Contained within this authoritative text is the exciting history of the manufacture of toy forts and castles in western Europe throughout the turbulent nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 800 images, this book provides detailed information on who made these castles, palaces, and fortresses, when, where, and how, and with what materials. The author focuses especially on manufacturers in Germany and Great Britain, but covers Denmark, Belgium, and France as well-and describes the fascinating story of the industry's rise and demise. Company histories show how these manufacturers, often successive generations of families, dealt with the enormous economic and political obstacles of the times. Organized spreadsheets with serial numbers, dates, dimensions, and distinctive features of products will satisfy the curiosities of toy collectors, museum curators, archivists, antique dealers, architectural history buffs, and more.

Planning under Pressure offers managers, planners, consultants and students a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the Strategic Choice Approach, which has gradually been attracting worldwide recognition as a fresh, versatile and practical approach to collaborative decision-making under uncertainty. Starting from basic principles, the book uses helpful diagrams and clear explanations to demonstrate practical ways of approaching daunting decision problems; of devising possible ways forward; and of working effectively towards agreed courses of action. Along he way, decision makers are helped to cope with diverse sources of uncertainty - technical, political, managerial - in a strategic manner. In this extended third edition, the authors have added short contributions from 21 users from seven countries. These new contributors present lessons from their varied experiences in adapting the Strategic Choice Approach to guide decision-making and learning in settings ranging from the re-routing of a controversial city carnival procession to national policy for the management of nuclear waste.

Planning under Pressure offers managers, planners, consultants and students a comprehensive and authoritative guide to the Strategic Choice Approach, which has gradually been attracting worldwide recognition as a fresh, versatile and practical approach to collaborative decision-making under uncertainty. Starting from basic principles, the book uses helpful diagrams and clear explanations to demonstrate practical ways of approaching daunting decision problems; of devising possible ways forward; and of working effectively towards agreed courses of action. Along he way, decision makers are helped to cope with diverse sources of uncertainty - technical, political, managerial - in a strategic manner. In this extended third edition, the authors have added short contributions from 21 users from seven countries. These new contributors present lessons from their varied experiences in adapting the Strategic Choice Approach to guide decision-making and learning in settings ranging from the re-routing of a controversial city carnival procession to national policy for the management of nuclear waste.