This book describes how people invest migration with hopes for enjoyable experiences of retirement and contrast their lives with a marginality they imagine to be experienced by older people at home. They anticipate freedom from responsibilities through shedding the restrictive shackles of their former selves in a time of life dedicated to fun, friendship, healthy activity and individual fulfilment. However, the book documents a number of contradictions underpinning the pursuits of such a lifestyle and shows the negotiations that individuals undertake to manage the conflicting messages. It shows how they must balance time-use to achieve both freedoms and busy social schedules, their activities, to challenge themselves as well as relax, their relationships, to be able to start afresh yet still trust others in the new context, and their cultural identities, to balance both the security of nationality with the discovery of the new. The first ethnographic study of international retirement migration, this book offers a sometimes surprising picture of the potentials, seductions and limitations of the lifestyles and gives a critical insight into the new ways ageing identities are experienced by a growing number of older people in Western societies today.

Global Ireland offers a concise synthesis of globalization's dramatic impact on Ireland. In the past fifteen years, Ireland has transformed from a sleepy and depressed European backwater to the 'emerald tiger', a country with a booming economy based on knowledge and high-tech industries. Not long ago it was one of the poorest and most traditional countries in Europe, yet now it is one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan. Using a number of case studies of Ireland's transition, Tom Inglis explains what this means for traditional Irish culture and society, and offers an incisive social portrait of globalizing Ireland.
Concise, descriptive, interdisciplinary and theoretically informed, this volume is an ideal introduction to Ireland.

This unique book focuses on regional creativity, analysing the different factors that can affect creativity and innovation process within regions in the knowledge economy. Approaching creativity from technological, organizational and regional viewpoints, it attempts to break down the influence of oppositional approaches and take account of multi-level interactions in economy and policy. The variety of papers presented looks at: how regions can be creative and competitive how research and development is outsourced and the scientific knowledge and technology transferred what types of technology based cultural activities can operate the relevant financing and development of knowledge entrepreneurship. Whilst many of these aspects are driven by market forces Creative Regions demonstrates that the regional and national public sectors have a significant role to play and is essential reading on how to generate a competitive advantage for regions in the knowledge economy in the global market.

This book traces the recent growth in NGO advocacy. Barbara Rugendyke presents empirical findings about the impacts of NGO advocacy activity on the policies and practices of global and regional institutions. The research reveals the mixed successes of advocacy as a strategy for addressing the ongoing causes of poverty in developing nations. Case studies illustrate the advocacy work of Australian NGOs, of British NGOs policies about engaging with multinationals, of Oxfam International's advocacy directed at World Bank policies and NGO advocacy in the Mekong Region.

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the mixed successes of advocacy as a strategy used by NGOs in attempting to address the ongoing causes of poverty in developing nations are examined. This volume is a useful aid to researchers, students and lecturers and to development practitioners interested in advocacy as a development strategy.

Produced during the Second World War by the Geographical Section of the Naval Intelligence Division, this book was designed to provide comprehensive, detailed information for the use of commanding officers stationed in Palestine and Transjordan. Now declassified, the work is an invaluable source of information for the general reader. Topics such as physical geography, climate, vegetation, fauna, history, people, administration, public health, agriculture, industry, banking, finance, commerce, ports, cities and communications are covered in depth with ample illustration.

Effective management of urban water should be based on a scientific understanding of the impact of human activity on both the urban hydrological cycle - including its processes and interactions - and the environment itself. Such anthropogenic impacts, which vary broadly in time and space, need to be quantified with respect to local climate, urban development, cultural, environmental and religious practices, and other socio-economic factors. Urban Water Cycle Processes and Interactions represents the fruit of a project by UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme on this topic. The volume begins by introducing the urban water cycle concept and the need for integrated or total management. It then explores in detail the manifold hydrological components of the cycle, the diverse elements of urban infrastructure and water services, and the various effects of urbanization on the environment - from the atmosphere and surface waters to wetlands, soils and groundwater, as well as biodiversity. A concluding series of recommendations for effective urban water management summarize the important findings set forth here. Urban Water Series - UNESCO-IHP Volumes Following from the Sixth Phase of UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (2002-2007), the Urban Water Series - UNESCO-IHP addresses fundamental issues related to the role of water in cities and the effects of urbanization on the hydrological cycle and water resources. Focusing on the development of integrated approaches to sustainable urban water management, the Series should inform the work of urban water management practitioners, policy-makers and educators throughout the world.

Moderne Wahrnehmungsweisen von Landschaft setzen ein spezifisches gesellschaftliches Naturverhältnis voraus, das sich erst in den letzten zwei, drei Jahrhunderten herausbildete. Der Autor untersucht diesen Prozeß kultur- und diskursgeschichtlich am Beispiel einer besonderen Landschaftsformation, jener des westlichsten Steppensees Europas. Der Neusiedler See erweist sich dabei als eine «Grenzlandschaft» auf mehreren Ebenen: Er war im Laufe der Geschichte politischen Grenzverschiebungen und extremen Wasserschwankungen zwischen Überflutung und Austrocknung ausgesetzt. Auch in den ästhetischen Bewertungen und kulturellen Praktiken, mit denen man dieser Landschaft bis in die jüngere Vergangenheit begegnete, läßt sich eine außergewöhnlich starke Ambivalenz feststellen.

This open access book will contribute to a more nuanced debate around seed system resilience that goes beyond the dominant dichotomous conceptualization of seed governance often characterized as traditional vs modern, subsistence vs commercial, or local vs global. While reflecting on the expanding oligopoly in the current seed system, the authors argue that such classifications limit our ability to critically reflect on and acknowledge the diverse approaches through which seed governance is practiced around the world, at various scales, creating a mosaic of dynamic complementarities and autonomies. The authors also highlight the importance of this much needed dialogue through case studies of seed governance approaches and practices found in and around Japan.

*Definitive text, updated: 40% new material includes new data, political and economic changes, 80 new photographs, and new and updated tables and maps. *Features a new separate chapter on Ukraine and discussions of Putin's return as President, the annexation of Crimea, changes in the republics, and more. *Russian-born scholar fully covers the physical, cultural, political, and economic geography of this critical region. *Organized by both themes and regions for flexibility in teaching. *The book's 200+ photographs, maps, figures, and tables can be downloaded as full-color PowerPoint slides at the companion website.

This collection examines the Sahara holistically from the earliest (prehistoric) times through the 'historical' period to the present and with political direction into the future. The contributions cover palaeoclimatology, history, archaeology (cultural heritage), social anthropology, sociology, politics and international affairs. Structured chronologically, the volume can almost be read as a narrative of the Sahara from the earliest times to the present, i.e. from the past climates of the Sahara in prehistoric times to the current 'war on terror' and its implications for the peoples of the Sahara. Importantly, the collection shows how the region must be approached 'holistically', highlighting the importance of each of these subject areas (palaeo-climates, history, politics, etc.) in relation to each other. Indeed, the first contribution is a remarkable (and unique) paper, bringing together the work of some 8-9 internationally recognised scientists to tell the story and show the relevance to the present day of the Sahara's past climates etc. Nearly all the contributions stand in their own right at the cutting edge of research in their respective fields (e.g. archaeology, history, politics, etc.). This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of North African Studies.

Cities and Cultures is a critical account of the relations between contemporary cities and the cultures they produce and which in turn shape them. The book questions received ideas of what constitutes a city's culture through case studies in which different kinds of culture - the arts, cultural institutions and heritage, distinctive ways of life - are seen to be differently used in or affected by the development of particular cities. The book does not mask the complexity of this, but explains it in ways accessible for undergraduates.

The book begins with introductory chapters on the concepts of a city and a culture (the latter in the anthropological sense as well as denoting the arts), citing cases from modern literature. The book then moves from a critical account of cultural production in a metropolitan setting to the idea that a city, too, is produced through the characteristic ways of life of its inhabitants. The cultural industries are scrutinised for their relation to such cultures as well as to city marketing, and attention is given to the European Cities of Culture initiative, and to the hybridity of contemporary urban cultures in a period of globalisation and migration. In its penultimate chapter the book looks at incidental cultural forms and cultural means to identify formation; and in its final chapter, examines the permeability of urban cultures and cultural forms. Sources are introduced, positions clarified and contrasted, and notes given for selective further reading.

Playing on the two meanings of culture, Miles takes an unique approach by relating arguments around these meanings to specific cases of urban development today. The book includes both criticalcomment on a range of literatures - being a truly inter-disciplinary study - and the outcome of the author's field research into urban cultures.

Cities and Cultures is a critical account of the relations between contemporary cities and the cultures they produce and which in turn shape them. The book questions received ideas of what constitutes a city's culture through case studies in which different kinds of culture - the arts, cultural institutions and heritage, distinctive ways of life - are seen to be differently used in or affected by the development of particular cities. The book does not mask the complexity of this, but explains it in ways accessible for undergraduates.

The book begins with introductory chapters on the concepts of a city and a culture (the latter in the anthropological sense as well as denoting the arts), citing cases from modern literature. The book then moves from a critical account of cultural production in a metropolitan setting to the idea that a city, too, is produced through the characteristic ways of life of its inhabitants. The cultural industries are scrutinised for their relation to such cultures as well as to city marketing, and attention is given to the European Cities of Culture initiative, and to the hybridity of contemporary urban cultures in a period of globalisation and migration. In its penultimate chapter the book looks at incidental cultural forms and cultural means to identify formation; and in its final chapter, examines the permeability of urban cultures and cultural forms. Sources are introduced, positions clarified and contrasted, and notes given for selective further reading.

Playing on the two meanings of culture, Miles takes an unique approach by relating arguments around these meanings to specific cases of urban development today. The book includes both criticalcomment on a range of literatures - being a truly inter-disciplinary study - and the outcome of the author's field research into urban cultures.

Urban Geography a comprehensive introduction to a variety of issues relating to contemporary urban geography, including patterns and processes of urbanization, urban development, urban planning, and life experiences in modern cities. * Reveals both the diversity of ordinary urban geographies and the networks, flows and relations which increasingly connect cities and urban spaces at the global scale * Uses the city as a lens for proposing and developing critical concepts which show how wider social processes, relations, and power structures are changing * Considers the experiences, lives, practices, struggles, and words of ordinary urban residents and marginalized social groups rather than exclusively those of urban elites * Shows readers how to develop critical perspectives on dominant neoliberal representations of the city and explore the great diversity of urban worlds

This anthology of essays by a group of distinguished scholars investigates post-1945 city planning in Britain; not from a technical viewpoint, but as a polemical, visual and educational phenomenon, shifting the focus of scholarly interest towards the often-neglected emotional and aesthetic aspects of post-war planning. Each essay is grounded in original archival research and sheds new light on this critical era in the development of modern town planning. This collection is a valuable resource for architectural, social and urban historians, as well as students and researchers offering new insights into the development of the mid-twentieth century city.

Written in an engaging and accessible manner by one of the leading scholars in his field, Environment and Social Theory, completed revised and updated with two new chapters, is an indispensable guide to the way in which the environment and social theory relate to one another. This popular text outlines the complex interlinking of the environment, nature and social theory from ancient and pre-modern thinking to contemporary social theorizing. John Barry: examines the ways major religions such as Judaeo-Christianity have and continue to conceptualize the environment analyzes the way the non-human environment features in Western thinking from Marx and Darwin, to Freud and Horkheimer explores the relationship between gender and the environment, postmodernism and risk society schools of thought, and the contemporary ideology of orthodox economic thinking in social theorising about the environment. How humans value, use and think about the environment, is an increasingly central and important aspect of recent social theory. It has become clear that the present generation is faced with a series of unique environmental dilemmas, largely unprecedented in human history. With summary points, illustrative examples, glossary and further reading sections this invaluable resource will benefit anyone with an interest in environmentalism, politics, sociology, geography, development studies and environmental and ecological economics.

This book examines the impact of the Cold War in a global context and focuses on city-scale reactions to the atomic warfare. It explores urbanism as a weapon to combat the dangers of the communist intrusion into the American territories and promote living standards for the urban poor in the US cities. The Cold War saw the birth of 'atomic urbanisation', central to which were planning, politics and cultural practices of the newly emerged cities. This book examines cities in the Arctic, Europe, Asia and Australasia in detail to reveal how military, political, resistance and cultural practices impacted on the spaces of everyday life. It probes questions of city planning and development, such as: How did the threat of nuclear war affect planning at a range of geographic scales? What were the patterns of the built environment, architectural forms and material aesthetics of atomic urbanism in difference places? And, how did the 'Bomb' manifest itself in civic governance, popular media, arts and academia? Understanding the age of atomic urbanism can help meet the contemporary challenges that cities are facing. The book delivers a new dimension to the existing debates of the ideologically opposed superpowers and their allies, their hemispherical geopolitical struggles, and helps to understand decades of growth post-Second World War by foregrounding the Cold War.

This edited volume analyses the concepts of territory as conceived of and developed in Islamic history. In legal terms the world is divided into two parts, the "dar al-Islam" governed by the Islamic "shari'a" and the "dar al-harb" which is beyond the border of "dar al-Islam." The work explores the central question of what the concepts of territory and border were like for those Muslims who were driven by their will to expand the "dar al-Islam," those who experienced vicissitudes in the course of history, or who were inspired with mystical feelings.

Since the formal end of the Iron Curtain, there has been much interest in Post-Socialism and the process of Post-Socialist transition. "Global Geographies of Post-Socialist Transition" provides a systematic review and analysis of process of 'transition'.
Part 1 explores recent theories, concepts and debates on post-socialism and the notion of transition. Part 2 contains a systematic, topical account of post-socialist transitions around the world, as evidence by social, economic, and political processes. Part 3 examines case studies of post-socialist transition in east and Central Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia and South-East Asia, and Africa and Latin America. Part 4 brings together theoretical and practical aspects by examining what lessons can be learned from recent experiences.
"Global Geographies of" "Post-Socialist Transition" provides a truly global comparative account of the meaning and processes of post-socialist transition and will be an invaluable resource for all those interested in this area.

Over the past two decades there have been many major new developments in the field of urban sound environment. Jian Kang introduces and examines these key developments, including:

• the development of prediction methods for urban sound propagation
• establishment and application of noise-mapping software
• new noise control measures and design methods.

Also covered is the new EU directive on noise and the substantial actions it has brought about across Europe.

As the importance of soundscape, acoustic comfort and sound environment design have become widely recognized, Urban Sound Environments is a thoroughly useful book for students and practitioners in a wide range of fields, from urban planning and landscape through to architecture and acoustics.

In this pioneering study of contemporary Chinese urban form, Duanfang Lu provides an analysis of how Chinese society constructed itself through the making and remaking of its built environment. She shows that as China's quest for modernity created a perpetual scarcity as both a social reality and a national imagination, the realization of planning ideals was postponed. The work unit - the socialist enterprise or institute - gradually developed from workplace to social institution which integrated work, housing and social services. The Chinese city achieved a unique geography made up in large part of self-contained work units. Remaking Chinese Urban Form provides an important reference for academics and students conducting research on China. It will be a key source for courses on Asia in architecture, urban planning, geography, sociology and anthropology, at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The insightful yet accessible introduction to urban China will also be of interest to architects, urban designers and planners - as well as general audience who wish to learn about contemporary Chinese society.

Using a cutting-edge structure, where a current description of the service sector and up-to-date case studies are compared and contrasted with innovative activity in manufacturing, this book contributes towards a better theoretical understanding of innovation in the U.S. service sector. The U.S. service sector is the largest sector in the U.S. economy and accounts for an increasingly significant share of U.S. gross domestic product, currently 68 percent. Both in the United States, as well as in other industrialized nations, the service sector is a dynamic component of economic activity and growth. As pervasive and economically important as the service sector is, innovative activity in service-sector firms remains somewhat of an enigma; it is not well understood and not well defined because it differs dramatically from the traditional model of innovation in manufacturing. Innovation in the U.S. Service Sector fills this void, placing emphasis on the United States, but with global relevance. It is essential reading for all students of business and management, economics and political science.

Combining impartial analysis with reliable facts and figures, this fully revised and updated 23rd edition provides up-to-date commentary on these vast North American nations. General Survey Essays by leading experts analyse topics of regional importance, including: - US-Canadian integration, US foreign policy in the Arctic region, the treatment of Indigenous peoples in North America, and the COVID-19 pandemic in North America. Country Surveys Each country is dealt with in greater detail within its own section. Country chapters include: - a chronology of political events - essays covering key socio-political and economic themes, including: recent political developments; foreign policy; constitution; the economy; energy policy; agriculture; trade; health and social policy - additional essays examining timely subjects such as US-Chinese economic competition, religion in US politics and the US Judicial system - historical, political and economic surveys of each of the US states and Canadian provinces and territories - statistical surveys of economic and demographic indicators - comprehensive directory sections covering public affairs, the economy and society, which provide contact details and other useful information for the most significant institutions in the region.

Drawing on recent academic studies in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, this book is the first international text on homelessness in rural areas. Consisting of fifteen specially commissioned chapters, International Perspectives on Rural Homelessness provides comparative material on the cultural, political and policy contexts of rural homelessness, examining the nature and scale of the issue and the complex local geographies of rural homelessness.

This fascinating book examines the 1990s rise of a new black ghetto in rust belt America, 'the global ghetto'. It uses the emergent perspective of 'racial economy' to delineate a fundamental proposition; historically neglected and marginalized black ghettos, in a 1990s era of societal boom and bust, have become more impoverished, more stigmatized, and functionally ambiguous as areas.

As these ghettos grow in size and become more stigmatized entities in contemporary society, our understanding of them in relation to evolving cities and society has not kept pace. This book looks to the heart of this misunderstanding, to find out how race and political economy in cities dynamically connect in new ways ('racial economy') to deepen deprivation in these areas. This book is an essential read for students of geography, urban studies and sociology.