Despite rapid urbanisation, Africa remains predominantly rural. This calls for decentralisation beyond the dominant concern by states and government with urban spaces. Rural areas, rural development and the future of rural settlements need to be understood and addressed in the context of the ongoing democratisation trends and the emergence and development of civil society. States have tended to tame rather than serve civil society in Africa. By establishing a single cultural reference and imposing a centralised state, African governments have exacerbated the fragmentation of civil society. However, political pluralism has slowly been gaining ground since the 1990s. This book explores the scope for implementing decentralisation programmes that focus on citizens in rural areas. For the purpose of decentralisation, civic participation in local politics and user participation in development programmes must be seen as two sides of the coin. The book focuses on spatial planning - a process concerned with spatial organisation in an integrative manner, and incorporates the design, establishment and implementation of a desired spatial structural organisation of land. This is especially relevant in a context where the formulation of guidelines for spatial development at the overall level of a state is inadequate.

This book presents the select proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure Development: Innovations and Advances (SIDIA 2020). The book addresses the issues of optimal resource allocation and utilization, construction cost minimization, budget optimization for infrastructure development in hilly terrain as well as plains, to ensure quality and safety with minimal environmental impact. The topics covered include planning, design and construction of sustainable infrastructure projects, policy and practices to be considered for the comprehensive development which is socially inclusive specifically in developing nations, transportation engineering and management which is performance-based and emerging economical models for partnerships, environment engineering and management for ascertaining the best methods for environmental impacts assessment to capture the true indirect costs of a infrastructure project, geotechnical and water resource engineering using new developments, and utilizing the various technological impacts for ensuring disaster preparedness of any region. This book can prove to be useful for beginners, researchers, and professionals interested in the latest advances and innovations in sustainable infrastructure development.

Barbara McMartin narrates the history of Adirondack environmental policy in depth, beginning with the 1970 formation of the Adirondack Park Agency, set up to regulate private development and to oversee the planning of public terrain. Although hailed as the most innovative land-use legislation of its time, it ignited a wildfire of controversy, creating a landscape of conflict. Park residents protested. Government stood firm. Over the decades, disparate groups have sought to shape an effective program to protect Adirondack wildland but cannot seem to work together. This is the first comprehensive account of that ongoing drama: a stirring story of the environmental movement, public action, and government failure and success.

Symposium papers apprasising the course United States land policy had taken in the 100 years since President Lincoln had signed the Homestead Act.

Many inhabitants of rural areas in developing countries do not have adequate and affordable access to transport infrastructure services. Insufficient access to transport constrains economic and social development and contributes to poverty. This book focuses on improving rural mobility by facilitating the provision of affordable means of transport and transport services. It concentrates on the many and varied types of transport that provide mobility such as bus service, freight trucks, bush taxis, transport animals, bicycles, and handcarts.

This book initiates a fresh discussion of affordability in rural housing set in the context of the rapidly shifting balance between rural and urban populations. It conceptualises affordability in rural housing along a spectrum that is interlaced with cultural and social values integral to rural livelihoods at both personal and community level. Developed around four intersecting themes: explaining houses and housing in rural settings; exploring affordability in the context of aspirations and vulnerability; rural development agendas involving housing and communities; and construction for resilience in rural communities, the book provides an overview of some of the little understood and sometimes counter-intuitive best practices on rural affordability and affordable housing that have emerged in developing economies over the last thirty years. Drawing on practice-based evidence this book presents innovative ideas for harnessing rural potential, and empowering rural communities with added affordability and progressive development in the context of housing and improved living standards. For a student aspiring to work in rural areas in developing countries it is an introduction to and map of some key solutions around the critical area of affordable housing For the rural development professional, it provides a map of a territory they rarely see because they are absorbed in a particular rural area or project For the academic looking to expand their activities into rural areas, especially in rural housing, it provides a handy introduction to a body of knowledge serving 47% of the world's population, and how this differs from urban practice For the policy makers, it provides a map for understanding the dynamics around rural affordability, growth potential and community aspirations helping them to devise appropriate intervention programs on rural housing and development

While most attention is given to the booming mega-cities in China and the associated problems of over-population, the rural areas in China are being largely ignored. Yet, a sustainable development of the rural areas is precisely that, which will be decisive for China's future. Through its rapid development into an industrial country, China now needs to tackle far-reaching problems such as increasing population, growing income gap between the poor and the rich, rural exodus, decreased agricultural production, and environmental pollution. Rural Urban Framework is a work group at the University of Hong Kong that not only researches the far-reaching changes of the last thirty years in China's rural areas, but has also realized concrete projects aimed at improving supply and infrastructure on site. In this publication, the authors present for the first time the results of their research as well as their built projects in the Chinese backlands, and question whether China's only future model lies in cities.

Rural development is a crucial issue throughout the world. Key issues include farming and forestry, land use and the management of natural resources. In addition economic diversification in rural communities is at the centre of many programmes across the globe.

Recent state-led urbanization initiatives in China have drastically transformed Chinese rural society - closing the urban-rural divide as well as redistributing wealth and altering the flows of social mobility. In this study Jiabao Sun asks: who are the winners and who are the losers in this process? This book uses two case studies of different modes of state-led rural urbanization - in the villages of Tianjin and Zhejiang - in order to assess the impact on the livelihoods of the villagers, as well as the success of the development initiatives. By focusing on the villagers capabilities, assets and support provided this study examines the imbalances of rural redistribution at three levels: among social groups, among villages and between the rural-urban divide.

In the last decade, rural development emerged as one of the prominent challenges facing the Unite States. Strong support for rural development is now found in both major political parties and at federal, state, and local levels. There is little doubt that the development of rural America will become even more important in the future. Despite unprecedented growth, both urban and rural areas in the United State are greatly deficient in many aspects of quality living conditions. The nation's cities are slowly strangling themselves, jamming together people and industry while spawning pollution, transportation paralysis, housing blight, lack of privacy, and a crime-infested society. Rural areas simultaneously suffer from the other extreme: lack of sufficient employment opportunities, outmigration and depopulation, and too few people to support services and institutions. The migration from rural areas contributes to the problems of both the city and countryside depopulating rural places at the expense of overcrowded cities. This book focuses on rural development processes, problems, and solutions. Seven prominent specialists in the field, including agricultural and regional economists, demographers, and administrators, discuss the development of the open country, small towns, and smaller cities (up to fifty thousand population). They present an integrated approach to rural development problems, not a mere collection of readings. Valuable guidelines for policies to benefit both rural and urban areas are provided. Since rural development involves interdisciplinary scholarship, this book will be of interest to a wide range of social scientists working in rural areas both here and abroad. Economists, sociologists, and political scientists, as well as community leaders and planners, legislators, government officials and interested laymen, will find this volume useful in understanding the rural development effort.

In his first book, Time to Talk, Michael Healy-Rae established himself as part of the great tradition of Kerry storytellers with his chronicles of life in rural Ireland. Now, in his second book, his superior storytelling skills come to the fore once again as he shares more stories of what he's witnessed and heard in the heart of the country. From his Kerry childhood to musings on rural Ireland today, A Listening Ear brings readers back to the countryside and characters that we have grown to love. With his quick wit and remarkable observations, Michael is a consummate chronicler of country life and the charm of local heroes.

Our rural communities are home to some of the most hard working and fiercely self-reliant Americans in the United States. Strong and secure rural communities are essential to creating an economy built to last that rewards hard work and responsibility -- not outsourcing, loopholes, and risky financial deals. While the security of the middle class has been threatened by the irresponsible financial collapse and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, rural Americans continue to come together to work hard and make ends meet. The values that have helped hard-working, responsible families weather the storm continue to move our economy forward. This book lays out the economic landscape rural America faces today and presents some of the Administration's many efforts to promote economic growth and job creation in rural communities.

A major new introduction to the UK planning system. It outlines the evolution and use of the new spatial planning approach which is increasingly adopted at all levels of the UK planning system from European through to the national, regional, sub-regional and local level.

To make innovations work commercially among the target group requires institutional approach that can anticipate and predict users’ urgent needs through participation. Conversely, to make innovations work technically requires a pile of junk and good imagination according to Thomas Edison. Biotechnology no doubt is a significant innovation that can enable farmers in developing countries increase productivity and manage their products. Nevertheless, biotech application is surrounded with many controversial debates. These controversies have affected its perception among farmers and consumers alike. Using a mixed method approach, empirical data were gathered from farmers and extension agents in six geopolitical divisions of Nigeria to determine factors capable of ensuring sustainable biotech adoption. Results revealed that the probability of biotech adoption is dependent on a cause and effect relationship.

The ties that bind Central Asia to the Middle East have strengthened dramatically in recent years, as political emancipation from Soviet rule has spurred the restoration of material culture shared by Turkic and Iranian peoples. Political institutions and farming practices, however, are still based on the Soviet model, with centralized large-scale agricultural production serving Russian rather than local needs.

The contributors to this volume examine land reform and agricultural development in Russia, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. Their studies bring into question the evolutionary view of agricultural development, from small-scale subsistence to large-scale commercialized agricultural systems, and emphasize the need to understand the specific political, historical, and geographic contexts of rural development and land reform. This volume is a must for regional specialists, historians, economists, and those working on rural development issues throughout Eurasia.

Gentrifier opens up a new conversation about gentrification, one that goes beyond the statistics and the cliches, and examines different sides of a controversial, deeply personal issue. In this lively yet rigorous book, John Joe Schlichtman, Jason Patch, and Marc Lamont Hill take a close look at the socioeconomic factors and individual decisions behind gentrification and their implications for the displacement of low-income residents. Drawing on a variety of perspectives, the authors present interviews, case studies, and analysis in the context of recent scholarship in such areas as urban sociology, geography, planning, and public policy. As well, they share accounts of their first-hand experience as academics, parents, and spouses living in New York City, San Diego, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Providence. With unique insight and rare candour, Gentrifier challenges readers' current understandings of gentrification and their own roles within their neighborhoods. A foreword by Peter Marcuse opens the volume.

Local regeneration, and action on local issues, is fundamental to the sustainability of local communities. This is especially the case in the UK, with the Government focus on such approaches as Local Enterprise Partnerships and neighbourhood development plans, and further devolution proposals in the pipeline. The Local Regeneration Handbook meets the needs of today's practising "regeneration workers", broadly including anyone from regeneration partnership or development project officers to housing association neighbourhood officers, parish councillors, or other active local citizens, who all share a concern for the wellbeing of the community where they live or work, and a need to work with others for the best possible future for that community. Containing practical advice, templates, and real-life case studies for different stages in local regeneration, including fundraising, partnership development and project management, as well as support for personal development, and illustrations of key points by cartoonist Kipper Williams, this is an essential guide for anyone in local regeneration.