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Small Change: About the Art of Practice and the Limits of Planning in Cities
by Nabeel HamdiWhat exactly is 'small change'? Build a bus stop in an urban slum and a vibrant community sprouts and grows around it - that is the power of small changes that have huge positive effects. This book is an argument for the wisdom of the street, the ingenuity of the improvisers and the long-term, large-scale effectiveness of immediate, small-scale actions. Written by Nabeel Hamdi, the guru of urban participatory development and the master of the art, Small Change brings over three decades of experience and knowledge to bear on the question 'what is practice'?. Through an easy-to-read narrative style, and using examples from the North and South, the author sheds light on this question and the issues that stem from it - issues relating to political context, the lessons of the 'informal city', and the pursuit of learning that challenges convention. The result is a comprehensive, yet imaginative, guide to the forms of knowledge, competencies and ways of thinking that are fundamental to skilful practice in urban development. This is powerful, informed, critical and inspiring reading for practitioners in the field, students and teachers of urban development, those who manage international aid and everyone looking to build their community.
Scaling Urban Environmental Challenges: From Local to Global and Back
by Peter J Marcotullio Gordon McGranahan?Think globally, act locally? emphasizes the importance of scale in dealing with environmental challenges, but not how to factor it in. This major new book focuses on the spatial dimensions of urban environmental burdens, showing how important it is to take these into account when pursuing environmental justice and good governance - whether in the context of the sanitary risks of slum living, the pollution of uncontrolled industrialization and motorization, or the enormous ecological footprints of affluent urban lifestyles. Written by leading experts in the fields of urban development and environmental planning, the book reviews the urban environmental shifts that have shaped today?s challenges, and examines conditions and problems in the urban centres of low-, middle- and high-income countries. Case studies address such economically diverse cities as Accra, New Delhi, Mexico City and Manchester, while thematic chapters explore issues including water, sanitation and transportation. The book concludes by exploring and analysing different scales of governance. The editors argue that we should not rely solely on local governance to address local burdens like poor sanitation, nor depend only on global governance for global challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, but that scale is crucial in both understanding the problems and devising successful responses. Published with UNU-IAS and IIED.
Scaling Urban Environmental Challenges: From Local to Global and Back
by Peter J Marcotullio Gordon McGranahan?Think globally, act locally? emphasizes the importance of scale in dealing with environmental challenges, but not how to factor it in. This major new book focuses on the spatial dimensions of urban environmental burdens, showing how important it is to take these into account when pursuing environmental justice and good governance - whether in the context of the sanitary risks of slum living, the pollution of uncontrolled industrialization and motorization, or the enormous ecological footprints of affluent urban lifestyles. Written by leading experts in the fields of urban development and environmental planning, the book reviews the urban environmental shifts that have shaped today?s challenges, and examines conditions and problems in the urban centres of low-, middle- and high-income countries. Case studies address such economically diverse cities as Accra, New Delhi, Mexico City and Manchester, while thematic chapters explore issues including water, sanitation and transportation. The book concludes by exploring and analysing different scales of governance. The editors argue that we should not rely solely on local governance to address local burdens like poor sanitation, nor depend only on global governance for global challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, but that scale is crucial in both understanding the problems and devising successful responses. Published with UNU-IAS and IIED.
Literature And Dissent In Milton's England (PDF)
by Sharon AchinsteinThe England of John Milton's great poems was the England of Dissenters, those who refused to join the state Church after the return of monarchy in 1660, seen as dangerous outcasts and rebels. Sharon Achinstein's book shows how a literary tradition of dissent was produced by those who suffered political defeat and religious exclusion in Restoration England, bringing to view a range of writing that has been largely, and unjustly, neglected. Considering authors both inside and outside the dissenting tradition, including Milton, John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, Mary Mollineux, John Dryden, Andrew Marvell, Elizabeth Singer Rowe and Isaac Watts, and other little-known dissenting writers, Achinstein shows how a distinctive Dissenting cultural legacy challenges our notions of literary history, aesthetic value and the relation between literature and politics. This important study will be of interest to Milton scholars and seventeenth-century literary and religious historians.
Rationality and the Environment: Decision-making in Environmental Politics and Assessment
by Bo EllingEnvironmental assessment and management involve the production of scientific knowledge and its use in decision-making processes. The result is that within these essentially rational, political assessment frameworks, experts are creating and applying scientific knowledge for decision and management purposes that actually have strong ethical and aesthetic dimensions. Yet these rational political frameworks lack the tools to provide guidance on ethical and aesthetic issues that affect the wider public. This revolutionary work argues that ethical and aesthetic dimensions can only be brought into environmental politics and policies by citizens actively taking a stand on the specific matters in question. The author draws on Habermas? trisection of rationality as cognitive-instrumental, moral-practical and aesthetic-expressive, to suggest that truly effective environmental policy needs to activate all three approaches and not favour only the rational. To achieve this objective, the author argues that public participation in environmental policy and assessment is necessary to counteract the dictatorship of technical and economic instrumentality in environmental policy - the failure to take ethical and aesthetic rationalities into account - and, more importantly, how such policy is applied on the ground to shape our natural and material world.
Rationality and the Environment: Decision-making in Environmental Politics and Assessment
by Bo EllingEnvironmental assessment and management involve the production of scientific knowledge and its use in decision-making processes. The result is that within these essentially rational, political assessment frameworks, experts are creating and applying scientific knowledge for decision and management purposes that actually have strong ethical and aesthetic dimensions. Yet these rational political frameworks lack the tools to provide guidance on ethical and aesthetic issues that affect the wider public. This revolutionary work argues that ethical and aesthetic dimensions can only be brought into environmental politics and policies by citizens actively taking a stand on the specific matters in question. The author draws on Habermas? trisection of rationality as cognitive-instrumental, moral-practical and aesthetic-expressive, to suggest that truly effective environmental policy needs to activate all three approaches and not favour only the rational. To achieve this objective, the author argues that public participation in environmental policy and assessment is necessary to counteract the dictatorship of technical and economic instrumentality in environmental policy - the failure to take ethical and aesthetic rationalities into account - and, more importantly, how such policy is applied on the ground to shape our natural and material world.
Municipalities and Finance: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building
by Nick Devas Ian Blore Richard SlaterFinance is a critical issue for municipal governments around the world, and a major constraint on the delivery of pro-poor services at the local level. In many countries, decentralisation has brought the issue of municipal finance to the fore. This sourcebook provides a framework for analysing municipal finance capacity and ways of addressing financial constraints. The ideas come from real-life innovative practice in four countries - India, Brazil, Kenya and Uganda - with additional examples from elsewhere. Emphasis is given to how those innovations and improvements were developed and sustained. The book identifies a strategic framework for diagnosing municipal finance capacity and focusing financial goals. It applies the analysis to a number of critical areas of municipal finance including local taxes, charges for services, budgeting, cost control, accounting reforms and investment finance. This is the third in a series of capacity-building sourcebooks that includes Focusing Partnerships: A Sourcebook for Municipal Capacity Building in Public-Private Partnerships and Municipalities and Community Participation: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building.
Municipalities and Finance: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building
by Nick Devas Ian Blore Richard SlaterFinance is a critical issue for municipal governments around the world, and a major constraint on the delivery of pro-poor services at the local level. In many countries, decentralisation has brought the issue of municipal finance to the fore. This sourcebook provides a framework for analysing municipal finance capacity and ways of addressing financial constraints. The ideas come from real-life innovative practice in four countries - India, Brazil, Kenya and Uganda - with additional examples from elsewhere. Emphasis is given to how those innovations and improvements were developed and sustained. The book identifies a strategic framework for diagnosing municipal finance capacity and focusing financial goals. It applies the analysis to a number of critical areas of municipal finance including local taxes, charges for services, budgeting, cost control, accounting reforms and investment finance. This is the third in a series of capacity-building sourcebooks that includes Focusing Partnerships: A Sourcebook for Municipal Capacity Building in Public-Private Partnerships and Municipalities and Community Participation: A Sourcebook for Capacity Building.
More Urban Less Poor: An Introduction to Urban Development and Management
by Goran Tannerfeldt Per LjungA world more urban... The world is undergoing massive urbanization, and is projected to increase from three to over four billion city dwellers, mostly in the developing world, within 15 years. This historic shift is producing dramatic effects on human well-being and the environment. ...but less poor Unplanned shanty-towns without basic services are not an inevitable consequence of urbanization and slums are not explained by poverty alone. Urban misery also stems from misguided policies, inappropriate legal frameworks, dysfunctional markets, poor governance, and not least, lack of political will. Urbanization and economic development go hand-in-hand and the productivity of the urban economy can and should benefit everyone. Living conditions for the urban poor can be dramatically improved with proper solutions, backed by decisive, concerted action. More Urban - Less Poor brings order to the complex and important field of urban development in developing and transitional countries. Written in an accessible style, the book examines how cities grow, their economic development, urban poverty, housing and environmental problems. It also examines how to face these challenges through governance and management of urban growth, the finance and delivery of services, and finding a role for development cooperation. This is essential reading for development professionals, researchers, students and others working on any facet of urban development and management in our rapidly urbanizing world. Published with SIDA
More Urban Less Poor: An Introduction to Urban Development and Management
by Goran Tannerfeldt Per LjungA world more urban... The world is undergoing massive urbanization, and is projected to increase from three to over four billion city dwellers, mostly in the developing world, within 15 years. This historic shift is producing dramatic effects on human well-being and the environment. ...but less poor Unplanned shanty-towns without basic services are not an inevitable consequence of urbanization and slums are not explained by poverty alone. Urban misery also stems from misguided policies, inappropriate legal frameworks, dysfunctional markets, poor governance, and not least, lack of political will. Urbanization and economic development go hand-in-hand and the productivity of the urban economy can and should benefit everyone. Living conditions for the urban poor can be dramatically improved with proper solutions, backed by decisive, concerted action. More Urban - Less Poor brings order to the complex and important field of urban development in developing and transitional countries. Written in an accessible style, the book examines how cities grow, their economic development, urban poverty, housing and environmental problems. It also examines how to face these challenges through governance and management of urban growth, the finance and delivery of services, and finding a role for development cooperation. This is essential reading for development professionals, researchers, students and others working on any facet of urban development and management in our rapidly urbanizing world. Published with SIDA
Meeting Development Goals in Small Urban Centres: Water and Sanitation in the Worlds Cities 2006
by Un-HabitatHalf of the world's people live in urban areas, and roughly a third of these live in desperate poverty without access to basic amenities. Taking on the themes of UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities (2003), this new volume focuses on the deficiencies in the provision of water and sanitation where most of the populations of the developing world live: in towns and small cities. Drawing on extensive unpublished research and 15 commissioned papers from experts involved in designing and implementing innovative projects around the world, this is the first major study of the problems facing the smaller urban centres that are recognized to be of enormous importance by governments, international agencies, NGOs and service providers. Tackling these problems is a crucial part of development and of good governance, and critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The volume will be essential reading for all professionals and researchers in the relevant fields and a valuable resource for teachers and students of urban development.
Meeting Development Goals in Small Urban Centres: Water and Sanitation in the Worlds Cities 2006
by Un-HabitatHalf of the world's people live in urban areas, and roughly a third of these live in desperate poverty without access to basic amenities. Taking on the themes of UN-HABITAT's Water and Sanitation in the World's Cities (2003), this new volume focuses on the deficiencies in the provision of water and sanitation where most of the populations of the developing world live: in towns and small cities. Drawing on extensive unpublished research and 15 commissioned papers from experts involved in designing and implementing innovative projects around the world, this is the first major study of the problems facing the smaller urban centres that are recognized to be of enormous importance by governments, international agencies, NGOs and service providers. Tackling these problems is a crucial part of development and of good governance, and critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. The volume will be essential reading for all professionals and researchers in the relevant fields and a valuable resource for teachers and students of urban development.
Market Economy and Urban Change: Impacts in the Developing World
by Mohamed Hamza Roger ZetterAcross the developing world the preceding decade or so has witnessed a profound reconfiguration of the political economy of urban policy. This new policy environment is driven by globalization, the neo-liberal macro-economic package of 'market enablement' and structural adjustment, which now form the dominant development paradigm. The consequences of this approach for urban development agendas and ultimately the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the globe are profound. Market Economy and Urban Change explores and evaluates urban sector and development policies in the context of market enablement, and the associated instruments of structural adjustment, urban management reform and 'good' governance. By articulating the linkages between this neo-liberal development paradigm and the way different actors in the urban sector enact policy responses, the book provides an understanding of both the factors driving market enablement, and its impacts on urban sector policies and programmes. With case studies drawn from countries such as Egypt, Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia and transitional economies, the book focuses in particular on the implications for land, shelter and related sectoral policies for poverty alleviation. By linking policy to practice, the book seeks to inform policy-makers in governments, donor and implementing agencies of the impact of shifts in the development debate on urban sector strategies.
Market Economy and Urban Change: Impacts in the Developing World
by Mohamed Hamza Roger ZetterAcross the developing world the preceding decade or so has witnessed a profound reconfiguration of the political economy of urban policy. This new policy environment is driven by globalization, the neo-liberal macro-economic package of 'market enablement' and structural adjustment, which now form the dominant development paradigm. The consequences of this approach for urban development agendas and ultimately the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the globe are profound. Market Economy and Urban Change explores and evaluates urban sector and development policies in the context of market enablement, and the associated instruments of structural adjustment, urban management reform and 'good' governance. By articulating the linkages between this neo-liberal development paradigm and the way different actors in the urban sector enact policy responses, the book provides an understanding of both the factors driving market enablement, and its impacts on urban sector policies and programmes. With case studies drawn from countries such as Egypt, Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia and transitional economies, the book focuses in particular on the implications for land, shelter and related sectoral policies for poverty alleviation. By linking policy to practice, the book seeks to inform policy-makers in governments, donor and implementing agencies of the impact of shifts in the development debate on urban sector strategies.
Infrastructures of Consumption: Environmental Innovation in the Utility Industries
by Elizabeth Shove Heather Chappells Bas Van VlietFor many years, a uniform and uncontested picture of utility system organization has endured across Europe. Provider and consumer roles have been largely taken for granted, and consumers have had little choice but to use the infrastructure of the only network provider available. Recent transformations have challenged this model. This book examines the ongoing environmental restructuring of consumption and provision in energy, water and waste systems. In accounting for the distinctive environmental qualities, technical features, and institutional dynamics of utility systems this book challenges contemporary conceptualizations of consumers as the autonomous drivers of environmental change. Instead, utilities and users are positioned as the 'co-managers' of utility systems, and processes of environmental innovation are seen to depend on the systemic restructuring of demand.
Infrastructures of Consumption: Environmental Innovation in the Utility Industries
by Elizabeth Shove Heather Chappells Bas Van VlietFor many years, a uniform and uncontested picture of utility system organization has endured across Europe. Provider and consumer roles have been largely taken for granted, and consumers have had little choice but to use the infrastructure of the only network provider available. Recent transformations have challenged this model. This book examines the ongoing environmental restructuring of consumption and provision in energy, water and waste systems. In accounting for the distinctive environmental qualities, technical features, and institutional dynamics of utility systems this book challenges contemporary conceptualizations of consumers as the autonomous drivers of environmental change. Instead, utilities and users are positioned as the 'co-managers' of utility systems, and processes of environmental innovation are seen to depend on the systemic restructuring of demand.
Holding Their Ground: Secure Land Tenure for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries
by Alain Durand-Lasserve Lauren RoystonSecurity of land tenure for the urban poor is now a major problem for developing cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This book presents and analyzes the main conclusions of a comparative research programme on land tenure issues. It looks at how solutions can be found and implemented to respond to the demands and needs of the majority of squatters and informal settlements, and analyzes how urban stakeholders, with different social, legal and economic constraints, find innovative and flexible solutions. The book is intended to fill a gap in the literature on comparative research on tenure policies and should be useful to researchers and professionals involved in defining and instigating tenure upgrading policies and programmes.
Holding Their Ground: Secure Land Tenure for the Urban Poor in Developing Countries
by Alain Durand-Lasserve Lauren RoystonSecurity of land tenure for the urban poor is now a major problem for developing cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This book presents and analyzes the main conclusions of a comparative research programme on land tenure issues. It looks at how solutions can be found and implemented to respond to the demands and needs of the majority of squatters and informal settlements, and analyzes how urban stakeholders, with different social, legal and economic constraints, find innovative and flexible solutions. The book is intended to fill a gap in the literature on comparative research on tenure policies and should be useful to researchers and professionals involved in defining and instigating tenure upgrading policies and programmes.
Governing Sustainable Cities
by Bob Evans Marko Joas Susan Sundback Kate TheobaldUrban governance and sustainability are rapidly becoming key issues around the world. Currently three billion people - half the population of the planet - live in cities, and by 2050 a full two-thirds of the world's population will be housed in ever larger and increasingly densely populated urban areas. The economic, social and environmental challenges posed by urbanization on such a large scale and at such a rapid pace are staggering for local, regional and national governments working towards sustainability. Solutions to the myriad problems plaguing the quest for sustainability at the city-level are equally as diverse and complex, but are rooted in the assumptions of the 'sustainability agenda', developed at the Rio Earth Summit and embodied in Local Agenda/Action 21. These assumptions state that good governance is a necessary precondition for the achievement of sustainable development, particularly at the local level, and that the mobilization of local communities is an essential part of this process. Yet until now, these assumptions, which have guided the policies and programmes of over 6000 local authorities around the world, have never been seriously tested. Drawing on three years of field research in 40 European towns and cities, Governing for Sustainable Cities is the first book to examine empirically the processes of urban governance in sustainable development. Looking at a host of core issues including institutional and social capacity, institutional design, social equity, politics, partnerships and cooperation and creative policy-making, the authors draw compelling conclusions and offer strong guidance. This book is essential reading for policy-makers, politicians, activists and NGOs, planners, researchers and academics, whether in Europe, North America, Australasia or transitional and developing countries, concerned with advancing sustainability in our rapidly urbanizing world.
Governing Sustainable Cities
by Bob Evans Marko Joas Susan Sundback Kate TheobaldUrban governance and sustainability are rapidly becoming key issues around the world. Currently three billion people - half the population of the planet - live in cities, and by 2050 a full two-thirds of the world's population will be housed in ever larger and increasingly densely populated urban areas. The economic, social and environmental challenges posed by urbanization on such a large scale and at such a rapid pace are staggering for local, regional and national governments working towards sustainability. Solutions to the myriad problems plaguing the quest for sustainability at the city-level are equally as diverse and complex, but are rooted in the assumptions of the 'sustainability agenda', developed at the Rio Earth Summit and embodied in Local Agenda/Action 21. These assumptions state that good governance is a necessary precondition for the achievement of sustainable development, particularly at the local level, and that the mobilization of local communities is an essential part of this process. Yet until now, these assumptions, which have guided the policies and programmes of over 6000 local authorities around the world, have never been seriously tested. Drawing on three years of field research in 40 European towns and cities, Governing for Sustainable Cities is the first book to examine empirically the processes of urban governance in sustainable development. Looking at a host of core issues including institutional and social capacity, institutional design, social equity, politics, partnerships and cooperation and creative policy-making, the authors draw compelling conclusions and offer strong guidance. This book is essential reading for policy-makers, politicians, activists and NGOs, planners, researchers and academics, whether in Europe, North America, Australasia or transitional and developing countries, concerned with advancing sustainability in our rapidly urbanizing world.
Financing Urban Shelter: Global Report on Human Settlements 2005
by Un-Habitat'Achieving the goals set by world leaders in the United Nations Millennium Declaration will be difficult without a significant improvement in the lives of slum dwellers, and the lives of slum dwellers cannot be improved without the sound and sustainable economic development that is conducive to the establishment of a strong shelter sector. As Financing Urban Shelter: Global Report on Human Settlements 2005 emphasizes, one of the key challenges in meeting the Millennium Declaration Goal on slums is mobilization of the financial resources necessary for both slum upgrading and slum prevention by supplying new housing affordable to lower income groups on a large scale. . . . It is my hope that, by highlighting the impacts of current shelter financing systems on low-income households and by identifying the types of financing mechanisms that appear to have worked for them, this report will contribute to the efforts of the wide range of actors involved in improving the lives of slum dwellers, including governments at the central and local levels, as well as non-governmental and international organizations.' From the Foreword by KOFI ANNAN, Secretary-General, United Nations Financing Urban Shelter presents the first global assessment of housing finance systems, placing shelter and urban development challenges within the overall context of macroeconomic policies. The report describes and analyses housing finance conditions and trends in all regions of the world, including formal housing finance mechanisms, microfinance and community funding, highlighting their relevance to the upgrading of slums. Recent shelter finance policy development is discussed at the international and national levels, and the directions that could be taken to strengthen shelter finance systems are examined. The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date assessment of conditions and trends in the world's cities. It is an essential tool and reference for researchers, academics, public authorities and civil society organizations around the world. The preceding issues of the Global Report on Human Settlements have addressed such topics as An Urbanizing World, Cities in a Globalizing World and The Challenge of Slums. Published with UN-HABITAT
Financing Urban Shelter: Global Report on Human Settlements 2005
by Un-Habitat'Achieving the goals set by world leaders in the United Nations Millennium Declaration will be difficult without a significant improvement in the lives of slum dwellers, and the lives of slum dwellers cannot be improved without the sound and sustainable economic development that is conducive to the establishment of a strong shelter sector. As Financing Urban Shelter: Global Report on Human Settlements 2005 emphasizes, one of the key challenges in meeting the Millennium Declaration Goal on slums is mobilization of the financial resources necessary for both slum upgrading and slum prevention by supplying new housing affordable to lower income groups on a large scale. . . . It is my hope that, by highlighting the impacts of current shelter financing systems on low-income households and by identifying the types of financing mechanisms that appear to have worked for them, this report will contribute to the efforts of the wide range of actors involved in improving the lives of slum dwellers, including governments at the central and local levels, as well as non-governmental and international organizations.' From the Foreword by KOFI ANNAN, Secretary-General, United Nations Financing Urban Shelter presents the first global assessment of housing finance systems, placing shelter and urban development challenges within the overall context of macroeconomic policies. The report describes and analyses housing finance conditions and trends in all regions of the world, including formal housing finance mechanisms, microfinance and community funding, highlighting their relevance to the upgrading of slums. Recent shelter finance policy development is discussed at the international and national levels, and the directions that could be taken to strengthen shelter finance systems are examined. The Global Report on Human Settlements is the most authoritative and up-to-date assessment of conditions and trends in the world's cities. It is an essential tool and reference for researchers, academics, public authorities and civil society organizations around the world. The preceding issues of the Global Report on Human Settlements have addressed such topics as An Urbanizing World, Cities in a Globalizing World and The Challenge of Slums. Published with UN-HABITAT
Empowering Squatter Citizen: "Local Government, Civil Society and Urban Poverty Reduction"
by David Satterthwaite Diana MitlinWith the rapid growth in urban poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America, most cities now have 30 to 60 per cent of their population living in shanty towns. The civil and political rights of these people are either ignored or constantly contravened. They face multiple deprivations, including hunger, long hours working for inadequate incomes; illness, injury and premature deaths that arise from dangerous living conditions and inadequate water supplies, sanitation and healthcare. Many face the constant threat of eviction and other forms of violence. None of these problems can be addressed without local changes, and Empowering Squatter Citizen contends that urban poverty is underpinned by the failure of national governments and aid agencies to support local processes. It makes the case for redirecting support to local organizations, whether governmental, non-governmental or grassroots. . The book includes case studies of innovative government organizations (in Thailand, Mexico, Philippines and Nicaragua) and community-driven processes (in India, South Africa, Pakistan and Brazil), which illustrate more effective approaches to urban poverty reduction. Such approaches include strengthening the organizations of the poor and homeless so that they are accountable to their members, are able to develop their own solutions and have more capacity to negotiate with the institutions that are meant to deliver infrastructure, services, credit and land for housing. Such support for local processes is crucial for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas.
Empowering Squatter Citizen: "Local Government, Civil Society and Urban Poverty Reduction"
by David Satterthwaite Diana MitlinWith the rapid growth in urban poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America, most cities now have 30 to 60 per cent of their population living in shanty towns. The civil and political rights of these people are either ignored or constantly contravened. They face multiple deprivations, including hunger, long hours working for inadequate incomes; illness, injury and premature deaths that arise from dangerous living conditions and inadequate water supplies, sanitation and healthcare. Many face the constant threat of eviction and other forms of violence. None of these problems can be addressed without local changes, and Empowering Squatter Citizen contends that urban poverty is underpinned by the failure of national governments and aid agencies to support local processes. It makes the case for redirecting support to local organizations, whether governmental, non-governmental or grassroots. . The book includes case studies of innovative government organizations (in Thailand, Mexico, Philippines and Nicaragua) and community-driven processes (in India, South Africa, Pakistan and Brazil), which illustrate more effective approaches to urban poverty reduction. Such approaches include strengthening the organizations of the poor and homeless so that they are accountable to their members, are able to develop their own solutions and have more capacity to negotiate with the institutions that are meant to deliver infrastructure, services, credit and land for housing. Such support for local processes is crucial for meeting the Millennium Development Goals in urban areas.
Countryside Planning: New Approaches to Management and Conservation
by Kevin Bishop Adrian PhillipsNot since the 19th century has the future of the countryside been such a focus of political and public attention, nor of profound uncertainty and anguished debate. A watershed has now been reached, and in this time of unprecedented change, new tools are needed for planning and managing the countryside. Increasingly the 'drivers' of countryside management and conservation are European and international. They aim to provide comprehensive new frameworks for the whole countryside, and encourage community-driven planning and protection. There have been numerous responses at the country and local levels within the UK. In this book, a broad range of scholars and practitioners review the international drivers affecting countryside policy and practice, and - through a variety of case studies - they assess the value of country and local responses. The result is a powerful and coherent volume that provides a fully up-to-date review and analysis of the pressures on the countryside, the policies for the future and the keys to successful implementation. Countryside Planning is essential reading for planners, local authorities and rural organizations, conservationists and environmental groups, as well as academics and students in planning, rural studies, environmental studies and geography.