The paper presents the key objectives
for the rehabilitation of historic centers or medinas in the
Middle East and North Africa as elaborated by the World Bank
on the basis of twenty years of past and present lending and
technical assistance operations to the governments of the
region. These are: 1) the conservation of the urban and
cultural heritage; 2) the local economic development of the
historic city; and 3) the improvement of the living

In 2006-07, the Water and Sanitation
Program (WSP) initiated research to identify barriers to
service delivery for the urban poor. The findings of the
research have been presented in the Guidance Notes on
Improving Water Supply and Sanitation Services to the Urban
Poor in India. The Urban Global Practice Team of WSP decided
to expand the ambit of this research to a global context as
the learnings were relevant to experiences across Africa,

This study, the first to concentrate on
Bangladesh's energy systems and their effects on the
lives of rural people, drew on these background studies, as
well as other World Bank-financed research on IAP and rural
infrastructure, to present a rural energy strategy for the
country. The study's broad aim was to identify ways to
improve the living standard in rural Bangladesh through
better and more efficient use of energy, while creating an

In conflict situations, peace settlements and cease-fire agreements may often, end violent conflicts, but do not prevent renewed violence or guarantee a permanent end to conflicts.5 According to the World Bank, chances that renewed conflicts will erupt are high and even higher when control over natural resources is at stake.6 In the past two decades alone, Africa has experienced violent conflicts with successive cease-fire agreements and peaceful settlements, which have often been followed by outbreaks of new conflicts.

This paper presents a new type of land
market analysis relevant to cities with plural tenure
systems as in West Africa. The methodology hinges on a
systemic analysis of land delivery channels, which helps to
show how land is initially made available for circulation,
how tenure can be formalized incrementally, and the
different means whereby households can access land. The
analysis is applied to the area of Bamako in Mali, where

The effects determined in the landscape by plants powered by renewable sources represent some unresolved issues in terms of visual and landscape impact mitigation in general. These aspects relate to the landscape are recognized in all types of impact with due attention to the various components and dynamics involved identifiable in the landscape of reference.

The Netherlands has a coastline of over 400 miles but they have always been characterized by an uneasy relationship with the sea. Because of geomorphology that puts the country on average 5 meters below sea level, the Dutch urban planning, at all levels of government, has always questioned the need to defend themselves from river and marine flooding; over the centuries it has developed a pragmatic approach , enshrined in various national laws and in the establishment of the Ministry of Water Management, which has set as its main objective the defense of the territory from the water.

We  highlight the mysterious liquidity that oversees the interpretation of the nature of the relation sea and cities, using to hyperbole from James Conrad in " Heart of Darkness ", while the reference to Saskia Sassen highlights the need of strong policies in the governance of reciprocity relationships. The heart of darkness continues to envelop the sea-land relations , as witnessed by the suffering of migrants on the sea and also the new faces of the suffering city ( migrant's reception centers in Italy) . It is believed that culture has a role in unraveling the mystery.

Haliç (The Golden Horn) is a mythical place that belongs not only to the history of Istanbul but to the whole of Europe. At Haliç land and sea merge: the natural harbour of ancient Constantinople, home to the naval arsenal and place of delights, it saw its natural and urban state change completely in the final phases of the Ottoman Empire. Its recent history has been marked by a process of intense industrialization, developing uncontrollably on its banks between the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Urbanization is the single most
important transformation that the African continent will
undergo this century. More than half of Africa's
population will live in its cities by 2040. In the face of
rapid urbanization, there is a narrow window of opportunity
to harness the potential of cities as engines of economic
growth, and use this as a powerful leverage to achieve
sustainable development and poverty reduction. Despite its

The Congo Basin represents 70 percent of
the African continent's forest cover and constitutes a
large portion of Africa's biodiversity. Agricultural
development is a central lever to help people out of
poverty, as well as a key driver of deforestation.
Forest-friendly agricultural development is a challenge for
the region. This report describes some ways forest-friendly
agricultural development can materialize in the Congo Basin.

Reducing the footprint of growth
requires a focus on three key issues: a) transforming urban
areas into greener, more efficient, resilient, and socially
inclusive cities, better able to capture the economic
benefits associated with urbanization; b) ensuring sound
management of the brown environmental agenda to provide the
conditions for continued sustainable economic green growth
while preventing and minimizing negative impacts and risks