and from a range of theoretical perspectives Features authoritative entries on topics ranging from gender and the city to biographical profiles of figures like Frank Lloyd Wright Takes a global perspective with entries providing coverage of Latin America and Africa, India and China, and, the US and Europe Includes biographies of central figures in urban and regional studies, such as Doreen Massey, Peter Hall, Neil Smith, and Henri Lefebvre The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies is an indispensable reference for students and researchers in urban and regional studies, urban sociology, urban geography, and urban anthropology.