This book analyzes how climate change adaptation can be implemented at the community, regional and national level. Featuring a variety of case studies, it illustrates strategies, initiatives and projects currently being implemented across the world. In addition to the challenges faced by communities, cities and regions seeking to cope with climate change phenomena like floods, droughts and other extreme events, the respective chapters cover topics such as the adaptive capacities of water management organizations, biodiversity conservation, and indigenous and climate change adaptation strategies. The book will appeal to a broad readership, from scholars to policymakers, interested in developing strategies for effectively addressing the impacts of climate change.

This book approaches the issue of rural-urban inequality through fieldwork conducted in a specific township (Zuogang) in Qinggang County, part of Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China. Presenting painstaking fieldwork in a single location, it successfully illuminates fundamental aspects of the reality and the complexity of rural-urban inequality that cannot be found in macro-level studies, most of which are prepared by economists. The book offers a unique combination of rigorous economic analysis with insightful social and anthropological analysis, as well as revealing interviews with local government officials. This approach provides a rich tapestry of rural perceptions of rural-urban inequality. With in-depth analysis and empirical evidence on questions concerning the development and root causes of urban-rural disparities, the book significantly enriches our understanding of the widely discussed issue of rural-urban income inequality, but from the unique perspective of rural China.

--The book could be used at undergraduate and postgraduate levels on urban and regional planning programmes, but could also feature in some urban geography programmes and international studies. --The book would have widespread international appeal reflecting its focus on the Commonwealth and its authorship by world renown academics, thought leaders and distinguished practitioners from 9 countries.

Cultivated Therapeutic Landscapes provides an in-depth and critical exploration of the impact of gardens and gardening on health and wellbeing. It explores the gardens and gardening provide prevention and restoration mechanisms, while also improving social and health equity via a range of traditional and innovative green space sites and actions. Therapeutic landscapes are relational, reciprocal, and evolving. In this book, leading scholars from across the globe demonstrate how therapeutic landscapes research and practice is expanded through and around the processes of cultivation. Deliberately interdisciplinary, the book explores how tending and caring for green spaces, collectively and individually, works to prevent and restore health and wellbeing, as well as impact upstream factors determining social justice and equity. A unique combination of academics, clinicians and practitioners deliver theoretical and practical insights into wide-ranging health-enabling factors, based on new evidence and autoethnographic experiences in home gardens, school, and community gardens, clinical settings, public green spaces and sites of conservation and wildness. This book pushes concepts of cultivation and horticulture into underexplored spatial, ontological, and wellbeing territories. Despite long-term practical interest, therapeutic horticulture is only now establishing a strong theoretical and research foundation. This book provides much needed critical insights toto impact on the key drivers of health, wellbeing and social equity, with a focus on practical skills for utilizing horticulture or designing for particular health needs. It will be of interest to students, scholars and practitioners in the areas of health geography; cultural geography; cultural studies; therapeutic horticulture; environmental studies; community development and planning; landscape architecture; social work; health studies and health policy.

The land reform in Mexico that followed the Revolution of 1910-17 helped to reconstitute peasant communities in the lowland areas of Oaxaca, one of the poorest of the states, as a complement to the peasantries which had persisted from early colonial times at the higher altitudes. This book examines the history, production systems, and life styles of these communities, focusing in particular on their structure, ethnic movements, and political participation.

This book introduces the concept of the 'autonomous city'- a concept that has been developed from the 'smart cities' model that is based on a city's ability to gather data and taking it one step further. The digital revolution has brought about numerous changes in the urban realm, along with the understanding that technology can aid in increasing the performance and efficiency of urban areas. This technology has given rise to a wealth of data allowing urban leaders to respond better to crisis and craft policies that increase the liveability of urban areas. The 'autonomous city' explores the possibility of urban areas evolving from the dimension of data gathering to that of action response - so a city able to collect data and render real time decisions to self-manage a variety of functions based on its interpretation of that data. The book discusses how this could lead to the automation of select urban dimensions for increased efficiency and performance, but also details how such a process would require careful consideration when put into practice. This book will be a valuable resource for scholars and students across Urban Planning, Sustainability and STS, as well as practitioners and policy makers involved in the development of urban life.

Originally published in 1991, the focus of the contributions in this book is the relationships between rurality and small-scale production, particularly in Europe. This remains relevant, as then, as when the book was first published, the issues covered had a particular resonance in the shifting terrain of Europe and the political debates surrounding its common future. The contributors explore the diversity and significance of rural small-scale production in different countries and the regional disciplinary theoretical discourses which inform research.

Originally published in 1994, this book brings together papers developing feminist analyses of the rural condition from a wide range of industrialised countries, informed by the national and local cultural constructions of gender and rurality which they interpret. The chapters address the gendered power relations of rural households and agricultural science; women's mobilisation in farming and environmental politics; the intersection of domestic and rural values and practices as they shape gender identities.

This book explores the enigmatic world of the natural underground, viewing it as a site of leisure and of 'anthropotechnics', where human beings and technology are interconnected. It also reshapes the old language of caving into new ideas that broaden the possibilities of the sociology of caving. After outlining a novel methodological approach that can be used to understand new leisure trends and cultures in present modernity, Exploring the Natural Underground offers a comprehensive investigation of the societal context in which caving takes place. Thereafter it goes on to argue that the natural underground can be used as a means of escaping some of the unavoidable influences of consumer capitalism in the way that it stimulates imaginations, senses and emotions differently. Marking a turning point in the way that the natural underground is understood, and the degree to which sensory dimensions of leisure are valued, this book will appeal to anybody interested in caving, as well as scholars and students of leisure studies, the sociology of leisure, the ethnography of leisure, and human geography.

The authors of this volume discuss questions of disaster and justice from various interdisciplinary vantage points, including public policy, science and technology studies, law, gender, sociology and psychology, social and cultural anthropology, town planning and tourism. The term "natural" disasters is a misnomer; cataclysmic natural events that impact humans can often be anticipated and their consequences should be prevented - the failure to do so is a failure of politics, policy and risk planning. Presenting research on more than a decade after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the chapters highlight not only the manifold challenges in the direct disaster response and policy making but also the difficulties of "just" long-term recovery. Arguing for just distribution, recognition and participation, this volume provides a diversity of perspectives on these issues as experienced after the 2011 disasters through detailed and nuanced analyses presented by early career researchers and senior academics coming from various countries and continents of the world. The insights of this volume galvanise the discussion of disaster governance and highlight the variety of disaster (in)justices and the ways disasters force people to contest and reimagine their relationships with their neighborhoods, countries, families, and friends. A valuable read for scholars and students researching issues related to mass emergencies, justice theory and civil activism.

This book examines the Centre-State and inter-State relations concerning water issues in India. It analyses the federal structure in India and looks at its effectiveness in addressing the inter-state river water disputes in the country through three cases - the Cauvery, Krishna and Mahadayi water disputes. It probes into the physical, political, legal and constitutional measures taken by the Union government and the states to deal with the inter-State and Centre-State tussles over inter-state river waters. The author studies the debate over centralization and decentralization of water resources, as well as the inter-state river water disputes that have aroused feelings of sub-nationalism in disputing regions and states. The possibility of physical infrastructure projects contributing to India's growing water problems are also looked at. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of Environmental Politics, Political Science, Public Policy, Environmental Geography, Indian Politics, South Asian Studies, Environmental Economics, Water Industries, Environmental Policy, River Management, Environment & Resources.

Originally published in 1990, this volume discusses the broad theme of rural restructuring looking at the nature of rural related responses to global processes of change. This book provides global viewpoints which show readers a more integral and critical analysis on rural areas based on the changing realities of the 1990s.

Originally published in 1990, this volume addresses issues surrounding global ecological changes and sustainability of present patterns of urbanisation and industrialisation. The book discusses these problems and other issues such as how rural environments in many developed and developing countries have been transformed by a technological revolution. Looking at a diverse range of topics from climate change to slurry pollution and the destruction of genetic resources to the risks of biotechnology, this volume addresses these issues which concern the dynamics and social relations of technological change in rural areas.

Originally published in 1992, the volume shows through the lens of labour processes how global forces are played out at the local level. A range of important issues is addressed, including the commoditization and transformation of rural labour, and the role played by state policy in restructuring rural labour markets.

Originally published in 1994, this volume brings together a set of essays reflecting the complex political, social and institutional problems encountered by modern states in seeking to manage their agricultural sectors. Drawing on different national and international viewpoints, the essays present original analyses of agricultural regulation in a comparative context. The aspects covered include the roots of the post-war food order; the roles of corporatism, agribusiness and technological change, the challenge of de-regulation and environmental reforms, the introduction of market principles and mechanisms into centrally planned economies and the efforts to forge a new order in international trade.

Cities and Spaces of Leadership investigates the interaction between leadership, leaders and spaces at various levels. It analyzes how spaces and places influence leaders and leadership, as well as how the presence, distribution, action, and concentration of leaders in spaces contribute to their transformation.

The Routledge Handbook of Latin America and the Environment provides an in-depth and accessible analysis and theorization of environmental issues in the region. It will help readers make connections between Latin American and other regions' perspectives, experiences, and environmental concerns. Latin America has seen an acceleration of environmental degradation due to the expansion of resource extraction and urban areas. This Handbook addresses Latin America not only as object of study, but also as a region with a long and profound history of critical thinking on these themes. Furthermore, the Handbook departs from the environment as a social issue inextricably linked to politics, economy and culture. It will be an invaluable resource for those wanting not only to understand the issues, but also to engage with ideas about environmental politics and social-ecological transformation. The handbook covers a broad range organized in three areas: physical geography, ecology and crucial environmental problems of the region, key theoretical and methodological issues used to understand Latin America's ecosocial contexts, and institutional and grassroots practices related to more just and sustainable worlds. The Handbook will set a research agenda for the near future and provide comprehensive research on most subregions relative to environmental transformations, challenges, struggles and political processes. It stands as a fresh and much needed state of the art introduction for researchers, scholars, post-graduates and academic audiences on Latin American contributions to theorization, empirical research and environmental practices.

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, Male, 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-globalisation 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.

discusses the long evolution of the idea that foreign state and private financing can be used to protect tropical forests and the carbon stored within them, resulting in both local economic development and global climate benefits. links the literature on REDD+ with that covering Indonesias recent democratic regression, highlighting how the countrys environmental performance is inextricably linked to the timbre of its political governance. This book will be of great interests to students and scholars of political ecology, deforestation, climate change, environmental politics, natural resource management and environmental conservation.

This book offers an extended consideration of the fairground showfront. It combines archival material, contemporary examples of fairs, and a sustained theoretical engagement with influential philosophies of surface, including recent work by Avrum Stroll and Andrew Benjamin, as well as the nineteenth century author Gottfried Semper. Semper's work on the origin of architectural enclosure -formed from woven mats and carpets- anticipates the surface and material history of the showfront. Initial chapters introduce these philosophies, the evolution of showfronts, and the ways in which individual fairground rides and attractions are arranged to form an enclosing boundary for the whole fair. Later chapters focus on issues of spectacle and illusion, vast 'interior' spaces, atmosphere, crowds and surface effects. Informed by a wide range of work from other design and cultural studies, the book will be of interest to readers in these areas, as well as architecture and those curious about the fairground.

Air Travel Fiction and Film: Cloud People explores how, over the past four decades, fiction and film have transformed our perceptions and representations of contemporary air travel. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of a wide range of international cultural productions, and elucidates the paradigms and narratives that constitute our current imaginary of air mobility. Erica Durante advances the hypothesis that fiction and film have converted the Airworld-the world of airplanes and airport infrastructures-into a pivotal anthropological place that is endowed with social significance and identity, suggesting that the assimilation of the sky into our cultural imaginary and lifestyle has metamorphosed human society into "Cloud People." In its examination of the representations of air travel as an epicenter of today's world, the book not only illustrates a novel perspective on contemporary fiction, but fills an important gap in the study of globalization within literary and film studies.

Beautyscapes explores the global phenomenon of international medical travel, focusing on patient-consumers seeking cosmetic surgery outside their home country and on those who enable them to access treatment abroad, including surgeons and facilitators. It documents the journeys of those who travel for treatment abroad, as well as the nature and power relations of the IMT industry. Empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated, Beautyscapes draws on key themes of interest to students and researchers interested in globalisation and mobility to explain the nature and growing popularity of cosmetic surgery tourism. Richly illustrated with ethnographic material and with the voices of those directly involved in cosmetic surgery tourism, Beautyscapes explores cosmetic surgery journeys from Australia and China to East-Asia and from the UK to Europe and North Africa. -- .

This book explores and challenges the concept and experience of liminality as applied to critical perspectives in the study of events. It will be of interest to researchers in event studies, social and discursive psychology, cultural and political sociology, and social movement studies. In addition, it will provide interested general readers with new ways of thinking and reflecting on events. Contributing authors undertake a discussion of the borders, boundaries, and areas of contestation between the established social anthropological concept of liminality and the emerging field of critical event studies. By drawing these two perspectives closer together, the collection considers tensions and resonances between them, and uses those connections to enhance our understanding of both cultural and sporting events and offer fresh insight into events of activism, protest, and dissent.

Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, working from home became a global phenomenon, yet before 2020, it was a relatively understudied practice. But in informal settlements, the definition of "home" and "employment" is completely intertwined, which is why there is so much to learn from them. For over half a century, mainstream theoretical approaches to urban informality, dominated by development economics, often fail to see this economic and spatial phenomenon jointly. Labor studies tend to be space-blind and spatial studies often disregard informal employment. Profoundly interdisciplinary, this work connects scholarship in development, public policy, labor studies, and feminist economics, with that in urban studies, planning, housing, architecture, and visual studies. The book walks the reader behind the closed doors of working homes that make the fabric, both social and economic, of most cities. It applies a visual methodology to reveal their "space-use intensity" and quantify the extent to which houses in informal settlements fill their inner pores with economic activity and community services. The research also revisits urban formalization policies in Latin America and Africa, to uncover a fallacious politics of recognition. It ultimately argues for a recognition continuum: an approach to urban informality that is more practical and fairer. The book is of interest to development economists, urban scholars, public policy specialists, time-use researchers, and architects working on housing, employment generation, urban livelihoods, gender studies, and related topics.

This edited volume draws attention to the interlinked yet understudied relationship between the role of cities in dealing with international displacement and forced migration as well as the influence of forced migration in stimulating spatial, societal, and institutional transformations in and of cities. In 2022, almost 84 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced. More than two-thirds of them reside in urban areas. Displacement and forced migration are an urban experience and an urban story of those seeking protection. This book helps us understanding the conditions of displaced population in cities, and the way cities and urban actors respond to recent migration trends. It applies an urban perspective to the analysis of migration processes, and it provides insights into the urban governance of forced migration and asylum, the production of spaces related to forced migration, and the role of the displaced as actors of urban change. Thereby, it covers a broad spectrum of topics including migrant dispersal, welfare and social protection, urban humanitarian policymaking and governance, neighbourhood development, migrant solidarity and refugee protest, and new forced migrant destinations. Given the increasing mobility and displacement of human populations, this book provides a relevant prerequisite for readers interested in current urban, (forced) migration and asylum trends, and on the intersections of those topics. The book will be of great value to researchers and academics of Geography, Migration and Urban Studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Urban Geography.