A co-publication of the World Bank, International Finance Corporation and Oxford University Press

An analysis of the influences on urban planning in Europe. Detailed case studies are used to explore planning policies in a range of European cities, and discuss the social and environmental objectives that influence today's urban planner.

This book highlights aspects distinctive to France in economic, social, political and cultural spheres.

Play is one of humanity's straightforward yet deceitful ideas: though the notion is unanimously agreed upon to be universal, used for man and animal alike, nothing defines what all its manifestations share, from childish playtime to on stage drama, from sporting events to market speculation. Within the author's anthropological field of work (Mongolia and Siberia), playing holds a core position: national holidays are called "Games," echoing in that way the circus games in Ancient Rome and today's Olympics. These games convey ethical values and local identity. Roberte Hamayon bases her analysis of the playing spectrum on their scrutiny. Starting from fighting and dancing, encompassing learning, interaction, emotion and strategy, this study heads towards luck and belief as well as the ambiguity of the relation to fiction and reality. It closes by indicating two features of play: its margin and its metaphorical structure. Ultimately revealing its consistency and coherence, the author displays play as a modality of action of its own. "Playing is no 'doing' in the ordinary sense" once wrote Johan Huizinga. Isn't playing doing something else, elswhere and otherwise ?

How well are the French? What are the most important health-related issues for children of under 15 years of age, for young and older adults, for the elderly? What geographically and socially based inequalities affect health status? How can patients and users of the health care system -- members of the public -- be brought into the making of decisions that affect them in this literally vital field? Is our health care system well organised? And is it working in an efficient and democratic way? How are questions of resource allocation settled? This is the third in a series of official reports (the previous ones were published in 1994 and 1998) compiled by the High Committee on Public Health to analyse health status in the country, with an in-depth review of the strengths and weaknesses of the system as a whole. This report combines a critical analysis of the current health care system with a review of key current and projected health-related issues, focusing on public health targets identified from as broad and all-inclusive a perspective as possible.

How did the French Resistance and Allied forces work together to liberate southern France from the Germans during World War II? Arthur Funk gives the first detailed account of the complex British, French, and American operations in 1944, an account that uses a wealth of original source material on both sides of the Atlantic to evaluate the role of the French Resistance and to assess the problems in coordinating Allied military activities. The study should be of great interest to historians, history buffs, and colleges and universities that wish to fill this gap in the historiography of World War II. The first half of the book deals with preparations for the Allied landings in August 1944, telling about agents first in contact with the French Resistance and about the work of Allied missions, French groups, and British officers and teams directed from London and Algiers. The second half of the book covers the collaboration of French Forces of the Interior with the U.S. Seventh Army in the liberation of Marseilles, Lyon, and other cities in southeastern France. Filled with interesting detail about major figures in the war and little-known agents and officers, the book is unique in weaving together recently declassified OSS sources in Washington with British and French archival information that is rarely noted. Maps and photographs are included in the book, and a useful bibliography is also provided.