The ecological footprint (EF) and its unit, the global hectare, share a reputation of effectively communicating the connection between local awareness and global impact. One use of a Geographic Information System (GIS) in urban planning is decision support, while the potential of the ecological footprint in GIS has not developed significantly. The smaller the spatial unit in GIS, the more accurate and flexible are the available GIS analyses.

Land is one of the prime natural resources. A city grows not only by population but also by changes in spatial dimensions. Urban population growth and urban sprawl induced land use changes and land transformation. The land transformation is a natural process and cannot be stopped but it can be regulated. Many geographical changes at the urban periphery are associated with the transfer of land from rural to urban purpose. There is an urgent need for fast growing areas like Delhi, which can be easily done by high-resolution remote sensing data.

Detailed, up-to-date information on intra-urban land cover is important for urban planning and management. Differentiation between permeable and impermeable land, for instance, provides data for surface run-off estimates and flood prevention, whereas identification of vegetated areas enables studies of urban micro-climates. In place of maps, high-resolution images, such as those from the satellites IKONOS II, Quickbird, Orbview and WorldView II, can be used after processing.

Infrastructure can be an agent of change in addressing the most systemic development challenges of today s world from social stability to rapid urbanization, climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural disasters, and global issues such as food and energy security. Transformation through Infrastructure the updated World Bank Group Infrastructure Strategy FY12-15 - lays out the framework for transforming the Bank Group s engagement in infrastructure.

In recent years, Indonesia has made great strides in economic growth and development. This growth has been accompanied by rapid urbanization that has transformed Indonesian cities. Urbanization has the potential to boost national economic growth by facilitating the emergence of agglomeration and localization economies. Increasing urbanization presents Indonesia with an opportunity to leverage the transformation taking place to ensure that it is harnessed for economic growth and, more importantly, sustained improvements in the quality of life of its community members.

Uganda has started its journey into urbanization and economic development. The pace of urbanization is picking up currently at 4.5 percent per year, and likely to accelerate with rising incomes. The economic benefits from urban growth will come from exploiting economies of scale and agglomeration and by increasing fluidity in factor markets that enable substitution between land and non land inputs.

Food is fundamental to human wellbeing and development. Increased food production remains a cornerstone strategy in the effort to alleviate global food insecurity. But despite the fact that global food production over the past half century has kept ahead of demand, today around one billion people do not have enough to eat, and a further billion lack adequate nutrition.

The presentation looks at the current status of river systems of India from a basin perspective, and review how indicators of urbanization, such as demographics and migration, infrastructure development, growth of cities and towns, development of urban agglomerations, provision of utility services and land-use changes, have impacted the life of rivers.

The problems of climate change significantly alter the character of urban planning. While changes in the planning process are aimed at mechanisms for urgent action in the transformed circumstances in the sense of a deeper understanding of the causes of phenomena and prediction of future changes, modification of specific measures suppose to be related to the regulatory framework for new and existing construction that will lead to reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and the development of resistance to settlements' extreme impacts.

In order to protect the environment and creation the conditions for a good and healthy life, the construction of buildings should be sustainable. It is essential that the entire process that includes planning, design and realization, be consistent with bioclimatic principles. Allotment plan should be an integral part of the planning process because it is an instrument to control the use of construction land and prevention the negative consequences that are created by uncontrolled action of the market.

The Cambodian case examines migration, land tenure and land management, in a context of conflict and the use of force in land transfers since the time of the Khmer Rouge regime to the present, by studying five agro-ecological zones close to the Kamping Pouy irrigation system in Battambang Province. The study combines analysis of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of household use of land and labor with a historical and ethnographic review of conflict and institutional factors in successive land administrations.