This paper describes and illustrates a range of participatory strategies to assist urban managers in expanding the role and effectiveness of user participation in the provision and operation and maintenance of infrastructure. To demonstrate how participation has been effectively employed in various circumstances, numerous case studies are cited. Finally, measures and steps are outlined that could be instrumental in realizing participatory strategies. (Adapté du résumé de l'auteur).

The book contains a selection of papers on urban governance in its multiple perspectives. It has evolved from the presentations made at the Third International Conference on Public Policy and Management held in 2008.The topics are grouped into several themes: Urban Plan and Governance, Urban Governance through Partnership and Participation, and Financing Urban Infrastructure. With several examples from developing nations, the book dwells into the practical and managerial aspects of urban planning, partnerships, participation, financial mobilization and effective governance. One of the highlights of the book is that it looks at financial mobilization as a strategy for governance and how the financial system in itself can be an instrument of governance.

This paper reviews the specific actions which municipalities and city governments may take in contributing to urban poverty reduction. It highlights examples of issues, options, and constraints which urban government have to address in grappling with poverty and focuses on municipalities and other city-level government entities as a critical institutional level on intervention, particularly in addressing issues relating to service delivery. (Adapté du résumé des auteurs).

Human Settlement Development is a component of Encyclopedia of Institutional and Infrastructural Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Human Settlement Development deals, in nine parts and four volumes , with a myriad of issues of great relevance to our world such as: Urban Sustainability and the Regional City System in the Asia Pacific; Peri-Urbanization: Zones of Rural - Urban Transition; Urban Sustainability: Theoretical Perspectives on Integrating Economic Development and the Environment; Rural Sustainability; Using Foreign Direct Investment to Improve Urban Environmental Infrastructure and Services- The Case of Hanoi, Vietnam; The Long Road Towards Sustainable Cities: The Dutch case; Urban Dimensions of Sustainable Development; Rural Development: Participation and Diversity for Sustainability; The Cities, the State and the Markets: In Search of Sustainability These four 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 research paper describes the main results from the community of Angyalfold, in Budapest, Hungary. The research is concerned with the strategies adopted by the urban poor to reduce vulnerability and prevent impoverishment during periods of economic stress. This type of study assists policymakers in designing effective locally based solutions that ensure the poor are themselves active agents of growth, rather than passive recipients of compensatory measures. Three features distinguish this study from other poverty studies:a micro-level approach combining households and communities as the main units of analysis, an unusually long period of observation for some communities and households, and a comparative framework offering fours cases with very different economic development levels and institutional contexts. The study concludes with some priority recommendations for action:1) support households in their role as safety net; 2) alleviate constraints on women's labor supply; 3) ensure that social capital is not taken for granted; 4) develop social policy that integrates human capital and social capital; 5) pursue further research; and 6) develop tools and indicators to strengthen the assets of the poor.

This book provides a framework for governing policy implementation by various stakeholders during the delivery of infrastructure projects. This framework relies on the tenets of the Viable Systems Model (VSM), a systems cybernetic model that enjoys a high level of acceptance in organizational analysis. The book presents a step-by-step guide for the multi-level governance of implementation during project delivery. Although the book focuses on the context of local content development policy and construction projects (infrastructure), it is presented in a manner that allows it to be adapted to other policies and sectors. The book includes a step-by-step methodology for assessing policy implementation in project or policy delivery systems. In addition, it shares insights into the probable challenges faced by the actors within the delivery system in achieving optimal implementation performance. Critical success factors are also highlighted, and illustrative diagrams of the framework are provided to facilitate understanding. The book is logically structured and presented in a straightforward manner. Also, the transposition of the VSM from a conventional organizational context to a multi-organizational context will appeal to readers with a background in systems thinking, monitoring or evaluation.

Over the last two decades the concept and practice of Local Economic Development (LED) has gained widespread acceptance around the world as a locally-based response to the challenges posed by globalization, devolution, local-level opportunities, and economic crises. Support for local economic development is now firmly on the agenda of many national governments and key international agencies. This volume examines the debates about Local Economic Development and examines some of the unfolding experiences of LED in the developing world. The focus is upon the region of southern Africa, and more especially upon post-apartheid South Africa. LED emerged in South Africa as one of the more significant post-apartheid development options being pursued by empowered localities with the overt encouragement of national government. Elsewhere in the developing world, much interest surrounds the experience of LED in post-apartheid South Africa, which is seen as a laboratory for experimentation, innovation, and learning. The seventeen chapters in this book examine the range of LED interventions that have been the basis for experimentation in the last decade, including both pro-market as well as pro-poor interventions. Key themes include debates about the most appropriate policy directions for LED, its contribution towards sustainable development, the role of social capital, cluster support, public procurement, eco-development, good governance and tourism-led LED. The book also contains a series of detailed case studies on the implementation of LED in South Africa and the wider region of southern Africa, including analyses of LED undertaken at a variety of scales from the provincial, metropolitan, and small-town level. Until now, most research on local economic development has focused on the developed world. This volume breaks new ground in applying LED policy and practices to problems specific to the developing world. It will be of interest to scholars of development studies, urban and regional planning, human geography, and urban studies. "This compelling and comprehensive book provides a look at the innovative (including pro-poor) local economic development strategies being used in South Africa. The contributors [to Local Economic Development in the Changing World: The Experience of Southern Africa] are among the very best scholars in the field." -Gary Gaile, University of Colorado "Etienne Nel and Christian Rogerson have produced an excellent book on local economic development in South Africa. The chapters in this timely volume contain many valuable lessons for both the developing and the developed world. Of particular importance is the policy focus of Nel and Rogerson on investing in and empowering low-income workers, entrepreneurs, families, and neighborhoods. Because of the special emphasis on inclusive economic development strategies, this book is a very useful guide to what the Prague Institute calls "Treating People and Communities as Assets." -Dr. Marc A. Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Prague Institute for Global Urban Development Etienne Nel is associate professor in the Department of Geography of Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. Christian M. Rogerson is professor of human geography, School of Geography, Archaeology, and Environmental Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

In this book scholars present new interpretations of African cities, from the pre-colonial to the modern, set in the context of national and international economy, politics and culture. While providing insights into the evolution of African cities, they also raise issues of vital importance to the survival of African cities. The chapters capture the mixed legacies of colonialism and the lingering consequences of neo-colonialism in a so-called age of globalisation.