The World development report 2010:
development and climate change highlights the link between
biotechnology, development, and environment. Aside from
recognizing biotechnology's potential to improve crop
productivity, increase crop adaptation to climatic stresses
such as drought, and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the
report emphasizes the need to establish science-based
regulatory systems 'so that risks and benefits can be

The focus of this discussion paper is on
institutional arrangements for the provision of public
transport bus services, including the introduction of
private capital in bus operations, the value of competitive
tendering mechanisms as a determining factor in selecting
suppliers, and the role of regulation. The purpose of this
paper is to assist Chinese municipalities by describing the
experience of other countries that have attempted to

The Institute of Comprehensive Transport
(NDRC) and the World Bank jointly carried out a study of
urban rail development in China. The joint study team
visited several selected cities that have developed or are
developing urban rail systems, including Beijing, Chongqing,
Wuhan, Changsha, Hangzhou, and Zhengzhou, and held
discussions with relevant agencies at the central and local
levels. This paper summarizes the key findings. It

Where do industries locate within a
metropolitan area? Do different industrial sectors have
different patterns of location/clustering? Can these
patterns be understood with reference to industry
characteristics? What is the geographical relationship
between clusters of different types of industry? To what
extent do localization economies influence the clustering
process? These questions are investigated with

The task of urban managers is to ensure the provision of basic urban services, such as water, waste removal, security, transport, and an environment conducive to economic activity, while maintaining fiscal sustainability of city operations. City managers in developing countries face increasing pressure in achieving these goals because of rapid urbanization, the larger responsibilities following decentralization, and the economic challenges of globalization.

This paper analyzes the available
literature about the effects of structural adjustment
programs (SAPs) on the environment and the convincing
evidence for their success or failure. The studies covered
refer to the SAPs by the World Bank as well as to general
government programs that have similar policy implications.
SAPs are designed to reform economies to become more
liberalized and export-oriented while reducing the role of

The authors examine the impact of land
reform in Vietnam which gives households the power to
exchange, transfer, lease, inherit, and mortgage their
land-use rights. The authors expect this change to increase
the incentives as well as the ability to undertake long-term
investments on the part of households. Their
difference-in-differences estimation strategy takes
advantage of the variation across provinces in the issuance

The theme of urban regeneration has played a strategic role during the last two decades in European and national urban building policies. Current addresses, also defined in Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities in 2007, indentify the necessity to invest in requalification of degraded residential assets and not in new developments, individuating in urban regeneration the main tool for development of contemporary city. Public neighborhoods have developed, historically, a wide set of common problems.

Policy makers concerned with the peri-urban interface find their greatest challenges in the rapid urban growth of developing mountain regions, since limitations caused by relief and altitude often lead to an increased competition between rural and urban land use at the valley floors. In this context, little attention has been paid to the affected agriculturalists’ perceptions of peri-urban growth—important information required for the realization of sustainable land use planning. How is the process of rural–urban land change perceived and assessed by peri-urban smallholder communities?

Italy is facing an almost irreversible, extremely serious condition. A vital asset for humankind and the ecosystem, such as land, today suffers the negative effects of anthropogenic activities, first of all its uncontrolled and limitless consumption.

Urban space changes according to different space use with the passage of time, as seen in land use, location, and land value distribution. The paper intends to analyze the change of integration core related to the growth of commercial land use through different time periods. Two phases of Commercial land-use pattern is studied. The phases are i) 1974, ii) 2013. The entire spatial structure of the commercial land use of Mymensingh reacts to the entire city system, particularly the road network pattern.

This Decree, consisting of 24 articles divided into four Chapters, promulgates the Regulation on land border areas of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and provides the management of activities of people and vehicles in these areas; responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals for the construction, management and protection of land border areas of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 2. In case the provisions of this Regulation are different from those of treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party, the provisions of such treaties prevail.