November 12, 2008. Editorial by Michelle Wyman, ICLEI USA Executive Director. It’s no secret that President-elect Obama has instilled a new sense of optimism in people who are passionate about climate protection, both in the United States and across the globe. In President-elect Obama, local governments have a new partner who has promised to listen to their needs and address their priorities. Throughout his campaign, Obama pledged to address the needs of urban communities. In June 2008, at a s more...

2003 , Publishers - Routledge. By Paul Chatterton and Robert Hollands. 'Much attention has been paid to the way urban areas have restructured as a consequence of global forces, however, changes emanating from local powers have been largely overlooked. Chatterton and Hollands help rectify this one-sidedness with their first rate study of nightscapes, the increasing use of space for youth oriented consumer activities. Their empirically based and theoretically informed discussion of playscapes, inc more...

Giora Rahav, Tel-Aviv University. Giora Rahav received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Indiana University in 1974. He tought criminology at Tel Aviv University and Florida State University. He has recently joined the School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University. 'Society is not static; rather, it changes over time, and for this reason, the concept of social control takes on dynamic properties. At a most basic level, the intention of social control is to maintain coherence within the social order. Some more...

By Jet Damazo. Asian Development Bank (ADB) project helping improve living conditions for resettled ethnic minorities in Viet Nam. When VANG Thi Bich and her family were relocated to the Huoi Long resettlement site in Lai Chau province in Viet Nam in 2005 to make way for the Son La hydropower project, much of their way of life changed. “We used to farm in wetlands in our previous village, and now at the resettlement site the soil type is different. We are not familiar with paddy cultivation in more...

The League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), the umbrella organization for Philippine cities recently marked the completion of the third phase of the City Development Strategies (CDS 3) project, implemented with support from the Cities Alliance and the World Bank. At a workshop it held in Quezon City, attended by city mayors, CDS local teams, consultants, development partners, financing institutions and national government officials the LCP spotlighted the project achievements of the 15 CDS3 c more...

Addressing environmental degradation and ensuring environmental sustainability are inextricably linked to the World Bank Group’s mandate to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), an independent unit within the World Bank Group, has examined Bank Group support for environmental sustainability from 1990 to 2007. While there are difficulties in comparing the experience in the public and private sectors, a contribution of this evaluation is in bringing more...

Edited by Maja Daruwala and Venkatesh Nayak, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative 2008.
This book is a collection of case studies from across the globe, testifying to the power of right to information laws in bringing about the practical realization of human rights for everyday people. Time and time again, these stories demonstrate how access to information has provided the means for people to demand respect for their rights, from the right to food, health care and education, to the right to b more...

By Francesco Bandarin, Director, World Heritage Centre, UNESCO. 'Just weeks after the fall of the Taliban regime and at the end of two decades of war and civil unrest, Kabul looks at itself. The predominant landscape is made of ruins. Hundreds of buildings levelled by years of crossfire. The major urban infrastructures, roads, waterways, public buildings, chopped and torn into pieces. Monuments and museums devastated and ransacked. Groups of homeless people wander around the ruins and squat wher more...

By M. Vitor Serra, Lead Urban Specialist, The World Bank. 'The poor, worldwide, resort to all sorts of means to house themselves in the face of a housing industry and policies that fail to provide them with affordable options. In the last fifty years, as rural to urban migration expanded across all regions, the practice of self-help housing resulted in vast housing settlements which have baffled governments and society. At times, urbanization itself was put to blame for exacerbating this problem more...

By Jeffrey Soule, American Planning Association’s representative in China and the South East Asia. Li Yuanchao is Party Secretary of the Jiangsu Province. Interview with Li Yuanchao translated by Rime Sun. 'The Capital of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing is an important educational, cultural and transportation center in the lower Yangtze area of Eastern China, a region rich in agricultural, industrial and cultural resources. Nanjing’s policies and programs will influence other cities in both the re more...