States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean

States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean

Author: Francesca Maria Corrao

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-09-20

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 3030690008

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Moving from a historical and cultural perspective, this book examines the geo-political and socio-economic changes involving the enlarged Mediterranean. Organised into two main sections, the first section (The new centrality of the Mediterranean Basin: Trends and Dynamics) is devoted to the analysis of the most relevant drivers and interdisciplinary broader issues, and the second section (Hotspots of Crisis and Regional Interferences in the Mediterranean) assesses the situation in some areas interested by the waves of uprisings since 2011-12. The book aims to uncover this new, critical centrality of the Mediterranean in the global scenario through the analysis of the interactions and intertwining of those trends and dynamics offering a historical holistic broad view. What follows is an Italian perspective that is the result of the research of a group of scholars who have been working for years on the first-hand sources of the countries examined. A peculiar vision connected not only to its unique geographical position at the center of the basin, but also to its deep relations with the southern shore throughout its long history.


What Town Planners Do

What Town Planners Do

Author: Abigail Schoneboom

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2024-05-21

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1447365984

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Presenting the complexities of doing planning work, with its moral and practical dilemmas, this rich ethnographic study analyses today’s planning scene through the stories of four diverse working environments.


The Future for Planners

The Future for Planners

Author: Ben Clifford

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2024-08-21

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1447366026

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Spatial planning is at a crossroads, with government reform undermining the traditional vision of state-employed planners making decisions about urban development in a unified public interest. Nearly half of UK planners are now employed in the private sector, with complex inter-relations between the sectors including supplying outsourced services to local authorities struggling with centrally-imposed budget cuts. Drawing on new empirical data from a major research project, ‘Working in the Public Interest’, this book reveals what it’s like to be a UK planner in the early 21st century, and how the profession can fulfil its potential for the benefit of society and the environment.


Dialogues in Climate and Environmental Research, Policy and Planning

Dialogues in Climate and Environmental Research, Policy and Planning

Author: Innocent Chirisa

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2020-07-03

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9956551414

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Climate change is the topic of the century. It is a subject of discussion by sceptics, heretics and those that have immersed in it as a serious debate for engagement. In this volume, the matter is localised to the plateau bordered by the great rivers of Limpopo to the south and Zambezi to the north. Evidence has it that climate change is inducing immense environmental change hitherto unknown including water stress and droughts, heat waves and flooding. The effects span across all sectors agriculture, forestry, engineering, construction and other socio-economic dimensions of life. When an issue becomes such topical, it becomes political but also courts policy debate. The thrust of this volume is to explore into climate change as an environmental concern begging government attention and requiring prioritisation as a shaper of our future, whether we set to put mitigation or adaptation measures in place, or we choose to do nothing about it, as sceptics would perhaps suggest. The book explores climate change as a theoretical, policy, technical and practical debate as it affects sectors and rural and urban spatialities in Zimbabwe. Contributions explore such themes as regional research, gender, disaster preparedness, policymaking, resilience, governance, urban planning, risk management, environmental law, and the food-water-health-energy-climate change nexus.


Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities

Routledge Handbook of Asian Cities

Author: Richard Hu

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-05-31

Total Pages: 547

ISBN-13: 1000878090

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This handbook provides the most comprehensive examination of Asian cities—developed and developing, large and small—and their urban development. Investigating the urban challenges and opportunities of cities from every nation in Asia, the handbook engages not only the global cities like Shanghai, Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, and Mumbai but also less studied cities like Dili, Malé, Bandar Seri Begawan, Kabul, and Pyongyang. The handbook discusses Asian cities in alignment to the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals in order to contribute to global policy debates. In doing so, it critically reflects on the development trajectories of Asian cities and imagines an urban future, in Asia and the world, in the post-sustainable, post-global, and post-pandemic era. Presenting 43 chapters of original, insightful research, this book will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, students, and general readers in the fields of urban development, urban policy and planning, urban studies, and Asian studies.


New Perspectives in Health Promotion

New Perspectives in Health Promotion

Author: Roar Amdam

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-11-19

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 1040260802

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This important book introduces the Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach to health promotion, not only detailing how policy-making at all levels can foster the right conditions for better public health but also examining the inherent challenges to such an overarching approach. Building on the author’s extensive experience in health promotion planning in both regional and international contexts, the book recognizes those factors which influence public health outside of healthcare services themselves. Addressing these broader social, economic and even cultural issues, it discusses how policy-making between the public and private sectors, as well as local and national government, should be both collaborative and holistic. But the book also reflects upon the key difficulties in integrating multi-sector and multi-level approaches – both top-down and bottom-up policy-making – to create processes that further health equity and empower individuals and communities. Now at the forefront of current thinking in health promotion and health policy, this insightful overview of HiAP will be essential reading for students and researchers across the Health Sciences, specifically Public Health and Social Policy, as well as every practitioner in the field.


Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa

Reimagining Urban Planning in Africa

Author: Patrick Brandful Cobbinah

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2023-12-21

Total Pages: 431

ISBN-13: 1009389440

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This book analyses urban planning in Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone Africa, exploring its history and advocating for new approaches. In a climate changing world, cities need to be reimagined and designed to be more sustainable, but despite being one of the fastest urbanising continents, Africa has generally weak urban planning systems. The chapters adopt multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches, combining insights from urban studies and policy sciences, emphasising existing gaps, particularly in decision-making, planning practice and inclusiveness, to offer an in-depth analysis of urban planning in Africa. The authors advocate for the reimagination of urban planning, debating new institutionalism, digital infrastructure, climate urbanism, gated communities, and smart mobility. The chapters provide both theoretical and practical contributions, and advance thinking, policymaking, and implementation of sustainable urban planning approaches in Africa, thus making the book indispensable for advanced students, researchers, and practitioners alike.


Sustainable and Smart Spatial Planning in Africa

Sustainable and Smart Spatial Planning in Africa

Author: Charles Chavunduka

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2022-04-24

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1000578747

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This book clarifies the smart city concept that is gaining application in Sub – Saharan Africa. It shows how the smart concept can be used to address problems that would be difficult and more expensive to solve using traditional techniques such as employment creation. This is done through elaboration of the African interpretation of smartness, using tools for smart solid waste management, e-governance, smart energy, and smart infrastructure. The case studies selected, and each chapter explain a different dimension of the smart city concept and offer innovative solutions to problems of rapid urbanization. It lays the theoretical foundation for further research on smart cities and rural areas in Africa.


The Political Economy of Participatory Economics

The Political Economy of Participatory Economics

Author: Michael Albert

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-07-21

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 0691216002

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With the near bankruptcy of centrally planned economies now apparent and with capitalism seemingly incapable of generating egalitarian outcomes in the first world and economic development in the third world, alternative approaches to managing economic affairs are an urgent necessity. Until now, however, descriptions of alternatives have been unconvincing. Here Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel support the libertarian socialist tradition by presenting a rigorous, well-defined model of how producers and consumers could democratically plan their interconnected activities. After explaining why hierarchical production, inegalitarian consumption, central planning, and market allocations are incompatible with "classlessness," the authors present an alternative model of democratic workers' and consumers' councils operating in a decentralized, social planning procedure. They show how egalitarian consumption and job complexes in which all engage in conceptual as well as executionary labor can be efficient. They demonstrate the ability of their planning procedure to yield equitable and efficient outcomes even in the context of externalities and public goods and its power to stimulate rather than subvert participatory impulses. Also included is a discussion of information management and how simulation experiments can substantiate the feasibility of their model.