The simulation of urban growth can be considered as a useful way for analyzing the complex process of urban physical evolution. The aim of this study is to model and simulate the complex patterns of land use change by utilizing remote sensing and artificial intelligence techniques in the fast growing city of Mahabad, north-west of Iran which encountered with several environmental subsequences. The key subject is how to allocate optimized weight into effective parameters upon urban growth and subsequently achieving an improved simulation.

This is covers land administration and
reform in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is highly relevant to all
developing countries around the world. It provides simple
practical steps to turn the hugely controversial subject of
"land grabs" into a development opportunity by
improving land governance to reduce the risks of
dispossessing poor landholders while ensuring mutually
beneficial investors' deals. This book shows how Sub

In 1986 the World Bank prepared a
strategy for low-income housing in developing countries.
This work grew out of the Bank's efforts to support the
urban poor through an extensive housing assistance program
that was launched by Bank President McNamara's speech
on urban poverty. By that time, the Bank had provided more
than $4 billion of such assistance, and had undertaken an
extensive research effort to design support for that

The chapters in this volume underscore
the transformative role of globalization and urbanization,
and show the interplay between these forces. Trade reform
and liberalized foreign investment regimess have contributed
to the spatial reallocation of economic activity toward
cities, especially those cities that can attract and nurture
human capital and strong connections to other markets.
Global factors have, therefore, reinforced agglomeration

The transition economies of Central and
Eastern Europe, through the reform process of
decentralization, are now seeking the devolution of fiscal
powers, and responsibilities from central, to local
governments, within financially sustainable environments. To
this end, a system of local budgets, and taxes needs to be
devised, over which local governments may have control.
Thus, this report focuses on the tax on immovable real

This is the sixth edition of the World
Development Indicators in its current format, the 25th since
the World Bank began publishing a comprehensive set of
development indicators. It begins with a report on the
Millennium Development Goals, which set specific, measurable
targets for development in the early 21st century. To
measure progress, results have to be measured and for that
good statistics are needed. Most of the statistics in this

An estimated 80,000-100,000 Dominican
farmers produce coffee and cocoa, nearly 40 percent of all
agricultural producers. The sectors also provide employment
for tens of thousands of field laborers and persons employed
in linked economic activities. The majority of coffee and
cocoa producers are small-scale and most are located in
environmentally sensitive watersheds. Recent trends in
international commodity markets have challenged the survival

The World Bank research program seeks to
improve the design of Bank-financed projects, and programs
to increase the effectiveness of aid, and improve
recognition of emerging problems, in a responsive manner to
crises. Moreover, this program supports policy-oriented
research in developing, and transition economies, by
assisting in the development of research capacity in member
countries, as well as improving the Bank's own advisory

This report is the successor to the
Country Economic Memorandum for Tanzania prepared in 1996
(World Bank 1996). The 1996 memorandum focused on the
challenge of reforms and paid particular attention to the
impact of reforms on growth, incomes, and welfare in
Tanzania. The present report draws out lessons from
Tanzania's development experience of the past four
decades, with emphasis on the period since the last report,

This report is a pocket edition of the
"World Development Indicators (report no. 22099)."
It is intended as a quick reference for users of the World
Development Indicators 2001" book and CD-ROM, and of
the World Bank Atlas, which between them cover more than 600
indicators spanning more than 30 years. The 207 country
pages in this report present the latest available data for
World Bank members and other economies with populations of

Informal settlements are an integral
part of the urban landscape in developing countries. These
settlements are widely distributed within cities, including
central business centers and peripheral areas with
environment hazards. In most cases, residents of these
settlements do not have access to basic public services and
amenities. In this paper, the authors examine the impact of
interventions, such as upgrading basic services and

Las ciudades de la región latinoamericana se expanden incontroladamente para atender la enorme demanda social de todos los niveles de ingreso. En este proceso irreversible de crecimiento demográfico y expansión urbana, las ciudades se convierten en ávidas consumidoras de recursos naturales, principalmente agua, que después de ser utilizada es vertida en un alto porcentaje sobre cauces a cielo abierto. También son vertidos todos los desechos sólidos o basura, residuos del consumo doméstico en comidas.