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Every country, even the world's youngest nations, has a capital cityâ€"a centralized location which houses the seat of government and acts as the hub of culture and history. But, what role do capital cities play in the global arena? Which factors have influenced the selection of a municipal center for each nation? This interesting encyclopedia explores the topic in great depth, providing an overview of each country's capitalâ€"its history and early inhabitants, ascension to prominence, infrastructure within the government, and influence on the world around them. The author considers the cultur

Rapid urbanization is an important characteristic of African development and yet the structural transformation debate focuses on agriculture's relative merits without also considering the benefits from urban agglomeration. As a result, African governments are often provided conflicting recommendations on the importance of rural agriculture or urban industry. We develop dynamic economy-wide models for Ethiopia and Uganda that capture both traditional aspects of the debate (growth linkages and foreign trade) and benefits from urbanization (internal migration and agglomeration effects). Simulations suggest that urban agglomeration is an important source of long-term growth and structural transformation, but that investing in cities does not greatly reduce national poverty over the short-term. In this regard, agricultural growth is more effective, albeit with slower national growth. Given these trade-offs, we conclude that the urbanization's benefits argue against an agro-fundamentalist approach to African development, but the short-term imperative of reducing poverty necessitates further agricultural investment.

In 2008 for the first time the majority of the planet's inhabitants lived in cities and towns. Becoming globally urban has been one of mankind's greatest collective achievements over time and raises many questions. How did global city systems evolve and interact in the past? How have historic urban patterns impacted on those of the contemporary world? And what were the key drivers in the roller-coaster of urban change over the millennia - market forces such as trade and industry? Rulers and governments? Competition and collaboration between cities? Or the urban environment and demographic forces? This pioneering comparative work by fifty leading scholars drawn from a range of disciplines offers the first detailed comparative study of urban development from ancient times to the present day. The Handbook explores not only the main trends in the growth of cities and towns across the world but also many of the essential themes in the making and remaking of the urban world

Introduction -- "Every time I describe a city" : urban history as comparative and transnational practice / Nicolas Kenny and Rebecca Madgin -- The seven C's : reflections on writing a global history of urban segregation / Carl H. Nightingale -- Port cities in crisis : considering urban governance, modernity and migration in mid-nineteenth-century Montreal and liverpool in a transnational context / Dan Horner -- Choreographies of urban life : mapping the social history of cities / Jordan Stanger-Ross -- Rebuilding the cities destroyed in World War II : growing possibilities for comparative analysis / Jeffry Diefendorf -- Urban governance and prostitution in eighteenth-century port cities in France and England / Marion Pluskota -- Comparing urban reform in London and Brussels / Janet Polasky -- Town planning and municipal growth in late colonial Bombay : towards a transnational perspective / Nikhil Rao -- Whose "urban internationale" : intermunicipalism in Europe, c.1924-36 : the value of a decentred, interpretive approach to transnational urban history / Stefan Couperus, Shane Ewen -- The (trans)national question : Nazi spatial and urban planning / Janet Ward -- Reflections -- Cities of fear : the globalization of insecurity in the age of the gated community / Harold Platt -- Reflections : putting the "trans" into transnational urban history / Richard Rodger -- Bibliography

International audience ; This article challenges the efficiency of the French urban planning system in front of national and European legislative objectives regarding sustainable urban development. It is based on a historical analysis of the effectiveness of urban management tools. Thus, in a first part, one will show that the major problems of cities such as they exist today, namely urban sprawl and zoning by unique urban function (Williams et al., 2000; Mangin, 2004) and the creation of districts in the 60 's fostering social problems today, appeared in spite of the development of the urban planning system at the same time. The awareness of these problems and the rise of the notion of sustainable development have made the practices in town planning evolve (Raffaud, 2003). "By making " the legislation " green", they have also strongly developed the rules which change the contents and forms of urban planning (Mathieu et al., 2005). Then, one needs to ask the question of the current efficiency of the documents dealing with the planning of French cities confronted to the challenges of sustainable development. After a quick presentation of the French planning system and the local plan, which is its tool at the scale of the city, the article will present, in the second part, the advantages and the difficulties encountered. It will hence to light the difficulties we have to translate in a statutory way the planning orientations. One will also highlight other problems, such as the necessity to make the local planning orientation consistent with other public policies of planning and the variety of temporalities, and the limitation of the effects of local plans … (Blanc et al., 2008). This article will also attempt to demonstrate that town planning documents, if accurately written, can be invaluable tools to improve the quality of town planning and that the limitation of its "impacts", made compulsory by the European legislation in 2001, seems to be an extra security for the quality of the cities (Lerond et al., 2003; ...

International audience ; This article challenges the efficiency of the French urban planning system in front of national and European legislative objectives regarding sustainable urban development. It is based on a historical analysis of the effectiveness of urban management tools. Thus, in a first part, one will show that the major problems of cities such as they exist today, namely urban sprawl and zoning by unique urban function (Williams et al., 2000; Mangin, 2004) and the creation of districts in the 60 's fostering social problems today, appeared in spite of the development of the urban planning system at the same time. The awareness of these problems and the rise of the notion of sustainable development have made the practices in town planning evolve (Raffaud, 2003). "By making " the legislation " green", they have also strongly developed the rules which change the contents and forms of urban planning (Mathieu et al., 2005). Then, one needs to ask the question of the current efficiency of the documents dealing with the planning of French cities confronted to the challenges of sustainable development. After a quick presentation of the French planning system and the local plan, which is its tool at the scale of the city, the article will present, in the second part, the advantages and the difficulties encountered. It will hence to light the difficulties we have to translate in a statutory way the planning orientations. One will also highlight other problems, such as the necessity to make the local planning orientation consistent with other public policies of planning and the variety of temporalities, and the limitation of the effects of local plans … (Blanc et al., 2008). This article will also attempt to demonstrate that town planning documents, if accurately written, can be invaluable tools to improve the quality of town planning and that the limitation of its "impacts", made compulsory by the European legislation in 2001, seems to be an extra security for the quality of the cities (Lerond et al., 2003; ...

INTRODUCTION "Water is the only drink for a wise man" Henry David Thoreau (1817-­1862) Water and sewerage services are part of the visible infrastructure of our cities and communities and are often taken for granted. Paradoxically their real importance for people and communities is remembered only when something goes wrong with these systems. However, in many cases it has taken a long time ­ several decades if not centuries — to develop them into modern systems. And it is also still true in the early 21st century that some European cities lack appropriate water and/or sanitation services. This book is based largely on the study "City in Time" that was to address the historical differences and similarities in cities' decision-making over the long run and how these affect the decision-making of each case city. City in Time aimed to use futures research to illustrate the interconnectedness of past, present and future decision-making. It sought to study the development of water systems in a wide institutional context covering the political, economic, social, technical and environmental dimensions and to identify long term patterns in decision-making, as well as the underlying driving and constraining factors. City in Time was to study urban water system reform in 29 cities, in 13 countries ­ originally in eight EU member and five candidate countries, four of which became full members on the 1st of May, 2004. The major objective of City in Time was to discover the key strategic decisions that have affected the overall evolution of water and sewerage services in the city. Some of these strategic decisions may at first have seemed less important while later having proved to be of great importance. The study sought specifically to address the following research questions: • What were the strategic decisions that have mostly affected the development (binding, limiting, postponing)?; • Who and what factors define and create demand for services?; • How does the historical context constrain potential best practices for the future?; • What limits do technical choices of the past impose on decision-making?; • On what basis have selected strategies been formulated and decided upon in different time periods?; • How has the role of public-private partnership (PPP) changed over the years, and how is it likely to change in the future? The major sources of data used by City in Time to analyse past and future decision-making included: • Dates and sequence of key decisions on systems, e.g. special public bodies, respon sibilities of local government or central government, changes in ownership of systems between private sector, national and local governments; changes in opera tors between sectors; changes in pricing and charging methods; introduction of water rights; • Local and national (and international) past decisions, which constrain and limit present choices, e.g. bulk water supply sources; boundaries of administrative units; taxation and borrowing powers of local governments; • Factors and interest groups involved in the past, e.g. emergence of public health issues; origins of private sector role; environmental issues and local traditions; economic development; restructurings at entry to and exit from former communist regimes in eastern European countries. Keywords: Strategic choices, Sustainability, Path dependence, Water Supply and sanitation, Urban environment , City-service development, Water pollution control, Public policy, Institutional development, History and futures research, Europe