Interrelationship between spatial structure and scenario of development is the focal theme of this volume. Attributes of the environment, man, his culture and society and their interaction shape the spatial structure which ultimately determine the pace of development. Unless transferential approach of resource exploitation is not changed to transformational one it is difficult to reduce the glaring disparity in development. Transformational approach is people oriented and nature oriented development concept, in which social justice, welfare, quality of life and environmental protection are kept at par with the economic growth.

What makes certain cities more competitive than others? Why is it that countries often find talent concentrated more so in a few regions than evenly spread across the country? What are the economic drivers that make cities more productive? These are a few of the many questions that this volume aims to answer.

This book carries out an initial assessment of Nepal s urban growth and spatial transformation, with a focus on spatial demographic and economic trends, economic growth drivers and infrastructure requirements of Nepal s urban regions.

This book documents and analyses spatial planning in Ghana, providing a comprehensive and critical discussion of the evolving institutional and legal arrangements that have shaped and defined Ghana’s spatial planning system for more than seven decades; the contemporary policy instruments and mechanisms for articulating and implementing policies and proposals at multiple scales; and the formally established procedures for development management. It covers important themes in contemporary spatial planning discourse, including the evolving meaning, scope and purpose of spatial planning globally; the scales of spatial planning (i.e. national, regional, sub-regional and local); multi-level integration within spatial planning; public participation; the interface between urbanization, sustainable growth management and spatial planning; spatial planning and housing development; integrated spatial development and transportation planning; and spatial planning and the urban informal economy. Intended for undergraduate and graduate students, and academic researchers and practitioners/policy-makers in the multidisciplinary field of spatial planning, it appeals to readers seeking an international perspective on spatial planning systems and practices.

Spatial planning, strongly advocated by government and the profession, is intended to be more holistic, more strategic, more inclusive, more integrative and more attuned to sustainable development than previous approaches. In what the authors refer to as the New Spatial Planning, there is a fairly rapidly evolving maturity and sophistication in how strategies are developed and produced. Crucially, the authors argue that the reworked boundaries of spatial planning means that to understand it we need to look as much outside the formal system of practices of ‘planning’ as within it. Using a rich empirical resource base, this book takes a critical look at recent practices to see whether the new spatial planning is having the kinds of impacts its advocates would wish. Contributing to theoretical debates in planning, state restructuring and governance, it also outlines and critiques the contemporary practice of spatial planning. This book will have a place on the shelves of researchers and students interested in urban/regional studies, politics and planning studies.

The conventional belief that all regions have equally benefited from China’s remarkable development over the last three decades is subjected to criticism in this book as Hong Yu systematically analyses the issue of regional inequality during the post-1978 period using the case of Guangdong. Guangdong is one of the key industrial centres and economic powerhouses in China and as a pioneer province, instigating economic reform as China opened up to the world, it offers an ideal focus upon which to question and enrich the Western theories of economic geography and regional disparity. Based on field research, analysis of geographic characteristics and regression models, this book illustrates how Guangdong’s impressive development record has been marred by its rising regional disparity, investigates the main causes of this disparity, and draws conclusions regarding the lessons China can learn from it. Economic Development and Inequality in China will be of interest to students and scholars of Chinese economics, Chinese regional studies, economic geography and China Studies. Hong Yu is a Visiting Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore. His research interests lie in the field of regional economy. He is the author of a chapter on China’s two delta regions in the book "China and The Global Economic Crisis".

Social and Economic Development is a component of Encyclopedia of Development and Economic Sciences in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Social and Economic Development provides the essential aspects and a myriad of issues of great relevance to our world such as: Socioeconomic Developmental Social Work; Perspectives on Contemporary Socioeconomic Development; Sustainable Development of Natural Resource Capital; Sustainable Development Of Human Resource Capital; Intellectual And Knowledge Capital For Sustainable Development At Local, National, Regional, And Global Levels; Economic And Financial System Development Information And Knowledge; Institutional And Infrastructure System Development Information And Knowledge; Basic Principles Of Sustainable Development; Environmental Economics And Sustainable Development; Implementing Sustainable Development In A Changing World; Economic Sociology: Its History And Development; The Socioeconomics Of Agriculture; Agricultural And Rural Geography; Impact Of Global Change On Agriculture; Human Nutrition: An Overview; The Role Of Inter- And Nongovernmental Organizations; Nongovernmental Organizations; Social And Cultural Development Of Human Resources. This 8-volume set contains several chapters, each of size 5000-30000 words, with perspectives, issues on social and Economic Development. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license Maritime or marine spatial planning has gained increasing prominence as an integrated, common-sense approach to promoting sustainable maritime development. A growing number of countries are engaged in preparing and implementing maritime spatial plans: however, questions are emerging from the growing body of MSP experience. How can maritime spatial planning deal with a complex and dynamic environment such as the sea? How can MSP be embedded in multiple levels of governance across regional and national borders – and how far does the environment benefit from this new approach? This open access book is the first comprehensive overview of maritime spatial planning. Situated at the intersection between theory and practice, the volume draws together several strands of interdisciplinary research, reflecting on the history of MSP as well as examining current practice and looking towards the future. The authors and contributors examine MSP from disciplines as diverse as geography, urban planning, political science, natural science, sociology and education; reflecting the growing critical engagement with MSP in many academic fields. This innovative and pioneering volume will be of interest and value to students and scholars of maritime spatial planning, as well as planners and practitioners. Jacek Zaucha is Professor of Economics at Gdánsk University, Poland. He is long experienced in maritime spatial planning, and is currently leading the team preparing the first plan for Polish waters. Kira Gee is Research Associate at the Centre for Materials and Coastal Research (Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht), Germany. She has been involved in MSP research and practice for over 20 years, and has participated in numerous national and transnational European MSP projects.

This open access book is the first to systematically introduce the principles of urban informatics and its application to every aspect of the city that involves its functioning, control, management, and future planning. It introduces new models and tools being developed to understand and implement these technologies that enable cities to function more efficiently – to become ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’. The smart city has quickly emerged as computers have become ever smaller to the point where they can be embedded into the very fabric of the city, as well as being central to new ways in which the population can communicate and act. When cities are wired in this way, they have the potential to become sentient and responsive, generating massive streams of ‘big’ data in real time as well as providing immense opportunities for extracting new forms of urban data through crowdsourcing. This book offers a comprehensive review of the methods that form the core of urban informatics from various kinds of urban remote sensing to new approaches to machine learning and statistical modelling. It provides a detailed technical introduction to the wide array of tools information scientists need to develop the key urban analytics that are fundamental to learning about the smart city, and it outlines ways in which these tools can be used to inform design and policy so that cities can become more efficient with a greater concern for environment and equity.