Sustainability notions have been widely embraced by planners. However, the question of what can planners contribute to the advancement of such notions has not received much attention until now. This volume examines the potential contribution of planning to the advancement of sustainability at sub-national level, and the limitations it faces in doing so. Bringing together case studies from the US, UK, Poland, Israel, South Africa, The Netherlands and Italy, it covers a wide range of issues and contexts, ranging from the metropolitan to the community level. On the basis of these case studies, the book shows that planners do indeed have a variety of options to advance sustainability notions at these levels, and appear to be doing so. The book proposes that planners should operate at two levels: firstly to change institutional structures, and secondly to advance sustainability notions incrementally in the meantime, within the existing institutional constraints.

In the context of forest sustainability, this book presents the issues related to both global climate change and conservation of biodiversity. It highlights four methodologies and shows how they contribute in overcoming the ecological challenges facing our world. The practical experience presented can be applied to the implementation of successful sustainable forestry policies.

The environmental history of Israel is as intriguing and complex as the nation itself. Situated on a mere 8,630 square miles, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf, varying from desert to forest, Israel's natural environment presents innumerable challenges to its growing population. The country's conflicted past and present, diverse religions, and multitude of cultural influences powerfully affect the way Israelis imagine, question, and shape their environment. Zionism, from the late nineteenth onward, has tempered nearly every aspect of human existence. Scarcities of usable land and water coupled with border conflicts and regional hostilities have steeled Israeli's survival instincts. As this volume demonstrates, these powerful dialectics continue to undergird environmental policy and practice in Israel today. Between Ruin and Restoration assembles leading experts in policy, history, and activism to address Israel's continuing environmental transformation from the biblical era to the present and beyond, with a particular focus on the past one hundred and fifty years. The chapters also reflect passionate public debates over meeting the needs of Israel's population and preserving its natural resources. The chapters detail the occupations of the Ottoman Empire and British colonialists in eighteenth and nineteenth century Palestine, as well as Fellaheen and pastoralist Bedouin tribes, and how they shaped much of the terrain that greeted early Zionist settlers. Following the rise of the Zionist movement, the rapid influx of immigrants and ensuing population growth put new demands on water supplies, pollution controls, sanitation, animal populations, rangelands and biodiversity, forestry, marine policy, and desertification. Additional chapters view environmental politics nationally and internationally, the environmental impact of Israel's military, and considerations for present and future sustainability.

This book explores cities and the intra-regional relational dynamics often overlooked by urban scholars, and it challenges common representations of urban development successes and failures. Gathering leading international scholars from Europe, Australia and North America, it explores the secondary city concept in urban development theory and practice and advances a research agenda that highlights uneven development concerns. By emphasising the subordinate status of secondary cities relative to their dominant neighbours the book raises new questions about regional development in the Global North. It considers alternative relations and development strategies that innovatively reimagine the subordinate status of secondary cities and showcase their full potential.

Evaluation is a critical stage in urban and regional planning and development, with the consideration of alternative proposals essential for informed debate and decision. Evaluation in planning has become even more important with the new paradigm attempting to integrate economic efficiency with equity, sustainability and social responsibility. The craft of pre-development evaluation has long been influenced by Nathaniel Lichfield, and in his honour, this book brings together prominent researchers and practitioners to discuss evaluation in planning: its conceptual foundations and subsequent development, its strengths and persisting dilemmas, and its best practices and their potential for improving future planning and development. The chapters trace evaluation in planning from its historical origin to current applications. Part one reviews the evolution of evaluation theory and practice, and part two contains a selection of best-practice application. The final integrating chapter notes key problems, and offers directions for future development in evaluation research and practice.

Urban Regeneration is widely discussed but less widely understood. Fully revised with important new policy, case studies and international analysis, the Second Edition of Urban Regeneration will correct that. The 16 chapters, written by leading experts, are organised into four sections: The Context for Urban Regeneration: The history and evolution Major Themes and Topics: Including Housing, Community, Employment and the Environment Key Issues in Managing Urban Regeneration: Including Legal and Organisational considerations Experience Elsewhere and a View of the Future: Expanded section now discussing Australia and the Celtic Fringe as well as Europe and the USA This is the essential handbook for practitioners involved in regeneration, as well as students of planning, urban studies, geography and architecture.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, policymakers around the world are focusing once again on government debt sustainability. In China, subnational government debt is an important part of total government debt, and therefore deserves the attention that policymakers have paid to the topic. Subnational debt has played an important role in financing China’s impressive infrastructure that is the envy of the world. It was instrumental in the economic stimulus that China so effectively staged after the global financial crisis, through which China maintained high levels of economic activity. This e-book reports on the proceedings of a joint P.R. China Ministry of Finance-World Bank international workshop on Subnational Debt Management held in Nanning, China in October 2015. Looking at both the Chinese perspective on this subject of subnational debt and selected international experiences along with experts’ perspectives together, we provide a syntheses of key issues which China needs to consider going forward in subnational debt management and restructuring. The roundtable discussion among international and Chinese experts oat the workshop on the way forward for China provided an illuminating discussion which highlighted the need for a transitional strategy for subnational financing, and the need to use debt sustainability as a guide for transition, which will involve tough fiscal policy choices and restructuring of the subnational economies concerned (not just debt restructuring alone). The urgency of strengthening budget and debt management prudent public investment prioritization and management in the subnational context cannot be emphasized enough.