It has increasingly been recognised that rural and urban areas are inextricably interlinked. This book adopts a fresh approach to the issue of rural-urban dynamics through a study of the changing nature of livelihoods, mobility and markets in ten study sites across four countries of Africa and Asia. Building on detailed fieldwork conducted in Ghana, Tanzania, Vietnam and Thailand, the authors explore how settlements and livelihoods are being transformed as long-term inhabitants and recent migrants embrace new economic activities many of which are linked to global markets.

The book...

Since the early 1990s, governments and development agencies have become increasingly preoccupied with the pursuit of regional competitiveness. However, there is considerable confusion around what exactly regional competitiveness means, how it might be achieved, whether and how it can be measured, and whether it is a meaningful and appropriate goal for regional economies. The central aim of this book is to provide a comprehensive and critical account of these debates with reference to theory, policy and practice, and thus to explore the meaning and value of the concept of regional...

Neoliberalism's market revolution has had a tremendous effect on contemporary mega-city regions. The negative consequences of market-oriented politics for territorial growth have been recognized. While a lot of attention has been given to how planners and policy makers are fighting back political fragmentation through innovative governance and planning, little has been done to reveal such practices through an international comparative perspective.

Governance and Planning of Mega-City Regions provides a comparative treatment and examination of how new approaches in...

Current societies face unprecedented risks and challenges connected to climate change. Addressing them will require fundamental transformations in the infrastructures that sustain everyday life, such as energy, water, waste and mobility. A transition to a 'low carbon' future implies a large scale reorganisation in the way societies produce and use energy. Cities are critical in this transition because they concentrate social and economic activities that produce climate change related emissions. At the same time, cities are increasingly recognised as sources of opportunities for climate...

Design is central to every service or good produced, sold and consumed. Manufacturing and service companies located in high cost locations increasingly find it difficult to compete with producers located in countries such as India and China. Companies in high-cost locations either have to shift production abroad or create competitive advantage through design, innovation, brand and the geographic distribution of tasks rather than price.

Design Economies and the Changing World Economy provides the first comprehensive account of the relationship between innovation, design,...

The role of advertising in everyday life and as a major employer in post-industrial economies is intimately bound up with processes of contemporary globalization. At centre of the advertising industry are the global advertising agencies which have an important role in developing global brands both nationally and internationally. This book indentifies and addresses questions on the globalization of advertising through detailed study of the contemporary advertising industry in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York City and the way advertising work has changed in the three cities over recent...

The East and Southeast Asia region constitutes the world's most compelling theatre of accelerated globalization and industrial restructuring. Following a spectacular realization of the 'industrialization paradigm' and a period of services-led growth, the early twenty-first century economic landscape among leading Asian states now comprises a burgeoning 'New Economy' spectrum of the most advanced industrial trajectories, including finance, the knowledge economy and the 'new cultural economy'. In an agenda-setting volume, New Economic Spaces in Asian Cities draws on stimulating...

Globalization, Modernity and The City weaves together broad social themes with detailed urban analysis to explore the connections between the rise of big cities, the creation of a global network and the making of the modern world. It explains the growth of big cities,...