Group items tagged

On the 'Nobel Prize in Economics' and the monopoly of neoclassical theory at university departments of economics February 12, 2010pesodLeave a commentGo to comments from Peter Söderbaum,  peter.soderbaum@mdh.se Early in October 2009 a journalist from a French business journal, Challenge, called me to discuss the so called Nobel Prize in Economics. He referred to a translated version of my critical article in Dagens Nyheter from 2004. I hope that the result from the interview was meaningful but at the same time I felt that I need to consider once more where I stand in relation to these issues. In what follows, there is a 'socially constructed' interview with myself in both roles; the person asking questions and the one responding. I hope this will clarify my position. At the final stage of writing these pages I heard of the new winners of the Economics Prize, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. A short comment on this is made as a postscript. Is economics a science as you understand it? I have nothing against thinking of economics as a science. Economics is one of the social sciences, such as political science, sociology, psychology, management science. There are also important relationships to the humanities, such as a possible focus on individuals as actors and their subjectivity. I am skeptical to the attempt to emphasize similarities between economics on the one hand and physics, chemistry, medicine on the other. The latter disciplines are too limited to positivism as a theory of science (standing outside, watching ecosystems and nature, looking for regularities in a value neutral way, making experiments etc.) You are skeptical to, if not against a Nobel Prize in economics; why is this so?For me, it is the combination of two states of affairs or facts that make me question the economics prize in its present form:  There is a dominance and monopoly for one kind of economics, 'neoclassical economics' at university departments of economics in

Climate change is one of the most challenging issues of our time. As key sites in the production and management of emissions of greenhouse gases, cities will be crucial for the implementation of international agreements and national policies on climate change. This book provides a critical analysis of the role of cities in addressing climate change and the prospects for urban sustainability. In the post-Rio era, international organizations and transnational networks have promoted the need for local action on global environmental issues. Part I considers the implications of these developments for understanding global environmental governance and urban sustainability. It outlines international and national responses to climate change, and documents the evidence to date on local responses to climate change, examining in detail the international Cities for Climate Protection programme. Part II presents a series of case-studies drawn from this transnational network in the UK, USA and Australia. Each case-study examines the development and implementation of local climate change policy, focusing on the issues of energy conservation, planning and transport. Part III compares the experience of the case-study cities in addressing climate change, and assesses the implications of these findings for urban sustainability and global environmental governance. Cities and Climate Changeis the first in-depth analysis of the role of cities in addressing climate change. The book argues that key challenges concerning the resources and powers of local government, as well as conflicts between local goals for economic development and climate change mitigation, have restricted the level of local action on climate change. These findings have significant implications for the prospects of mitigating climate change and achieving urban sustainability. This book provides a valuable interdisciplinary analysis of these issues, and will appeal to students and researchers interested in sustainability

CALL FOR PAPERS RETHINKING URBAN INCLUSION: SPACES, MOBILISATIONS, INTERVENTIONS to be held in Coimbra, Portugal, 28-30 June 2012 With almost half the world's population living in cities, questioning the urban dimension of social inclusion and exclusion is imperative. Urban inclusion is increasingly influenced - and often constrained - by intertwined processes of economic globalization, state re-articulation, polarization and diversification of (local) populations and the political practices they add to the city. Educational, health and environmental inequalities, segregation, unemployment, lack of political participation, discrimination and the inability to deal with different forms of participation are all phenomena of exclusion with a local dimension but a multi-scalar nature. At the same time, acting towards social inclusion is developed around ideas, knowledge(s), experiences, resources and capacities which are (dis)located across an array of arenas and distributed among different actors. While traditional concepts and practices of urban inclusion centered on institutions and top-down decision-making seem inadequate to tackle this complexity, new ones are often in their infancy and may be in tension with more established policies. Contesting the centrality of the state and market pervasiveness, a new variety of counter-hegemonic positions and projects, and alternative visions of urban democracy and justice that inform bottom-up and participatory approaches to urban inclusion, have become popular in the Global South, while their transposition to cities in the Global North have met resistance or hardly gone beyond theorization.  The Conference aims to understand and ultimately rethink social inclusion at the urban scale, as the product of broader dynamics and the interaction of different actors and languages. How can we trace, define, and challenge the new subtle forms of social and territorial exclusion, trying to reinvent urban in

he Environment, Space, and Place Division (ESPD) seeks participants for theTenth Annual Cultural Studies Association Meeting, to be held at theUniversity of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA,March 28-April 1, 2012 (1) Environmental CommodificationIn keeping with the conference theme of "Culture Matters," papers aresolicited for one session addressing "environmental commodification."  Theproduction of material culture necessarily engages use of the physicalenvironment.  But especially since the environmental movement gainedpopularity in the 1960s, we have seen the rise of environmentalcommodification in the form of products and marketing designed to sell theenvironment in the form of consumer goods, whether they be "green products"such as hemp clothing or "natural" products (e.g. cosmetics, scentedcandles, furniture) intended to make you feel you are bringing theenvironment into your home.  In this session, we want to critically examineproducts, practices and discourses engaged in the material commodificationof the environmental at any scale and in any location. (2)  Materiality of PlacesPlaces are socially constructed, but in many cases they are also materiallyproduced through architecture, landscaping, or the intentional placement ofobjects.  This session will look specifically about the role ofmateriality-rather than the organization of space itself-in the productionof places: choices of design, manufacture, materials, textures, colors andobjects as signs used in the production of place, intentionally orotherwise.  In doing so, this panel aims to explore the role thatmateriality plays in the production of place and, in turn, on socialrelations and cultural understanding. Persons interested in submitting papers for consideration in either sessionshould send the following:*       A 500-word abstract for your paper*       Name, email address, phone number, institutional affiliation, anddepartment.*       List of audiovisual

For four decades, the Center for Urban Policy Research has served the nation with basic and applied research on a broad spectrum of public policy issues. CUPR, a component of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, is nationally and internationally recognized for its research on affordable housing, land use policy, environmental impact analysis, state planning, public finance, land development practice, historic preservation, infrastructure assessment, development impact analysis, the costs of sprawl, transportation information systems, environmental impacts, and community economic development. As a full-time academic research institution, CUPR has developed a wide array of fiscal, environmental, transportation, and quality of life impact models that have been used in major public policy evaluations throughout the United States. Housed within the center is CUPR Press, one of the nation's premier publishers in the field of city and regional planning. (CUPR Press is now joined with Transaction Publishers.) Also housed there is R/ECON, a quarterly economic forecasting service for the state; the New Jersey Public Policy Research Institute (NJPPRI), a research center specializing in policy for and about the African-American community; and the Community Development Institute (CDI), a training institute for community development professionals. The Center's multidisciplinary faculty and staff have backgrounds in city and regional planning, economics, public administration, regional science, sociology, urban geography, computer programming, geographic information systems, and statistics. They have testified as expert witnesses before all branches of the federal government as well as state and local governments. Since its founding, the Center has completed more than $40 million in sponsored research for federal agencies, major private foundations, state and local government agencies in New Jersey, and a score of other states and private funders. Fede

Announcement and Call for Papers: Urban Environmental Pollution conference Following the success of our inaugural conference in 2010, we are delighted to announce the 2nd Urban Environmental Pollution conference with focus on Creating Healthy, Liveable Cities. In Boston in June of 2010, we began to explore the nature of the urban environment and pollution on human health and well-being. UEP2010 identified many areas of urban life that warranted further investigation and we aim to continue the exploration of the urban environment and how we can begin to create a healthy and liveable environment in cities.

Research Papers 220)     Cowen, Deborah and Vanessa Parlette Inner Suburbs at Stake: Investing in Social Infrastructure in Scarborough, June 2011, 86pp. ISSN 0316-0068; ISBN 978-0-7727-1482-4. 219)     Jim Simmons, Larry Bourne, and Shizue Kamikihara, The Changing Economy of Urban Neighbourhoods: An Exploration of Place of Work Data for the Greater Toronto Region, December 2009, 44 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1477-0 218)     Greg Suttor, Rental Paths from Postwar to Present: Canada Compared, December 2009, 59 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1476-3 217)     Michael Noble, Lovely Spaces in Unknown Places: Creative City Building in Toronto's Inner Suburbs, March 2009, 50 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1474-9 216)     Jason Hackworth, Habitat for Humanity and the Neoliberal Media: A Comparison of News Coverage in Canada and the United States, March 2009, 39 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1473-2 215)     David Wachsmuth, From Abandonment to Affordable Housing: Policy Options for Addressing Toronto's Abandonment Problem, November 2008, 48 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1472-5 214)     Katharine N. Rankin, with the assistance of Jim Delaney, Courtney Hood, Justin Ngan and Sabin Ninglekhu, Commercial Change in Toronto's West-Central Neighbourhoods, September 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-7727-1471-8 213)     Emily Paradis, Sylvia Novac, Monica Sarty, J. David Hulchanski, Better Off in a Shelter? A Year of Homelessness and Housing among Status Immigrant, Non-Status Migrant, and Canadian-Born Families, July 2008, 89 pp. ISBN-13 978-0-7727-1469-5 212)     Duncan Maclennan, Housing for the Toronto Economy, July 2008, 72 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1468-8 211)     R. Alan Walks and Richard Maaranen, The Timing, Patterning, & Forms of Gentrification & Neighbourhood Change in Montreal, Toronto, & Vancouver, 1961 to 2001, May 2008, 109 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-1465-7 210)     Jason Hackworth, Neoliberalism, Social Welfare, and the Politics of Faith in the United States, June 2007, 36 pp. ISBN 978-0-7727-145

[URBGEOG] CALL FOR PAPERS: Networked Regions and cities in times of fragmentation, 13-16 May 2012, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands Entrada X   Responder a todos Cristina Comunian Cristina.Comunian@regionalstudies.org para URBGEOG mostrar detalhes 10:13 (3 horas atrás) Regional Studies Association International Conference 2012 13 - 16 May 2012 - Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands Networked regions and cities in times of fragmentation: Developing smart, sustainable and inclusive places Call for papers Extended deadline for abstract submission: 20th February 2012 (early bird rates are also extended to the 20th February, after this date the full rate will apply)   http://www.regionalstudies.org/events/2012/May-Delft/    "…..Regions and cities are increasingly interdependent; economically, socially and environmentally. They are becoming more reliant on interregional flows of trade, labour and resources. Patterns of interactions between regions are experiencing rapid changes as a result of dramatic shifts in production and consumption patterns, advances in communication technologies and the development of transport infrastructure(…) The governance of regions faces multi-level, multi-actor and multi-sectoral challenges. New spatial interactions at new scales demand new approaches for consultation and coordination. More flexible forms of governance are emerging, working around traditional governmental arrangements. The result is a complex pattern of overlapping governance and fuzzy boundaries(…)"   The 2012 RSA conference in Delft provides a timely opportunity for participants to come together and reflect on the various strengths, weaknesses, challenges and opportunities of networked cities and regions within these different contexts of fragmentation.   Gateway Themes A. EU Regional policy and practice B. Climate change, energy and sustainability

Building sustainable urban settlements: approaches and case studies in the developing world Sam Romaya, Carole Rakodi 0 Resenhas ITDG Pub., 2002 - 299 páginas In this collection of studies, environmental, institutional, social and cultural aspects of sustainability are considered in a variety of towns and cities in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Central and South America. Many of the contributors focus particularly on meeting the needs of the urban poor. The main themes are: * urban environmental management with particular reference to economic activities and housing * achieving institutional, social and cultural sustainability * managing urban development processes to reduce their environmental impacts, to improve the produced built environments and sustain improved practices. Drawing on case studies of individual cities and countries as well as comparative research and analytical procedures, the international group of contributors evaluate government policies and practices and make suggestions for improvements.

This book addresses the problem of how to make a large-scale socio-technical transition to renewable energy, so as to realize an environmentally sustainable economy in the long run. Transition thinking has in a short time managed to occupy a central position in the policy debate on sustainable development. The transition approach offers an innovative view on the role and content of public policy, compared with traditional views from economic, administrative and political sciences. The main motivation for using this notion is that while it links up with the system-wide approach of sustainable development, it has the advantage of shifting the attention from a vague end goal (blueprint) to the processes leading towards this goal. These processes in turn provide a concrete basis for thinking about appropriate public policies, taking account of the complex relations between technologies, institutions and behaviours. This book offers perspectives from a wide range of disciplines, addressing macro, regional and local scales. Contributions come from mainstream economics, evolutionary economics, sociology, political sciences, innovation studies, spatial economics and decision theory. Important lessons are also drawn from historical transitions. Managing the Transition to Renewable Energy will appeal to academics and researchers in environmental science and economics, environmental and technological policy advisors, evolutionary economists and researchers on technological innovation

2011 Urban Environmental Accords Summit Focuses on Green Cities 13 October 2011: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Deputy Executive Director Amina Mohamed addressed the 2011 Urban Environmental Accords (UEA) Gwangju Summit, which convened under the theme of "Green Cities, Better Cities." Ban told the Summit that the experience of cities "can provide valuable input to the "Rio+20 discourse and outcomes," highlighting the opportunity to "scale up transformations already under way" to catalyze a development path that is sustainable. Mohamed underscored that green economy and sustainable development, through "resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production" are achievable goals. She outlined challenges for cities including, unsustainable resource and energy consumption, carbon emissions, pollution, and health hazards. But said cities also provided opportunities as they house "hope and innovation," are the focal points of the economy. Reflecting on the need to enable green cities, Mohamed called for policy frameworks at all levels of government, as well as new finance mechanisms and incentives. She urged policy makers to ensure that there are "synergies which simultaneously promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, deliver economic prosperity and reduce resource intensity, while promoting social inclusion." Looking torward the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), Mohamed indicated that UNEP would be looking for more adequate ways and means for strengthening cooperation and building partnerships with national and local governments to deliver the needed transformative change. The Summit is convening in Gwangju, Republic of Korea, from 12-13 October 2011. [UNEP Press Release, 12 October 2011] [UN Secretary-General's Speech] [UNEP Press Release, 13 October 2011]

RSA Annual International Conference 2011 17th - 20th April 2011, Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK Academic Papers Author(s) Title of Paper/Presentation Cristina Aragón, Mari Jose Aranguren, Maria Angeles Diez, Cristina Iturrioz and James R. Wilson Creating cooperation for clusters? Lessons from the implementation of a participatory policy evaluation process Jānis Balodis Polieconomics of African Civil Wars: Period 1950. - 2010 - Military Geographical Distribution Professor Andrew Beer Subversive Leadership: Hegemony, Contestation and the Future of Regions Professor Andrew Beer and Dr Selina Tually The Drivers of Regional Housing Markets in Australia: Evidence and Implications for Future Growth Paul Benneworth and Roel Rutten Territorial Innovation Models beyond the Learning Regions Bianchi P. and Labory S. Industrial Policy after the Crisis: the Case of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Italy Michail Biniakos The changing politics of Local and Regional Development and Governance in Romania Ph.D. Luis Felipe Martí Borbolla Business and social responsibility Petter Boye (Econ. Dr.) The changing role of OECD Territorial Reviews in policy conception and regional development David L. Brown, Benjamin C. Bolender, Laszlo J. Kulcsar, Nina Glasgow and Scott Sanders Inter-County Variability of Net Migration at Older Ages as a Path Dependent Process Dr Ignazio Cabras Community Cohesion in Rural UK: The Case of Rural Co-operatives and their Potential for Local Communities H. Caraveli and M. Tsionas Regional Inequalities in Greece: Determining factors, trends and perspectives Tony Champion and Alan Townsend British City Regions' Economies into Recession Anastassios Chardas Exploring the differential enforcement of the EU's Cohesion Policy added value: Administrative and institutional adjustments in Greece and Ireland. Nick Clifton, Phil Cooke and Høgni Kalsø Hansen Creative Knowledge Workers across 'Varieties of Capitalism': evidence from Sweden and the UK Joa

SPRAWL Sick of the suburbs: How badly designed communities trash our health 21 BY SCOTT CARLSON 23 JAN 2012 7:36 AM Richard Jackson, from the PBS miniseries, Designing Healthy Communities. This story is excerpted from a longer piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Researchers can have revelatory moments in remarkable places - the African savannah, an ancient library, or the ruins of a lost civilization. But Richard J. Jackson's epiphany occurred in 1999 in a banal American landscape: a dismal stretch of the car-choked Buford Highway, near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Jackson, who was then the head of the National Center for Environmental Health at the CDC, was rushing to get to a meeting where leading epidemiologists would discuss the major health threats of the 21st century. On the side of the road he saw an elderly woman walking, bent with a load of shopping bags. It was a blisteringly hot day, and there was little hope that she would find public transportation. ((At that moment, Jackson says, "I realized that the major threat was how we had built America." His center had already been dealing with problems that he suspected had origins in the built environment - asthma caused by particulates from cars and trucks, lead poisoning from contaminated houses and soil, and obesity, heart conditions, and depression exacerbated by lack of access to fresh food, stressful living conditions, long commutes, and isolating, car-oriented communities. Treatments could come in the form of pills, inhalers, and insulin shots, but real solutions had bigger implications. "More and more, I came to the conclusion that this is about how we build the world that we live in," he says. Jackson, who is now a professor and chair of environmental health sciences at the University of California at Los Angeles' School of Public Health, has since become one of the leading voices calling for better urban design for the sake

International Handbook On The Economics Of Mega Sporting Events Wolfgang Maennig , Andrew Zimbalist Edited by Wolfgang Maennig, Department of Economics, University of Hamburg, Germany and Andrew Zimbalist, Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics, Smith College, US April 2012 c 416 pp Hardback 978 0 85793 026 2 Hardback c£125.00 on-line price c£112.50 Qty Series: Elgar original reference Description From the Olympics to the World Cup, mega sporting events are a source of enjoyment for millions, but can also be a source of intense debate and controversy. In this insightful new Handbook, expert contributors address a number of central questions, including: How are host cities selected and under what economic conditions? How are these events organized, and how is local resistance overcome? Based on historical and empirical experience, what are the pitfalls for the organizers of these events? What are the potential economic benefits, including any international image effects? How can the costs be minimized and the benefits maximized for host cities and countries? How do these mega events impact the challenges of globalization and what is their environmental legacy? Contents Contributors include: G. Ahlfeldt, G. Andranovich, W. Andreff, R. Baade, O. Bass, R. Baumann, U. Bob, D. Brown, M. Burbank, R. Burton, A. Cartwright, A. Ceballos, D.M. Chin, D. Coates, L. de Melo, S. du Plessis, N. Eber, B. Engelhardt, A. Feddersen, R. Flores, D. Forrest, Y. Guo, C. Heying, Y. Hou, B. Humphreys, G. Kavetsos, S. Kesenne, R. Koning, J. Long, W. Maennig, B. Majumdar, V. Matheson, I. McHale, N. Mehta, M. Ölschläger, N. O'Reilly, P.K. Porter, A.R. Sanderson, I. Sanz, J. Schokkaert, B. Seguin, S. Shmanske, E. Sterken, B. Suessmuth, K. Swart, J. Swinnen, S. Szymanski, J.D. Tena, R. Tomlinson, H. van Egteren, T. Vandemoortele, C. Zhou, A. Zimbalist Further information From the Olympics to the World Cup, mega sporting events are a source of enjoyment for millions, but can also be

Due to request of delaying the submission by several authors, the deadline of "Cities, Technologies and Planning" (CTP 12) for submitting full paper has been extended to 28 February, 2012.  Due to request of delaying the submission by several authors, the deadline of "Cities, Technologies and Planning" (CTP 12) for submitting full paper has been extended to 28 February, 2012. "Cities, Technologies and Planning" CTP 12   http://www.unibas.it/utenti/murgante/ctp_12/descr.html in conjunction with The 2012 International Conference on Computational Science and its Applications (ICCSA 2012) June 18th  - June 20th, 2012 Federal University of Bahia , Salvador de Bahia, Brasil  http://www.iccsa.org/ Description 'Share' term has turned into a key issue of many successful initiatives in recent times. Following the advent of Web 2.0, such positive experiences based on mass collaboration generated "Wikinomics" have become "Socialnomics", where "Citizens are voluntary sensors". During the past decades, the main issue in GIS implementation has been the availability of sound spatial information. Nowadays, the wide diffusion of electronic devices providing geo-referenced information have resulted in the production of extensive spatial information datasets. This trend has led to "GIS wikification", where mass collaboration plays a key role in main components of spatial information frameworks (hardware, software, data, and people). Some authors (Goodchild, 2007) talk about "Volunteered Geographic Information" (VGI), as the harnessing of tools to create, assemble, and disseminate geographic information provided by individuals voluntarily creating their own contents by marking the locations of occurred events or by labeling certain existing features. not already been shown on map. The term "neogeography" is often adopted to describe people activities when using and creating their own maps, geo-tagging pictures,

Urban transport and the environment: an international perspective WCTR Society, Institute for Transport Policy Studies, Unʼyu Seisaku Kenkyū Kikō 0 Resenhas Emerald Group Publishing, 2004 - 515 páginas The damaging environmental impact of urban transport, as recognised by the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, is a worsening global problem that needs to be tackled with local solutions. At the same time, urban transport has been causing serious local environmental problems, particularly in developing countries. This book was commissioned with the aim of helping to develop solutions by sharing experience from around the world. Four extensive chapters by leading researchers give an overview of the problem, analyse structures and trends in urban transportation, list the various ways transport affects the environment, and critically review the whole range of policy countermeasures available. The second half of the volume is given over to a uniquely valuable collection of case studies of 21 metropolises, carefully selected to provide a cross-section of different types of city from across the developing and developed world. The relevant characteristics of these cities are systematically described: socio-economic background; local condition of transport and the environment; policy planning, implementation, and evaluation, all with concrete examples. Key data are then presented in charts with a common structure to facilitate comparisons between cities.

Urban transport XII: urban transport and the environment in the 21st century C. A. Brebbia, V. Dolezel 0 Resenhas WIT, 2006 - 935 páginas Transportation in cities, with its related environmental and social concerns, continues to be a topic of the utmost priority for urban authorities and central governments around the world. This is reflected in the proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century, stressing the continuous steady growth and research into the urban transport systems control aspects, information and simulation systems. The papers included in the volume cover a wide variety of topics, such as: Transport sustainability; Urban transport planning and management; Transport modelling and simulation; Transport logistics and operations research; Transport security and safety; Transport technology; Land use and transport integration; Environmental and ecological considerations; Intelligent transport systems; Public transport systems; Information systems and GPS applications and Road

Australian Planner is Australia's leading peer reviewed journal for the planning profession, and is the most read and influential planning journal in Australia and the Pacific Region. It is published quarterly, distributed in March, June, September and December each year. Readership includes those involved in the planning profession including government officials, university staff and students, urban designers, urban, regional, social, environmental, economic and transport planners, as well as those involved in related industries, both nationally and overseas. Australian Planner provides a forum for planning news, opinion and research and each edition of the journal contains a component surrounding a particular theme or topic of interest. Australian Planner has become a well respected publication and a very popular source of knowledge and information for professional planners and those involved in the built environment. Australian Planner provides the planning profession in Australia and Pacific Region with a platform for: Content related directly to informing, educating and interesting those in the planning and the built environment sectors across Australia and internationally To offer content on a wide spectrum of planning related issues and to relate these issues to the built environment in the 21st century To ensure that planners have a forum for mature and informed discussion and debate on relevant topics To assist in determining and promoting the cause of environmentally sustainable planning practices To continually improve the professional reputation and standing of Australian planners To link Australian based planners with global trends

nternational Handbook of Urban Policy: Contentious global issues H. S. Geyer 0 Resenhas Edward Elgar Publishing, 2007 - 348 páginas This first Handbook in a series of three original reference works looks at globally contentious urban policy issues from a wide variety of different angles and perspectives. Matters related to urban densification, population mobility, urban inequality and sustainability are analysed in a manner that will not only interest the advanced student but also the novice. Urban policy covers a vast field. This first volume combines chapters covering three broad themes: policy issues pertaining to the spatial aspects of the city; social and mobility issues; and issues of urban governance. The spotlight initially falls on urban structure, urban densification, the disappearing urban/rural divide, the urban economic landscape and the transformation of socialist economies. The Handbook then goes on to focus on migration, social mobility, crime, terrorism and social inequality. Finally, urban sustainability and urban governance come under the spotlight. Integration of the planning process, flexibilities in infrastructure and areas of neglect in environmental management feature strongly in this section of the Handbook. Books of this nature are often slanted in one particular direction: however, this Handbook's approach is different. Not only has the editor avoided shying away from politically sensitive issues but contributions have also been included that reflect distinct differences of opinion on politically sensitive issues - hence the volume's subtitle of 'contentious global issues'. As a Handbook, the chapters have been written not only for the advanced student and academics but also with undergraduate students in mind. The Handbook will appeal to scholars and researchers of geography and urban and development planning, demography and social science and environmental scientists for the focus on urban sustainability issues. « Menos

India is the first country to introduce environmental legislation in the constitution but because of lengthy legal procedures, it is very difficult to control environmental deterioration. There are many factors responsible for this deterioration. Coal mining is one such activity where deterioration is very severe and the present communication aims this aspect. Coal is the one of the most essential mineral having large reserves in India. It's mining and beneficiation produce a variety of pollutants. The main pollutants emitted during the processing of coal are green house gases, coal dust and acid mine drainage. Many reports on different aspects of coal mining are available including reports on emission of different pollutants but the present work is probably only of it's kind in which the authors have tried to determine environment liability directly in terms of economy. It was found that greenhouse liabilities, coal dust liability and sulphur liability are accounted for 12.07, 5.0 and 101.97 US$, making an overall 2.4% of the total economic gains due to coal mining. During the calculations approximate number of total workers and other parameters have been taken into consideration. Who pays for this irreversible damage is a question