Irregular or illegal housing constitutes the ordinary condition of popular urban housing in the Middle East. Considering the conditions of daily practices related to land and tenure mobilization and of housing, neighborhood shaping, transactions, and conflict resolution, this book offers a new reading of government action in the cities of Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Istanbul, and Cairo, focussing on the participation of ordinary citizens and their interactions with state apparatus specificall...

In The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City we travel the nation with Alan Ehrenhalt, one of our leading urbanists, as he explains how America’s cities are changing, what makes them succeed or fail, and what this means for our future.Just a couple of decades ago, we took it for granted that inner cities were the preserve of immigrants and the poor, and that suburbs were the chosen destination of those who could afford them. Today, a demographic inversion is t...

Building resilience -- the ability to bounce back more quickly and effectively -- is an urgent social and economic issue. Our interconnected world is susceptible to sudden and dramatic shocks and stresses: a cyber-attack, a new strain of virus, a structural failure, a violent storm, a civil disturbance, an economic blow.Through an astonishing range of stories, Judith Rodin shows how people, organizations, businesses, communities, and cities have developed resilience in the face of ...

The UK Planning Regulations are a minefield for anyone looking to build a new home - and for those who are worried about the impact of a new planning application near their home. Avoid being one of the thousands whose application is turned down - and whose dreams are crushed - by using this book to familiaries yourself with the system and beat it. With a step-by-step guide to every part of the application process and ehaustive coverage of the do's and don'ts this is an essential guide to s...

Everywhere we turn in Canadian local politics – from policing to transit, education to public health, planning to utilities – we encounter a peculiar institutional animal: the special purpose body. These “ABCs” of local government – library boards, school boards, transit authorities, and many others – provide vital public services, spend large sums of public money, and raise important questions about local democratic accountability.In Fields of Authority, Jack Lucas provid...

This book focuses on the relationships between the creative city principles and the planning approach introduced by the European Landscape Convention in order to identify best practices for the development of innovative cultural policies and new urban regeneration tools.The research is characterized by a cross-cutting approach to cultural heritage. It proposes a new model for the design of advanced cultural districts consisting of a benchmark methodology and a "toolbox" of spatial,...

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the various aspects for the development of smart cities from a European perspective. It presents both theoretical concepts as well as empirical studies and cases of smart city programs and their capacity to create value for citizens. The contributions in this book are a result of an increasing interest for this topic, supported by both national governments and international institutions. The book offers a large panorama of the most important a...

Across the globe, the word “Brooklyn” has come to represent cutting-edge cuisine, a vibrant music and literary culture, and the epitome of hip. But most of the world doesn’t see the price that local residents pay as their neighborhoods are swallowed by change. In The Brooklyn Wars, masterful storyteller and award-winning journalist Neil deMause turns a spotlight on the borough’s transformation. Through the stories of neighborhoods from Coney Island to Bushwick to downtown ...

Much of the coverage surrounding the relationship between Indigenous communities and the Crown in Canada has focused on the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Yet it is at the local level where some of the most important and significant partnerships are being made between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.In A Quiet Evolution, Christopher Alcantara and Jen Nelles look closely at hundreds of agreements from across Canada and at four case studies drawn fro...

The promise of an ever-closer union that has guided Europe from the Treaty of Rome to the present time rests on the evolution of democratic governance to meet the many challenges that European communities face. Now after years of managing the financial and fiscal crises, the European Union has to take stock and focus on the issues that will fundamentally shape its long-term prospects. The Governance Report 2015 takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining what is needed to achi...

The day after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, civic leaders began to organize four coalitions that aimed to give ordinary citizens a chance to meet, to heal, and to be heard in rebuilding decisions. This book tells the inside story of the civic renewal movement they founded.

This book examines how property rights are linked to socio-economic progress and development. It also provides a theoretical analysis, an economic/social analysis of planning, case studies of the implementation of planning and regulation instruments, practices related to law and planning, analysis of case laws in a particular segment. The interconnection between property, law and planning is a running theme throughout the book.The land question has been central to South Asian devel...