Municipal / city government Books
PublicAffairs,U.S. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot
Book SynopsisOnce upon a time, a group of libertarians got together and hatched the Free Town Project, a plan to take over an American town and completely eliminate its government. In 2004, Grafton, NH, a barely populated settlement with one paved road, turned that plan into reality.Public funding for pretty much everything shrank: the fire department, the library, the schoolhouse. State and federal laws didn't disappear, but they got quieter: meek suggestions barely heard in the town's thick wilderness.The bears, on the other hand, were increasingly visible. Grafton's freedom-loving citizens ignored hunting laws and regulations on food disposal. They built a tent city, in an effort to get off the grid. And with a large and growing local bear population, conflict became inevitable.A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear is both a screwball comedy and the story of a radically American commitment to freedom. Full of colorful characters, puns and jokes, and one large social experiment, it is a quintessentially American story, a bearing of our national soul.
£14.24
Berghahn Books Heritage, Gentrification and Resistance in the
Book Synopsis What happens when versions of the past become silenced, suppressed, or privileged due to urban restructuring? In what ways are the interpretations and performances of ‘the past’ linked to urban gentrification, marginalization, displacement, and social responses? Authors explore a variety of attempts to interrupt and interrogate urban restructuring, and to imagine alternative forms of urban organization, produced by diverse coalitions of resisting groups and individuals. Armed with historical narratives, oral histories, objects, physical built environment, memorials, and intangible aspects of heritage that include traditions, local knowledge and experiences, memories, authors challenge the ‘devaluation’ of their neighborhoods in official heritage and development narratives.Trade Review “Heritage, Gentrification and Resistance in the Neoliberal City is a timely and relevant volume that presents a cohesive interdisciplinary focus on how the processes, borders, and injustices of gentrification are produced and challenged through the lens of heritage in cities of the Global North. The critical heritage perspective that this volume foregrounds asserts considerations of heritage as a key player – on equal footing as economic, political, and environmental concerns - in the fast capitalist transformations that post-industrial cities are experiencing globally today.” • Krysta Ryzewski, Wayne State University “… this manuscript offers much needed dialogue on the topic of heritage and its role/resistance in the neoliberal city…while there are several individual works out there on the topic, I have not found a comprehensive work that addressed the various intersections needed for a critical exploration of gentrification and heritage. This one does so beautifully while directly connecting heritage to politics of identity and memory in a neoliberal city.” • Kelly M Britt, Brooklyn College,Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: Exploring Injustices through Heritage in the Neoliberal City Feras Hammami, Daniel Jewesbury and Chiara Valli Part I: Heritage through Gentrification in the Post-Industrial City Chapter 1. Theorizing Heritage in the Post-Industrial City Maris Boyd Gillette This chapter is available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. The author gratefully acknowledges funding from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond for the project 'Mining for tourists in China,' grant no. Dnr P18-0515:1. Not for resale. Chapter 2. The Value of the Uncool: Reflections on the Demolition of an Old Re-used Industrial Area Helena Holgersson Chapter 3. ‘Cleaning up’ Heritage in the Post-Industrial City: Making Heritage, Gentrification and Legitimacy in Gamlestaden Feras Hammami and Chiara Valli Part II: Gentrification through Heritage-Making and Remaking Chapter 4. Beyond the Good, the Neutral and the Consensual: Heritage between the Police and the Political Višnja Kisić Chapter 5. Whose Heritage, Whose City? Questions from the Revolting New York Project Don Mitchell Chapter 6. ‘Virtuous Marginality’ Revisited and Revised: Distance, Difference and the Selection of Objects of Preservation in an Era of Hyper-Gentrification Japonica Brown-Saracino Part III: Gentrification through Heritage-Led Resistance Chapter 7. The Dynamic Authenticity of Local Mixed Streets: Street Heritage and Activism in Belfast City Centre Agustina Martire and Anna Skoura Chapter 8. Gentrification and Public Heritage in Rome: The Potential and Ambiguities of the ‘Right to Buy’ Policy as a Strategy to Stay Put Sandra Annunziata, edited by Loretta Lees Chapter 9. Public Art, Docile Bodies and the ‘Post-Conflict’ City Daniel Jewesbury Epilogue: Reflections on Heritage, Gentrification, Resistance Daniel Jewesbury, Feras Hammami and Chiara Valli Index
£89.10
State University of New York Press Urban Citizenship and American Democracy
Book SynopsisExamines city politics and policy, federalism, and democracy in the United States.After decades of being defined by crisis and limitations, cities are popular again-as destinations for people and businesses, and as subjects of scholarly study. Urban Citizenship and American Democracy contributes to this new scholarship by exploring the origins and dynamics of urban citizenship in the United States. Written by both urban and nonurban scholars using a variety of methodological approaches, the book examines urban citizenship within particular historical, social, and policy contexts, including issues of political participation, public school engagement, and crime policy development. Contributors focus on enduring questions about urban political power, local government, and civic engagement to offer fresh theoretical and empirical accounts of city politics and policy, federalism, and American democracy.
£65.04
Bristol University Press Local Government in Europe: New Perspectives and
Book SynopsisDrawing on classical and emerging research perspectives, this comprehensive book provides an up-to-date review of local government in Europe. Featuring an impressive range of contributors from both eastern and western Europe, the book addresses three main topics: territorial reforms, democratic empowerment of citizens and the role of local leadership, as well as new trends in local finances. Acknowledging their inherent diversity, the book examines the ways that local governments have responded to shared challenges, such as climate change, increasing populism and democratic deficit in order to identify both the variety and communalities between the country-specific features. In doing so, it provides a rich picture of the latest trends in local government, as well as pointing the way for future developments.Table of ContentsPART I The Size of Municipal Reforms When Size Matters 1 Advancing the Research Agenda on Local Territorial Reforms: Taking Time and Space Seriously ~ António F. Tavares 2 Too Big To Be Local: Local and National Elite Complicity in the Narrative of English Council Mergers ~ Colin Copus, Alistair Jones and Rachel Wall 3 Consequences of Forced Municipal Mergers: Evidence from Norway ~ Harald Baldersheim and Lawrance E. Rose 4 Local Government Reforms in Denmark and Norway: Reform Tools and Outcomes ~ Kurt Houlberg and Jan Erling Klausen 5 One Size Does Not Fit All: Growing Cities and Shrinking Towns in the Spanish Local Map ~ Carmen Navarro and Esther Pano 6 Institutional Changes and Shifting Roles: Local Government Reform in Hungary, 2010–14 ~ Gábor Dobos 7 Territorial Reforms in Bulgaria: The Cases of Municipal Divorces ~ Desislava Kalcheva 8 Participation of Interest Groups at Local Level: Any Space for Democracy in Inter- Municipal Cooperation? ~ Jurga Bučaitė-Vilkė PART II Local Democracy and Leadership 9 Municipal Size and the Nationalization of Local Party Systems: The Nationalized, Localized and Regionalized Local Party Systems of Denmark, Poland and Belgium ~ Adam Gendźwiłł, Ulrik Kjaer and Kristof Steyvers 10 Co-creating the Tolerant City: The Role of Inspirational Civic Leadership ~ Robin Hambleton with a contribution by Wirginia Aksztejn 11 Urban Leadership: German and Polish Mayors in Comparison ~ Hubert Heinelt 12 Urban Climate Leadership in Metropolitan Areas: How Has the Political Parliamentary Model Influenced Oslo’s Climate Leadership? ~ Gro Sandkjær Hanssen PART III Keeping the Pace with a Balanced Balance Sheet 13 Democratic Functions of Local Budgets ~ Jerzy Bartkowski 14 Does Urban Sprawl Pay Off for the Suburban Municipal Budget in Poland? ~ Julita Łukomska and Jarosław Neneman 15 Should Tourists Pay Local Taxes and Why Yes? ~ Marta Derek Conclusion 16 Perspectives on European Local Government: Putting Local Democracy First! ~ Marta Lackowska, Katarzyna Szmigiel-Rawska and Filipe Teles
£72.00
Peter Lang Publishing Inc Analysis of the Development of Beijing (2020)
Book SynopsisThis book provides an overview of the rapid development Beijing has seen in a wide range of areas in 2019, both within itself and as an integral part of a larger region, as China’s economic development continues to improve in overall quality and regional coordination. A review of China’s regional economic development in 2019-2020 is followed by 11 chapters that cover Beijing’s achievements and challenges in economic development, public services, social governance, building a national cultural center, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional development coordination, creative city construction and nighttime economic development. This book is a valuable reference for anyone trying to gain a better understanding of the what, how, and why with regard to one of the world’s fastest growing mega-cities.Table of ContentsList of Figures – List of Tables – Regional Economic Research Group/Beijing Academy of Social Sciences: Situation and Prospects of China’s Regional Economic Development from 2019 to 2020 – Economic Situation Analysis and Forecast Research Group/Beijing Academy of Social Sciences: Analysis and Forecast of Beijing’s Economic Situation from 2019 to 2020 – Research Group on "Public Service Innovation and Development in Beijing," Beijing Academy of Social Sciences Management Institute: The Distribution of Quality Public Service Resources Tends to be Balanced and the Overall Quality of Public Services Keeps Improving in Beijing – Yin Xingchen: New Progress, Problems, Countermeasures and Suggestions for Social Governance in Beijing in 2019 – Tan Rihui/Wang Tao: Building More Harmonious and Stable Communities: Analysis and Forecast of China’s Social Governance from 2019 to 2020 – Research Group on "Comprehensive Evaluation of Public Service Performance in Sixteen Districts of Beijing," Beijing Academy of Social Sciences Management Institute: Comprehensive Evaluation of Public Service Performance in Sixteen Districts of Beijing in 2019 – Li Jiansheng: Strengthening Cultural Confidence and Promoting the Construction of a National Cultural Center – Li Weidong: Forming New Social Synergy and Promoting Balanced Social Development – Zhao Hong/Wang Deli/Fang Fang/Xu Li Luyi: Research on Beijing’s Reduction-Oriented Development in the Context of Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region – An Jing/Lei Lan: Current Situation, Characteristics, Problems and Countermeasures of Coordinated Cultural Development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region in 2019 – Chen Hongyu: New Progress in and Policies on Building Beijing into a Creative City in 2019 – Wang Shujiao: Analysis Report on Nighttime Economic Development in Beijing in 2019.
£69.30
Liverpool University Press Power, Politics and Territory in the ‘New
Book SynopsisIn the wake of the Good Friday Agreement, the redevelopment of the former Girdwood Army Barracks in North Belfast was hailed as a ‘symbol of hope’ for Northern Ireland. It was a major investment in a former conflict zone and an internationally significant peacebuilding project. Instead of adhering to the tenets of the Agreement, sectarianism dominated the regeneration agenda. Throughout the process, politicians, community groups and paramilitaries wrangled over the site’s future, and territorial contest won out over housing need. After eleven years of negotiation and £11.7 million, the EU-funded Girdwood Community Hub opened its doors to the public in 2016, but its impact has been underwhelming. The Hub’s redevelopment is a microcosm of the peace process itself, and the ways in which post-Agreement politics have failed to deliver a ‘shared future’ for the people of Northern Ireland, twenty-five years on. This ethnography provides a lively account of Girdwood’s redevelopment and a wry critique of the fractious political context around it. Through flânerie and encounter, the author brings us across peace walls, into community meetings and behind the scenes of decision-making in Northern Ireland. Girdwood’s story also sheds light on how power, politics and territory intersect in divided cities globally.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Planning, Politics and Contested Space The First Step: Musings on History, Ethnography and Methodology Politicking and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: The Good Friday Agreement and its Prescriptions ‘Frictions, factions and fractions’: Identity and Territory in North Belfast ‘Unlocking the Potential’: Grassroots Advocacy and the Girdwood Draft Masterplan Ethnic Champions and the Zero-Sum Game: Political Dynamics of the Northern Ireland Assembly Carve-Up or Compromise? The Bid for the Girdwood Community Hub The Trouble with ‘Community’: Paramilitaries and the Peace Industry in Northern Ireland ‘Shenanigans and Skullduggery’: Community Engagement and Argument at Girdwood Conclusion: ‘Better’ at Girdwood Community Hub: The Legacy of the Girdwood Development Epilogue
£95.00
Anthem Press Planning for Water Security in Southeast Asia:
Book SynopsisThe central premise of the book, as well as the key lesson for readers is that infrastructure is the backbone of democracy. Without it, the process of collective governance fades beyond the immediacy of daily life. Using this premise, the book describes several case studies from Southeast Asia – rapidly urbanizing communities in Gresik, Indonesia; Can Tho, Viet Nam; Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Ha Noi, Viet Nam –that illustrate the embeddedness of highly localized governance structures in the built infrastructure. These four case studies illustrating similar community phenomena across differing social, political, and cultural context will encourage readers to consider the material, built environment stakes underlying participatory democracy as well as the importance of democratic participation in the visioning, building and management of large-scale urban projects.Trade Review"This is a beautifully written book about an urgent topic: how marginalized communities are accessing water in rapidly urbanizing contexts. Spencer is masterful at balancing the messiness of case studies while not losing sight of what we can learn from these cases and possibly generalize and scale. The book will soon become required reading for practitioners and scholars alike interested in contexts where communities, civil society, and the state, to varying degrees, are struggling to innovate the delivery of core urban services where municipal financial resources are limited and urban populations are continuing to grow.”— Victoria A. Beard, Professor and Associate Dean for Research Initiatives, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Cornell University, USA."A cutting-edge framework linking community-level institutions with access to water in peri-urban areas. This book is a must-read for scholars and practitioners interested in inclusive urban policies."— Shabbir Cheema, former director of the UN Development Program and senior fellow of the East-West Center and Harvard Kennedy School."Spencer has produced a groundbreaking book, focusing on four case studies from three post-Cold War South-east Asian countries in the Global South, highlighting the importance of rural communities in developing alternatives to policies for community development and management dictated from on high; as well as managing new water infrastructure gaps that accompany rapid urbanization."— Edmond J. Keller, University of California Los Angeles, USA.“This book provides a vivid explanation of how local community institutions and collective governance play a fundamental role in shaping, not only a democratic process to meet their needs for public infrastructure and services but also a public policy making process for the urban sector in urbanizing cities in Southeast Asia. It is an invaluable resource for all readers from academicians, and development practitioners, down to community leaders to understand ways that community problems can be solved. The book comes just in time when constraints in local development finance and service delivery are countering one another in the urbanizing world. Thus, it is a useful reference for policy and decision-makers to take into account a proactive role in responding to the local needs.”— H.E. MENG Bunnarith, Ph.D., Deputy Director-General of Land Management and Urban Planning, and Deputy Secretary-General of National Committee on Land Management and Urban Planning, Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, Cambodia.This book is a reader-friendly presentation of the details of professional standards (i.e., FASB’s Accounting Codification Standard 820 and IFRS 13: Fair Value Measurement) and the practical issues in Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure, including the differences between GAAP Standards and IFRS Standards — ChoiceJames Spencer’s book develops a framework of interoperability in hybrid systems to critically investigate how community-based small-scale service providers interact with and complement big infrastructures to allow residents to maintain their water access entitlements in peri-urban geographies experiencing changing environments, economies, institutions, assets, and consumption patterns. The framework is applied to interrogate models of water infrastructure governance and supply provision across peri-urban, post–Cold War Southeast Asia in Gresik (Indonesia), Can Tho and Ha Noi (Vietnam), and Phnom Penh (Cambodia). —Nidhi Subramanyam, Journal of the American Planning AssociationTable of ContentsPreface; Introduction; 1. Water and Human Security; 2. Global Urbanization: The Confluence of Peri-Urbanization and Urban Transition; 3. Community-Based Public Finance of Deep well Water Systems in Peri-Urban Java ; 4. The Peri-Urbanization of Can Tho and the rise of Entrepreneurial Water Suppliers in the Mekong Delta; 5. Ha Noi: Bulk Water Retailing in Peri-Urban Areas; 6. Peri-Urbanization, Co-Production and Institutional Culture: The Case of the Phnom Penh, Water Supply Authority; 7. Beyond Resilience: Are we thinking about Entitlements, Participation and Governance in the Right Way?; References; Index
£72.00
Peter Lang AG, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Over the Atlantic: Diplomacy and Paradiplomacy in
Book SynopsisThe book is the result of a collective research work between the members of the team of the project "Over the Atlantic" (co-founded by the Erasmus + programme). A critical introduction presents the work, the content and the scope of the research, carried out with an interdisciplinary approach. This book consists of three main parts. The first discusses the institutionalization and normalization of paradiplomacy in some specific and well-documented case studies regarding the Latin America region. The second one refers to the relationship between paradiplomacy and cooperation in the context of international and regional relations. The third part analyses Cities and Parliaments as international diplomatic actors. The theme of Paradiplomacy, as a means of unofficial relationships that reacts differently to the pressure of the international system, and the role of the local authorities, despite its relevance and importance, is scarcely analysed by academia. Table of ContentsPart I: T The institutionalization and normalization of paradipiplomacy in foreign policy in Latin America and Europe Part II: Paradipiplomacy and cooperation, between international and regional relations Part III: B Beyond traditional state dipiplomacy: Cities and parliaments as international dipiplomatic actors
£31.50
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Strategies for Urban Network Learning:
Book SynopsisThis book presents international experiences in urban network learning. It is vital for cities to learn as it is necessary to constantly adapt and improve public performance and address complex challenges in a constantly changing environment. It is therefore highly relevant to gain more insight into how cities can learn. Cities address problems and challenges in networks of co-operation between existing and new actors, such as state actors, market players and civil society. This book presents various learning environments and methods for urban network learning, and aims to learn from experiences across the globe. How does learning take place in these urban networks? What factors and situations help or hinder these learning practices? Can we move from intuition to a strategy to improve urban network learning?Table of Contents1. Introduction: Studying Strategies for Urban Network LearningLeon van den Dool and Linze SchaapPART I. THEORIES AND REFLECTIONS2. Learning processes in an urban governance context: a theoretical explorationLeon van den Dool and Linze Schaap3. From “Best Practice” to “Relevant Practice” in International City-to-City LearningRobin HambletonPART II. APPROACHES TO URBAN GOVERNANCE NETWORK LEARNING4. City-Region Governance Labs: Governance Learning by Strategic Policymakers from European City RegionsLinze Schaap, Niels Karsten, Carlo Colombo, Maaike Damen5. Networking and Learning in Urban Living Labs: the Case of the Housing Innovation Lab in BostonGiorgia Nesti6. Understanding Gentrification: Learning through Field Visits to Amsterdam, Yogyakarta, and Rotterdam Remco Vermeulen7. Learning Through Collaboration: the Case of City Deals in The NetherlandsMarloes Dignum, David Hamers, David Evers 8. Two Reflexive Methods for Evaluating Public Policy Practice in Urban Network Contexts: Learning History and Learning EvaluationMichael DuijnPART III. TECHNIQUES FOR URBAN GOVERNANCE NETWORK LEARNING9. Learning in Complex Urban Networks: Can Group Mentoring Help?Leon van den Dool10. City Visitations as Instruments of Urban Network Learning: the Case of the 2011 Flemish City Visitations Herwig Reynaert, Arno Korsten, Tom Verhelst11. Crowd-Sourced Planning, Crowd-Monitoring, and Organisational LearningNorbert Kersting12. Can Peer-to-Peer Learning Support Energy Transition in Cities and Regions?Elena Marie Ensenado and Jen Heemann 13. Lessons about Learning from Serious Games: the Learning Potential of Co-creation and Gameplay in Participatory Urban Planning Processes Cristina Ampatzidou14. Urban Gaming: Learning about the Energy Transition at the Local Level with Go2ZeroGeertje Bekebrede15. Urban Network Learning: ConclusionsLeon van den Dool and Linze Schaap
£98.99
