Hacia la década de 1960, la rápida urbanización en las regiones en desarrollo en América Latina, África y Asia, fue marcada por la expansión de asentamientos con población de bajos ingresos y que se desarrollaron informalmente. Para los años 2000 estos asentamientos constituyen usualmente entre el 20 y el 60 por ciento del área ocupada de las áreas metropolitanas y grandes ciudades. Además de las actividades de la red Latin American Housing Network –LAHN–, ha habido mínima atención directa...

Today in Texas, over 1500 colonias in the counties along the Mexican border are home to some 400,000 people. Often lacking basic services, such as electricity, water and sewerage, fire protection, policing, schools, and health care, these "irregular" subdivisions offer the only low-cost housing available to the mostly Hispanic working poor.This book presents the results of a major study of colonias in three transborder metropolitan areas and uncovers the reasons why colonias are sp...

After the 1960s, rapid urbanization in developing regions in Latin America, Africa, and Asia was marked by the expansion of low-income "irregular" settlements that developed informally and which, by the 2000s, often constituted between 20-60 percent of the built-up area of metropolitan areas and other large cities. There has been a variety of research directed at the housing policies involved with these informal settlements, yet apart from the activities of Latin American Housing Network (...

The turn of the century has been a moment of rapid urbanization. Much of this urban growth is taking place in the cities of the developing world and much of it in informal settlements. This book presents cutting-edge research from various world regions to demonstrate these trends. The contributions reveal that informal housing is no longer the domain of the urban poor; rather it is a significant zone of transactions for the middle-class and even transnational elites. Indeed, the book prese...

This book tells the fascinating story of the war between England and China that delivered Hong Kong to the English, forced the imperial Chinese government to add four ports to Canton as places in which foreigners could live and trade, and rendered irreversible the process that for almost a century thereafter distinguished western relations with this quarter of the globe—the process that is loosely termed the "opening of China." Originally published by UNC Press in 1975, Pe...

As darkness falls after sunset, the corelings rise—demons who possess supernatural powers and burn with a consuming hatred of humanity.For hundreds of years the demons have terrorized the night, slowly culling the human herd that shelters behind magical wards—symbols of power whose origins are lost in myth and whose protection is terrifyingly fragile. It was not always this way. Once, men and women battled the corelings on equal terms, but those days are gone. Nigh...

One of the most exciting new sagas in epic fantasy, The Demon Cycle became a phenomenon with readers and launched the brilliant career of New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett. Now start from the beginning with all five novels in one convenient ebook bundle:THE WARDED MANTHE DESERT SPEARTHE DAYLIGHT WARTHE SKULL THRONETHE COREAs darkness falls...

從古生物學、地質學與天文學重新檢視地球的與眾不同，以及複雜生命誕生的奇蹟◎古生物學家程延年博士推薦序〈我們是宇宙間的孤兒嗎？〉◎北一女中地球科學學習網站地球科學讀物推薦選書◎長銷20年紀念新版（前版書名：《寂寞的地球: 宇宙唯一有複雜生命的行星》）月球和火星為什麼沒有生命？全球首富馬斯克計畫移民火星、科學家證實月球的土壤可以養育植物，但月球和火星和地球距離不遠，也都看似具有可以養育生命的條件，為何都不像地球擁有複雜的生態系和豐富的生物群相？ 為何在太陽系或是整個宇宙中找不到第二顆地球？生命誕生的條件華德與布朗李這兩位地質學與天文學的頂尖教授，將在這本書中融合古生物學、地質學與天文學，帶我們檢視地球與眾不同之處。本書從地球的各種地質證據開始，從最貼近我們的地球海床深處，擴及宇宙天文上的發現，遠至木星的衛星歐羅巴，逐一比較討論地球發展出生命的各種條件可能，並在最後檢視地球為何如此特別。充滿奇蹟的地球作者認為在宇宙中，微生物或等同微生物的...

St. Peter’s Fair was a grand event, attracting merchants from across England and beyond. With the pause in the Civil War during the summer of 1139, the fair would bring some much-needed gaiety to Shrewsbury.But a wealthy merchant is found murdered in the river Severn. Brother Cadfael offers to help the merchant’s niece, Emma; but while he searches for the killer, two more men are murdered—like her uncle, apparently for the valuables they possessed at their death. Cadfael races to s...

An absorbing and revelatory journey into the American Way of defying deathAs longevity medicine revolutionizes the lives of many older people, the quest to take the next step—to live as long as we choose—has spurred a scientific arms race in search of the elixir of life, funded by Big Tech and Silicon Valley.Once the stuff of Mesopotamian mythology and episodes of Star Trek, the effort to make humans immortal is becoming increasingly credible as th...

Laudato Si’ insists on a revolutionary human response to the public challenges of our time concerning the ecological crisis. The volume takes up the revolutionary spirit of Pope Francis and speaks to the economic, technological, political, educational, and religious changes needed to overcome the fragile relationships between humans and Earth. This volume identifies various systemic factors that have produced the anthropogenic ecological crisis that threatens the planet and uses the ethica...

"Peter the Great did not gently reform Russia. He assaulted it into the modern world." While traditional histories often paint Peter I as a visionary admirer of the West, Breaking Russia to Save It provides a cold, psychologically sharp re-examination of a ruler who equated progress with coercion. Matthew Hollis Ward argues that Peter's "Westernization" was a strategic extraction of power, not a cultural embrace. He didn't want Western freedom; he wanted Western t...