Over 800 million adults worldwide, two thirds of them women, are unable to reap the benefits of literate expression. In this book, the author aims to dispel the notion that illiteracy is principally confined to rural areas, which has for many years been the main focus of development programmes. Through a series of case studies and analysis this book provides a valuable insight into what literacy can mean in an urban setting and explores the many ways it is used to enhance the lives of individuals. It highlights the need for greater understanding of the diversity of literacy learning and explores the practical issues in providing assistance to those who aspire to improve their literacy skills.

This edited volume is a compilation of the ‘built environment’ in response to many investigations, analyses and sometimes mere observations of the various dialogues and interactions of the built, in context to its ecology, perception and design. The chapters concentrate on various independent issues, integrated as a holistic approach, both in terms of theoretical perspectives and practical approaches, predominantly focusing on the Global South. The book builds fabric knitting into the generic understanding of environment, perception and design encompassing ‘different’ attitudes and inspirations. This book is an important reference to topics concerning urbanism, urban developments and physical growth, and highlights new methodologies and practices. The book presumes an understanding unearthed from various dimensions and again woven back to a common theme, which emerges as the reader reads through. Various international experts of the respective fields working on the Global South contributed their latest research and insights to the different parts of the book. This trans-disciplinary volume appeals to scientists, students and professionals in the fields of architecture, geography, planning, environmental sciences and many more.

bookdown: Authoring Books and Technical Documents with R Markdown presents a much easier way to write books and technical publications than traditional tools such as LaTeX and Word. The bookdown package inherits the simplicity of syntax and flexibility for data analysis from R Markdown, and extends R Markdown for technical writing, so that you can make better use of document elements such as figures, tables, equations, theorems, citations, and references. Similar to LaTeX, you can number and cross-reference these elements with bookdown. Your document can even include live examples so readers can interact with them while reading the book. The book can be rendered to multiple output formats, including LaTeX/PDF, HTML, EPUB, and Word, thus making it easy to put your documents online. The style and theme of these output formats can be customized. We used books and R primarily for examples in this book, but bookdown is not only for books or R. Most features introduced in this book also apply to other types of publications: journal papers, reports, dissertations, course handouts, study notes, and even novels. You do not have to use R, either. Other choices of computing languages include Python, C, C++, SQL, Bash, Stan, JavaScript, and so on, although R is best supported. You can also leave out computing, for example, to write a fiction. This book itself is an example of publishing with bookdown and R Markdown, and its source is fully available on GitHub.

A collection of essays that analyze the interconnections between race, ethnicity, and sport.

The Aga Khan Rural Support Program (AKRSP) in northern Pakistan has become a model for rural development programmes throughout the country and worldwide. This is the fourth independent evaluation of the AKRSP by the World Bank, which seeks to assess how the programme can best meet present and future challenges and development needs. The assessment covers the period since the programme's initiation in 1982, as well as the period since the last evaluation in 1995. It concentrates on four programme components: community organisations, infrastructure development, natural resource management, and microfinance.