Across the developing world the preceding decade or so has witnessed a profound reconfiguration of the political economy of urban policy. This new policy environment is driven by globalization, the neo-liberal macro-economic package of 'market enablement' and structural adjustment, which now form the dominant development paradigm. The consequences of this approach for urban development agendas and ultimately the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the globe are profound. Market Economy and Urban Change explores and evaluates urban sector and development policies in the context of market enablement, and the associated instruments of structural adjustment, urban management reform and 'good' governance. By articulating the linkages between this neo-liberal development paradigm and the way different actors in the urban sector enact policy responses, the book provides an understanding of both the factors driving market enablement, and its impacts on urban sector policies and programmes.With case studies drawn from countries such as Egypt, Mexico, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia and transitional economies, the book focuses in particular on the implications for land, shelter and related sectoral policies for poverty alleviation. By linking policy to practice, the book seeks to inform policy-makers in governments, donor and implementing agencies of the impact of shifts in the development debate on urban sector strategies.

This book draws on a wide range of conceptual and empirical materials to identify and examine planning and policy approaches that move beyond the imperative of perpetual economic growth. It sketches out a path towards planning theories and practices that can break the cyclical process of urban expansion, crises, and recovery that negatively affect ecosystems and human lives. To reduce the dramatic social and environmental impact of urbanization, this book offers both a critique of growth-led urban development and a prefiguration of ecologically regenerative and socially just ways of organizing cities and regions. It uncovers emerging possibilities for post-growth planning in the fields of collective housing, mobility, urban commoning, ecological land-use, urban–rural symbiosis, and alternative planning worldviews. It provides a toolkit of concepts and real-life examples for urban scholars, urbanists, activists, architects, and designers seeking to make cities prosper within planetary boundaries. This book speaks to both experts and beginners in post-growth thinking. It concludes with a manifesto and glossary of key terms for urban scholars, students, and practitioners.

Urban Tourism and Urban Change: Cities in a Global Economy provides both a sociological / cultural analysis of change that has taken place in many of the world's cities. This focused treatment of urban tourism examines the implications of these changes for urban management and planning sense, for success and failure in metropolitan change. Uniquely suited for teaching purposes, Costas Spirou integrates numerous case studies of cities to illuminate the significant impact and promise of tourism on urban image and economic development.

Today, the Bay Area is home to the most successful knowledge economy in America, while Los Angeles has fallen progressively further behind its neighbor to the north and a number of other American metropolises. Yet, in 1970, experts would have predicted that L.A. would outpace San Francisco in population, income, economic power, and influence. The usual factors used to explain urban growth—luck, immigration, local economic policies, and the pool of skilled labor—do not account for the contrast between the two cities and their fates. So what does? The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies challenges many of the conventional notions about economic development and sheds new light on its workings. The authors argue that it is essential to understand the interactions of three major components—economic specialization, human capital formation, and institutional factors—to determine how well a regional economy will cope with new opportunities and challenges. Drawing on economics, sociology, political science, and geography, they argue that the economic development of metropolitan regions hinges on previously underexplored capacities for organizational change in firms, networks of people, and networks of leaders. By studying San Francisco and Los Angeles in unprecedented levels of depth, this book extracts lessons for the field of economic development studies and urban regions around the world.

Accession to the EU in May 2004 was a historic milestone for the spatial and urban development of the new member states. Meanwhile, the social and economic transition during the pre-accession phase already brought about radical changes in national urban systems and new challenges for regional development. In this edited volume, a carefully selected and specially commissioned set of articles, written by experts from both the new and the old EU member states, presents a comprehensive assessment of emerging political and planning solutions at local, regional, national and EU levels. Topics include brownfield redevelopment in the Czech Republic, urban sprawl in Hungary, the upgrading and integration of marginalized Roma settlements in Eastern Slovakia and sustainable coastal management in Cyprus.

Based on the work of Karl "Chip" Case, who is renowned for his scientific contributions to the economics of housing and public policy, this is a must read during a time of restructuring our nation's system of housing finance.

This book explores and evaluates urban sector and development policies in the context of market enablement. By articulating the linkages between this neo-liberal development paradigm and the way different actors in the urban sector enact policy responses, the book provides an understanding of both the factors driving this policy framework and the impacts of these policies on urban sector policies and programmes. In particular, the book focuses on the implications of the shift from welfare to market economies on different aspects of urban development policies and practices, particularly with regard to land, shelter and related sectoral policies for poverty alleviation. By linking policy to practice, the book seeks to inform governments, donor and implementing agencies of the impact of shifts in the development debate on urban sector strategies.