In the last few years research on regional development has increased dramatically. Real-world concerns have - to a certain extent - driven this scientific concern of interest. The field has been given a big boost in particular by the process of European integration and the attempt to understand how this deeper integration will work at the regional level. This volume makes a modest attempt to reconsider the issue of regional development mainly from an European perspective and in the light of the transition of society towards a knowledge-driven economy. It originated from the Thirteenth European Advanced Studies Institute in Regional Science, held in Istanbul, July 2-8, 2000. In producing the book, as friends and colleagues, we have benefited from the possibility of exchange of ideas and experience. We have also received useful assistance from the referees who have offered observations and advice in their written reports. The soundness of their comments has contributed immensely to the quality of the volume. We should, in addition, like to acknowledge the timely manner in which contributing authors have responded to our requests, and their willingness to follow the stringent editorial guidelines.

In the last few years research on regional development has increased dramatically. Real-world concerns have - to a certain extent - driven this scientific concern of interest. The field has been given a big boost in particular by the process of European integration and the attempt to understand how this deeper integration will work at the regional level. This volume makes a modest attempt to reconsider the issue of regional development mainly from an European perspective and in the light of the transition of society towards a knowledge-driven economy. It originated from the Thirteenth European Advanced Studies Institute in Regional Science, held in Istanbul, July 2-8, 2000. In producing the book, as friends and colleagues, we have benefited from the possibility of exchange of ideas and experience. We have also received useful assistance from the referees who have offered observations and advice in their written reports. The soundness of their comments has contributed immensely to the quality of the volume. We should, in addition, like to acknowledge the timely manner in which contributing authors have responded to our requests, and their willingness to follow the stringent editorial guidelines.

Streets Reconsidered is a fundamental rethinking of America's streets. It explores the future of streets and what America's roadways could be if they were designed for living, instead of just driving. The book includes: detailed design guidelines, fully illustrated, four color case studies of successful streets from around the world, a new paradigm of streets designed to promote human functions, turning new design ideas into a series of best practices that can be applied to any community. What would streets look like if they accommodated people of all ages and abilities, promoted healthy urban living, social interaction and business, the movement of people and goods and regeneration of the environment? Streets Reconsidered pushes beyond the current standards, focusing on the planning, design and construction of streets as a method for improving our built environment for everyone. The book is organized by the functions of a street: mobility, way finding, commerce, social gathering, events and programming, play and recreation, urban agriculture, green infrastructure and image and identity. Streets Reconsidered is the essential resource for city planners, urban designers, developers, architects, landscape architects, policymakers and community members who share a passion for great urban, human spaces.

Repairing the American Metropolis is based on Douglas Kelbaugh’s Common Place: Toward Neighborhood and Regional Design, first published in 1997. It is more timely and significant than ever, with new text, charts, and images on architecture, sprawl, and New Urbanism, a movement that he helped pioneer. Theory and policies have been revised, refined, updated, and developed as compelling ways to plan and design the built environment. This is an indispensable book for architects, urban designers and planners, landscape architects, architecture and urban planning students and scholars, government officials, developers, environmentalists, and citizens interested in understanding and shaping the American metropolis.

Population Policy Reconsidered brings together a rare combination of scholars, feminists, social activists, and policy-makers across many disciplines to critically reexamine the scientific foundation of contemporary population policies. This book explores population policy dilemmas based on the perspective of ethics, women's empowerment and health, and human rights. The seventeen chapters are centered around the premise that the single-minded pursuit of demographic goals may not be the most effective means of achieving policy objectives--for such may lead to the abuse or violation of choice and human rights, especially of women. Rather, the book explores the alternative idea that population policies should focus on those ultimate aims of development that are linked to human reproduction--health, social empowerment, and human rights. If respectful of individuals, especially women, such policies are likely to promote better individual welfare and may well also result in desirable demographic outcomes.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina laid bare the tragedy of American cities. What the storm revealed about the social conditions in New Orleans shocked many Americans. Even more shocking is how widespread these conditions are throughout much of urban America. Plagued by ineffectual and inegalitarian governance, acute social problems such as extreme poverty, and social and economic injustice, many American cities suffer a fate similar to that of New Orleans before and after the hurricane. Gentrification and corporate redevelopment schemes merely distract from this disturbing reality. Compounding this tragedy is a failure in urban analysis and scholarship. Little has been offered in the way of solving urban America's problems, and much of what has been proposed or practiced remains profoundly misguided, in David Imbroscio's view. In Urban America Reconsidered, he offers a timely response. He urges a reconsideration of the two reigning orthodoxies in urban studies: regime theory, which provides an understanding of governance in cities, and liberal expansionism, which advocates regional policies linking cities to surrounding suburbs. Declaring both approaches to be insufficient--and sometimes harmful--Imbroscio illuminates another path for urban America: remaking city economies via an array of local economic alternative development strategies (or LEADS). Notable LEADS include efforts to build community-based development institutions, worker-owned firms, publicly controlled businesses, and webs of interdependent entrepreneurial enterprises. Equally notable is the innovative use of urban development tools to generate indigenous, stable, and balanced growth in local economies. Urban America Reconsidered makes a strong case for the LEADS approach for constructing progressive urban regimes and addressing America's deepest urban problems.