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Today research in linguistics and discourse analysis is increasingly turning its attention to web-mediated communication, looking at genres which – whether they be derived from migration of traditional genres to the web, or generated anew in the Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environment (Hoffman/Novak 1996) – exhibit properties that are peculiar to this environment (e.g. hypertextuality, dispersion across different layers of the hypertext, configuration in lexias, etc.), making them at least partially different from traditional printed texts. Hence the question of whether the repertoire of analytical tools developed for the latter is suitable for use in the analysis of web-mediated genres. This question has been posed in various methodological perspectives (i.e. text linguistics: e.g. Garzone 2002; genre analysis: e.g. Askehave/Ellerup Nielsen 2005, Garzone 2007; Giltrow/Stein 2009; Santini/Meheler/Sharoff 2010; argumentation theory: Carter 2000; Lewiński 2010; Degano 2012, etc.) This chapter focuses on the weblog, a relatively 'young' web-mediated genre, which has traditionally been seen as characterised by three main constitutive features – the reverse chronology of its entries, the frequent updating, and the combination of links with personal commentary (cf. e.g. Miller/Shepherd 2004: 4; Herring/Kouper et al. 2005: 1) – and by a typically individualistic existential dimension, having originated as a form of communication especially suitable for self expression (Herring/Scheidt et al. 2005; Miller/Shepherd 2004, 2009; Garzone 2012). Another recurrent peculiarity of the blog is that in most cases it consists of two different text formats, posts and comments, which are communicatively heterogeneous and have different characteristics. This chapter uses corpus linguistics to investigate the genre of the weblog, starting with a discussion of the criteria to be applied in the construction of a corpus of texts belonging to this genre, in consideration of its distinctive characteristics, first and foremost the presence of comments in addition to posts. In particular, the analysis focuses on the so called 'blawgs', i.e. blogs used for the dissemination of legal knowledge and for debate in the field of the law. This is one of a diversified range of textual forms in specialised and professional communication into which blogs have evolved, largely losing their original individualistic dimension. Blawgs are quite numerous today being used for various different purposes, e.g. academic and professional duties, forms of scholarship, scholarly conversations and exchanges, instant academic publication (Berman 2006, 2007; Kerr 2006; Solum 2006; Volokh 2006). They also represent a genre that enables writers in this area of specialization to reach much larger audiences than those traditionally addressed. The main purpose of this chapter is to explore the distinctive features of the blawg as a genre in order to verify the degree to which it has changed evolving from a personal, diary-like format at the intersection between private and public (Miller/Shepherd 2004) into a form of academic, professional or journalistic expression, and whether this evolution has been so extensive as to jeopardise its generic integrity. A further aim is to assess the degree of variation within the genre, considering different types of law blogs. The corpus on which this study is based comprises texts from five legal blogs, three from the UK and two from the US, and is examined on the basis of textual evidence retrieved by means of computerized analysis, using Wordsmith Tools 5.0 (Scott 2011). The traits considered are part of the core generic features of the blawg, with special attention for indicators that are associated with the personal/existential component, and in particular self-mention (Hyland 2001), as well as the lexical verbs associated with it, especially metadiscursive and narrative verbs. Some other elements of metadiscourse are also examined as providing evidence of a strong personal authorial presence, in keeping with the originally personal and individualistic character of the genre. In order to identify the peculiarities of the texts analysed within the more general picture of legal communication, the data obtained from the blawg corpus are compared with data relative to other types of (meta)legal texts: research papers included in the law section of the CADIS corpus (courtesy of University of Bergamo, group coordinated by M. Gotti), and with awards from Kluwer Bank, issued from 1998 to 2002. In addition to the literature on web communication referred to above, the specific analytical toolkit deployed in this research includes studies on blogs from various disciplinary perspectives (e.g. Blood 2002; Herring/Kouper et al. 2005; Herring & Paolillo 2006; Puschmann 2007; Giltrow/Stein eds 2009; Myers 2009; Grieve/Biber et al. 2010) as well as studies of law blogs, mainly by legal scholars (e.g. Caron 2006; Kerr 2006). References Askehave, Inger / Ellerup Nielsen, Anne 2004. Webmediated Genres – A Challenge to Traditional Genre Theory. Working Paper nr. 6. Aarhus: Center for Virksomhedskommunication. Berman, D. 2007. More grist for the blog-scholarship debate [Blog post]. Sentencing Law and Policy, March 19, 2007. http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2007/03/more_grist_ for_.html. Berman, D. A. (2006). Scholarship in action: The power, possibilities and pitfalls for law professor blogs. Public Law and Legal Theory Working Series n. 6, Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies, the Ohio State University Mortz College of Law, http://ssrn.com/abstract=898174. Blood, Rebecca 2002. Weblogs: A History and Perspective. In We've Got Blog. How Weblogs are Changing our Culture. Cambridge, MA. Perseus, 7-16. Caron, Paul L. 2006, Are Scholars Better Bloggers? Bloggership: How Blogs are Transforming Legal Scholarship. Washington University Law Review, 84/5: 1025-1042. Caron, Paul L. 2006. Are Scholars Better Bloggers? Bloggership: How Blogs are Transforming Legal Scholarship. Washington University Law Review, 84/5: 1025-1042. Carter, Locke M. 2003. Argument in hypertext: Writing strategies and the problem of order in a nonsequential world. Computers and Composition. 20, 3-22. Degano, Chiara 2012. Argumentative Genres on the Web: The Case of Two NGOs' Campaigns. In Campagna, Sandra / Garzone, Giuliana (eds) Evolving Genres in Web-mediated Communication. Bern: Peter Lang, 99-129. Garzone G. 2012. Where Do Web Genres Come from? The Case of Blogs. In Campagna, Sandra / Garzone, Giuliana (eds) Evolving Genres in Web-mediated Communication. Bern: Peter Lang, 227-253. Garzone, Giuliana 2002. Describing E-commerce Communication. Which Models and Categories for Text Analysis?. In Evangelisti, Paola / Ventola, Eija (eds). TEXTUS (English in Academic and Professional Settings). 14/2, 279-296. Garzone, Giuliana 2007. Genres, Multimodality and the World-Wide Web: Theoretical Issues. In Garzone / Catenaccio / Poncini (eds), 15-30. Giltrow, Janet / Stein, Dieter 2009. Genres in the Internet. Innovation, Evolution and Genre Theory. In Giltrow, Janet / Stein, Dieter (eds) Genres in the Internet: Issues on the Theory of Genres. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1-25. Grieve, Jack / Biber, Douglas / Friginal, Eric / Nekrasova, Tatiana 2010. Variations Among Blogs: A Multi-dimensional Analysis. In Mehler, Alexander / Sharoff, Serge/ Santini, Marina. Genres on the Web: Computational Models and Empirical Studies 1st ed. New York: Springer, 303-322. Henninger, Daniel 2006. When Blogs Rule. We'll All Talk Like --- Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2006, A17. Herring, Susan / Paolillo, John C. 2006. Gender and Genre Variation in Weblogs. Journal of Sociolinguistics 10/4, 439-459. Herring, Susan C. / Kouper, Inna / Paolillo, John C. / Scheidt, Lois Ann / Tyworth, Michael / Welsch, Peter / Wright, Elijah / Yu, Ning 2005. Conversations in the Blogosphere: An Analysis 'From the Bottom Up'. Proceedings of the 38th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE. Herring, Susan C. / Scheidt, Lois Ann / Wright, Elijah / Bonus. Sabrina 2005. Weblogs as a bridging genre. Information Technology & People 18/2, 142-171. Hoffman, Donna L. / Novak, Thomas P. 1996. Marketing in Hypermedia Computer-Mediated Environments: Conceptual Foundations. Journal of Marketing. 60(July), 50-68. Hyland, Ken 2001. Humble Servants of the Discipline? Self-mention in Research Articles. English for Specific Purposes. 20/3, 207-226. Hyland, Ken 2005. Metadiscourse. Exploring Interaction in Writing. London: Continuum. Kerr, Orin S. 2006. Blogs and the Legal Academy, George Washington University Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper No. 203, Available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per _id=328150, accessed 1 October 2012. Lewiński, Marcin. 2010. Internet political discussion forums as an argumentative activity type. A pragma-dialectical analysis of online forms of strategic manoeuvring in reacting critically. Amsterdam: SicSat. Available online: at , accessed 1 October 2012. Miller, Carolyn R. / Shepherd, Dawn 2004. Blogging as Social Action: A Genre Analysis of the Weblog. In Gurak, Laura et al. (eds) Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs. , retrieved 04/08/2010. Miller, Carolyn R. / Shepherd, Dawn 2009. Questions for Genre Theory from the Blogosphere. In Giltrow, Janet / Stein, Dieter (eds) Genres in the Internet: Issues on the Theory of Genres. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 263-290. Myers, Greg 2009. The Discourse of Blogs and Wikis. London: Continuum. Puschmann, Cornelius 2009. Lies at Wal-Mart. Style and the Subversion of Genre in the Life at Wal-Mart blog. In Giltrow, Janet / Stein, Dieter (eds) Genres in the Internet: Issues on the Theory of Genres. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 49-84. Santini, Marina / Mehler, Alexander/ Sharoff, Serge. 2010. Riding the Rough Waves of Genre on the Web. In Mehler, Alexander/ Sharoff, Serge/ Santini, Marina. Genres on the Web: Computational Models and Empirical Studies. Scott, Mike 2011. Wordsmith Tools 5.0. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Solum, Lawrence B. 2006. Blogging and the transformation of legal scholarship. Paper presented at Bloggership: How blogs are transforming legal scholarship, http://ssrn.com/paper=898168 Volokh, Eugene 2006. Scholarship, blogging and trade-offs: On discovering, disseminating and doing. Paper presented at Bloggership: How blogs are transforming legal scholarship. Washington University Law Review, 84/5, 1089-110. Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.wustl.edu/lawreview/ vol84/iss5/5

Zusammenfassung gemäß § 11 der Promotionsordnung der Fakultät II (Fassung 01.10.05) und den "Allgemeinen Richtlinien des Senats über die Veröffentlichung von Dissertationen und die Ablieferung von Pflichtexemplaren" (Senatsbeschluss vom 14.7.1999) zu meiner Dissertation mit dem Titel: "Modeling the New Economic Geography – R&D, Vertical Linkages, Policy Implications" The present work introduces four theoretical papers, which primarily focus on R&D, interindustrial linkages, and their policy implications. All in all, three issues basically motivated conception and realization: At first, previous NEG models do not incorporate endogenous R&D activities of firms. Existing models include R&D only in a growth context, which increases the formal complexity and departs from the simple core-periphery formulation. Second, vertical linkages are extensively considered in the class of international models. In face of its formal simplicity, the majority of publications refer to the standard model of Krugman and Venables (1995) utilizing intra-industry trade in which the manufacturing sector produces its own intermediates. However, the results are similar to the core-periphery model, but the implications of vertical linkages, especially in terms of specialization, cannot be reproduced. In contrast, the more challenging version of Venables (1996), which considers an inter-industry framework of an explicit upstream and downstream sector, is often cited (143 citations according to IDEAS/RePEc), but only few papers were directly built on it: Puga and Venables (1996), Amiti (2005), Alonso-Villar (2005). The third issue concerns the calibration of real economies. Although, hundreds of numerical simulations have been done in order to display the modeling outcomes, an application to particular industries in terms of their spatial formation and evolution is still a neglected field of research. Against this background, the present work aims to make a contribution to these topics. For a summary, all four papers are briefly to be summarized at this point. The first paper, entitled 'Too Much R&D? – Vertical Differentiation and Monopolistic Competition,' discusses whether product R&D in developed economies tends to be too high compared with the socially desired level. In this context, a model of vertical and horizontal product differentiation within the Dixit-Stiglitz (1977) framework of monopolistic competition is set up where firms compete in horizontal attributes of their products, and also in quality that can be controlled by R&D investments. The paper reveals that in monopolistic-competitive industries, R&D intensity is positively correlated with market concentration. Furthermore, welfare and policy analysis demonstrate an overinvestment in R&D with the result that vertical differentiation is too high and horizontal differentiation is too low. The only effective policy instrument in order to contain welfare losses turns out to be a price control of R&D services. The main contribution of this closed economy model in the course of the present work is a modeling framework, which can easily be adapted to the New Economic Geography. This has been approached in the second paper: 'R&D and the Agglomeration of Industries' in which the seminal core-periphery model of Krugman (1991) is extended by endogenous research activities. Beyond the common 'anonymous' consideration of R&D expenditures within fixed costs, this model introduces vertical product differentiation, which requires services provided by an additional R&D sector. In the context of international factor mobility, the destabilizing effects of a mobile scientific workforce are analyzed. In combination with a welfare analysis and a consideration of R&D promoting policy instruments and their spatial implications, this paper also makes a contribution to the brain-drain debate. In contrast to this migration based approach, the third paper 'Agglomeration, Vertical Specialization, and the Strength of Industrial Linkages' focuses on vertical linkages in their capacity as an additional agglomeration force. The paper picks up the seminal model of Venables (1996) and provides a quantifying concept for the sectoral coherence in vertical-linkage models of the New Economic Geography. Based upon an alternative approach to solve the model and to determine critical trade cost values, this paper focuses on the interdependencies between agglomeration, specialization and the strength of vertical linkages. A central concern is the idea of an 'industrial base,' which is attracting linked industries but is persistent to relocation. As a main finding, the intermediate cost share and substitution elasticity basically determine the strength of linkages. Thus, these parameters affect how strong the industrial base responds to changes in trade costs, relative wages and market size. The fourth paper 'The Spatial Dynamics of the European Biotech Industry' presents a simulation study of the R&D intensive biotech industry using the standard Venables model. Thus, it connects all three preceding papers and puts them into the real economic context of the European integration. The paper reviews the potential development of the European biotech industry with respect to its spatial structure. On the first stage, the present industrial situation as object of investigation is described and evaluated with respect to a further model implementation. In this context, the article introduces the findings of an online survey concerning international trade, conducted with German biotech firms in 2006. On the second stage, the results are completed by the outcomes of a numerical simulation within the New Economic Geography (NEG), considering vertical linkages between the biotech and pharmaceutical industries as an agglomerative force. The analysis reveals only a slight relocation tendency to the European periphery, constrained by market size, infrastructure and factor supply. In the final conclusions, central results of all four papers are summarized with respect to economic policy. Against the background of general legitimization and the impact of political intervention, Chapter 6 draws the main conclusions for location and innovation policies. In this regard, the industrial-base concept as well as the mobility of R&D play a central role during this discussion. ; Zusammenfassung gemäß § 11 der Promotionsordnung der Fakultät II (Fassung 01.10.05) und den "Allgemeinen Richtlinien des Senats über die Veröffentlichung von Dissertationen und die Ablieferung von Pflichtexemplaren" (Senatsbeschluss vom 14.7.1999) zu meiner Dissertation mit dem Titel: "Modeling the New Economic Geography – R&D, Vertical Linkages, Policy Implications" Die vorliegende Arbeit beinhaltet vier formal-theoretische Papiere der New Economic Geography (NEG) mit dem Fokus auf Forschung und Entwicklung (FuE), inter-industriellen Handel und deren Politikimplikationen. Insgesamt motivieren drei Aspekte die Umsetzung der Arbeiten: 1) Bisherige NEG-Modelle berücksichtigen keine endogenen FuE-Aktivitäten von Firmen, vielmehr diskutieren diese Forschung lediglich in einem Wachstumskontext, was die formale Komplexität der Modelle erhöht und von der einfachen Kern-Peripherie Modellierung abweicht. 2) Vertikale Verknüpfungen wurden umfangreich in der Klasse der sogenannten "International Trade" Modelle untersucht. Angesichts der formal-einfachen Struktur bezieht sich die Mehrzahl der Publikationen auf das Standardmodell von Krugman und Venables (1995) mit intra-industriellem Handel, bei dem der produzierende Sektor ein Teil seines Outputs wiederum als Input verwendet. Die Ergebnisse sind ähnlich zum Prototyp des Kern-Peripherie-Modells von Krugman (1991), jedoch können wesentliche Implikationen vertikaler Verknüpfungen besonders in Hinblick auf Spezialisierung nicht reproduziert werden. Demgegenüber analysiert das anspruchsvollere Modell von Venables (1996) inter-industriellen Handel mit expliziten Upstream und Downstream-Sektoren. Diese Arbeit wurde oft zitiert (143 Zitationen gemäß IDEAS/RePEc), jedoch greifen nur wenige Papiere den Ansatz auf: Puga und Venables (1996), Amiti (2005), Alonso-Villar (2005). 3) Schließlich betrifft der letzte Aspekt die Kalibrierung realer Volkswirtschaften. Obwohl zahllose numerische Simulationen durchgeführt wurden, um die Modellergebnisse zu veranschaulichen, ist die Anwendung auf bestimmte Industrien und deren räumlichen Konstellationen bislang ein vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld. Vor diesem Hintergrund zielt die vorliegende Arbeit darauf ab, einen Beitrag zu diesem Punkten zu liefern. Im Folgenden sollen an dieser Stelle alle vier Papiere kurz zusammengefasst werden. Das erste Papier mit dem Titel "'Too Much R&D? – Vertical Differentiation and Monopolistic Competition" diskutiert, ob Produkt-FuE in entwickelten Volkswirtschaften zu hoch im Vergleich zum sozialen Optimum ausfällt. In diesem Zusammenhang wird ein Standardmodell monopolistischer Konkurrenz (Dixit und Stiglitz (1977)) um vertikale Differenzierung erweitert, so dass Firmen nicht nur durch horizontale Produkteigenschaften konkurrieren, sondern auch über die Qualität ihrer Produkte, die durch FuE-Investitionen erhöht werden kann. Das Papier zeigt, dass die FuE-Intensität in monopolistisch-kompetitiven Industrien positiv mit der Marktkonzentration korreliert. Zudem führt eine Wohlfahrts- und Politikanalyse zu dem Ergebnis, dass Überinvestitionen in FuE in einer zu hohen vertikalen und zu niedrigen horizontalen Produktdifferenzierung resultieren. Es stellt sich heraus, dass lediglich eine Preiskontrolle für FuE-Dienstleistungen das einzige wirksame Politikinstrument zur Begrenzung der Wohlfahrtsverluste ist. Der wesentliche Beitrag dieses Modells im Gesamtzusammenhang der Dissertation liefert ein Modellierungsrahmen der ohne Weiteres in die NEG integriert werden kann. Dies ist Gegenstand des zweiten Papiers: "R&D and the Agglomeration of Industries", in dem das grundlegende Kern-Peripherie-Modell von Krugman (1991) um endogene Forschungsaktivitäten erweitert wird. In der bestehenden Literatur werden FuE-Aufwendungen lediglich "anonym" unter Fixkosten subsumiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit erweitert das Modell um vertikale Produktdifferenzierung, die wiederum Dienstleistungen eines zusätzlichen FuE-Sektors impliziert. Im Kontext internationaler Faktormobilität werden die destabilisierenden Effekte eines mobilen wissenschaftlichen Arbeitskräftepotentials analysiert. In Kombination mit einer Wohlfahrtsanalyse und einer Betrachtung von Forschungsförderungsinstrumenten sowie ihrer räumlichen Implikationen leistet das Papier einen Beitrag zur sogenannten "Brain-Drain"-Debatte. Im Gegensatz zu diesem migrationsbasierten Ansatz konzentriert sich das dritte Papier "Agglomeration, Vertical Specialization, and the Strength of Industrial Linkages" auf vertikale Verknüpfungen in ihrer Eigenschaft als zusätzliche Agglomerationskraft. Das Papier greift das Standardmodell von Venables (1996) auf und entwickelt auf dieser Basis ein Messkonzept zur Quantifizierung des sektoralen Zusammenhalts in NEG-Modellen. Auf Grundlage eines alternativen Lösungsansatzes, der zur Bestimmung kritischer Schwellenwerte gewählt wurde, fokussiert sich das Papier auf die Zusammenhänge zwischen Agglomeration, räumlicher Spezialisierung und der Stärke vertikaler Verknüpfungen. Ein zentraler Anknüpfungspunkt ist die Idee der sogenannten "Industrial Base", welche verknüpfte Industrien an einen bestimmten Standort attrahiert, jedoch weitgehend unabhängig von Verlagerungstendenzen ist. Hierbei wird gezeigt, dass der Kostenanteil der Downstream-Industrie für Vorprodukte als auch die entsprechende technische Substitutionselastizität wesentliche Determinanten für die Stärke vertikaler Verknüpfungen sind. Damit beeinflussen diese Parameter, wie stark die "Industrial Base" auf Änderungen in Handelskosten, relativen Löhnen und lokaler Marktgröße reagiert. Das vierte Papier "The Spatial Dynamics of the European Biotech Industry" nutzt das Venables-Modell für eine Simulationsstudie der FuE-intensiven Biotechnologie-Industrie. Damit verknüpft es alle drei vorhergegangenen Papiere und stellt sie in den realökonomischen Kontext der Europäischen Integration. Die Arbeit beurteilt das Entwicklungspotential der Europäischen Biotech-Industries in Hinblick auf ihre räumlichen Strukturen. Im ersten Schritt wird die gegenwärtige Situation als Forschungsgegenstand beschrieben und hinsichtlich einer weiteren Modellimplementierung bewertet. In diesem Kontext stellt der Artikel die Ergebnisse einer Online-Befragung vor, bei der in 2006 deutsche Biotechnologie-Unternehmen zu Außenhandelsaktivitäten befragt wurden. Im zweiten Schritt werden die Ergebnisse mit einer numerischen Simulationsstudie im Rahmen der NEG ergänzt, in der die Wirkungen vertikaler Verknüpfungen zwischen Biotech- und Pharmazeutischer Industrie als zentrale Agglomerationskraft untersucht werden. Die Analyse zeigt eine leichte Verlagerungstendenz zugunsten der Europäischen Peripherie, die jedoch durch die dominante Marktgröße, besserer Infrastruktur und größerem Faktorangebot des Kerns begrenzt wird. In einem abschließenden Fazit werden die zentralen Ergebnisse aller vier Papiere hinsichtlich ihrer Politikimplikationen zusammengefasst und bewertet. Vor dem Hintergrund allgemeiner Legitimation und den Auswirkungen wirtschaftspolitischer Eingriffe, zieht das Kapitel 6 wesentliche Schlussfolgerungen für die Standort- und Forschungspolitik. In dieser Diskussion spielen das "Industrial Base"-Konzept zum einen und die internationale Mobilität von Forschungskapazitäten zum anderen eine zentrale Rolle.

This policy notes outlines recommendations for the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China that highlights high-quality green development. The plan emphasizes innovation as the core of modern development, relying on the dual circulation strategy as the growth paradigm coupled with reforms to increase living standards. Building on the achievements of the 13th Plan, it aims to reduce the carbon intensity of the economy and peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030. This policy note's recommendations focus on innovation-driven growth, low-carbon development, integration of urban–rural areas with deeper social inclusion, and population aging as priorities.

The Urban Financing Partnership Facility (UFPF) marked its tenth year of operations in 2019. The year saw a number of milestones for UFPF, as well as the Urban Sector Group (USG) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), as both strove toward their goal of supporting the design and implementation of key urban infrastructure loan and technical assistance (TA) projects in Asia and the Pacific. For UFPF, there was continued cooperation with international development organizations, while for the USG, the past year was headlined with the delivery of the Livable Cities Operational Priority Plan 2019–2024, which will guide ADB operations in achieving Strategy 2030's Operational Priority 4: Making Cities More Livable (see infographic on page 2). The Livable Cities Operational Priority Plan is anchored on three main operational priorities: (i) to improve the coverage, quality, efficiency, and reliability of services in urban areas; (ii) to strengthen urban planning and financial sustainability of cities; and (iii) to improve the urban environment, climate resilience, and disaster management of cities, all of which are closely aligned with the targeted areas of support of UFPF.

This Mid-year Report covers the period of January to June 2020, detailing the progress made by Urban Financing Partnership Facility (UFPF) and the related trust funds, namely: the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF), the Urban Environmental Infrastructure Fund (UEIF), the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) Trust Fund, and the ASEAN Australia Smart Cities Trust Fund (AASCTF). The year 2020 was foreseen to be a momentous year that will come for UFPF with the planned next phase for UCCRTF in 2021 and CDIA into its new phases of operation, and the jumpstart of activities to be supported by AASCTF. However, the year 2020 was met with a new challenge: the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which also led to ADB realigning its operations to help support response actions to address the immediate impacts of the pandemic to its developing member countries (DMCs).

The Urban Financing Partnership Facility (UFPF or the Facility) will soon mark its 10-year anniversary. Established in November 2009, the UFPF continues its goal of raising and utilizing development partner funds to support urban infrastructure projects and technical assistance work that prioritizes the environment, climate change resilience, and the urban poor. It has become an instrumental component of the urban development operations of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), complementing its Urban Sector Strategy—approved in 1999—and the 2012–2020 Urban Operational Plan (UOP), which reflects the vision of ADB's Strategy 2020. In 2018, with the launch of the new long-term ADB corporate strategy, Strategy 2030, the UFPF has begun to align its investments and build on the thrust of the Strategy to achieve a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, as well as its seven key operational priorities, one of which is "making cities more livable". In this operational priority, ADB will pursue crosscutting projects that promote urban health, multimodal low-carbon public transport, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, and environmental sustainability. It also includes conducting inclusive and participatory urban planning processes, and exploring new sources of funding and expanding existing ones.

Strategy 2030 of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) identified "making cities more livable" as one of its seven operational priorities. This operational plan sets out the direction and approach for ADB to help its developing member countries (DMCs) build livable cities that are green, competitive, inclusive, and resilient. It also details ADB's strategic operational priorities to provide support to cities in DMCs to help them develop the right institutions, policies, and enabling environments to become more livable.

The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) support to urban development in the Asia-Pacific Region is based on its Urban Sector Strategy approved in 1999 and later the approval of 2012–2020 Urban Operational Plan (UOP) to address the vision of ADB's Strategy 2020. The launch of its Urban Financing Partnership Facility (UFPF) in 2009 has helped support innovative solutions in the urban space. Support from the UFPF largely addresses work in ADB's urban development and water divisions, which together constitute the Urban Sector Group (USG). The USG's Secretariat is responsible for managing the UFPF in addition to other trust funds and knowledge activities. Leading through to 2030, the USG will support the strategic targets of ADB's proposed Strategy 2030, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), primarily on Goal 11: Making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, and other goals associated with urban development. This includes scaling up previous activities with potential for supporting competitive, green, and inclusive growth, and leveraging climate financing.

This mid-year report covers the period January to June 2017. It describes the activities undertaken by Urban Environmental Infrastructure Fund (UEIF) and the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) in the first half of the year, and a brief overview of the activities under the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) program as it transitions into a trust fund under UFPF. The Urban Environmental Infrastructure Fund (UEIF) has been instrumental in seeing through the completion of three initiatives in various states and cities in India. The funding extended under direct charge financing translated into the provision of technical support and capacity building activities aimed at assisting states carry out India's national flagship urban programs. Areas covered include solid waste management, water supply, and wastewater, among others. On the implementation of investment grants, substantial gains have been achieved in terms of the completion of project activities. Although there were some delays experienced, overall implementation progress remains to be on the positive side.

We study patronage politics in authoritarian Vietnam, using an exhaustive panel of ranking officials from 2000 to 2010 to estimate their promotions' impact on infrastructure in their hometowns of patrilineal ancestry. Native officials' promotions lead to a broad range of hometown infrastructure improvement. Hometown favoritism is pervasive across all ranks, even among officials without budget authority, except among elected legislators. Favors are narrowly targeted toward small communes that have no political power, and are strengthened with bad local governance and strong local family values. The evidence suggests a likely motive of social preferences for hometown.

The Asian Development Bank's (ADB) support to urban development in the Asia-Pacific Region is based on its Urban Sector Strategy approved in 1999 and later the approval of 2012–2020 Urban Operational Plan (UOP) to address the vision of ADB's Strategy 2020. The launch of its Urban Financing Partnership Facility (UFPF) in 2009 has helped support innovative solutions in the urban space. Support from the UFPF largely addresses work in ADB's urban development and water divisions, which together constitute the Urban Sector Group (USG). The USG's Secretariat is responsible for managing the UFPF in addition to other trust funds and knowledge activities. Leading through to 2030, the USG will support the strategic targets of ADB's proposed Strategy 2030, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), primarily on Goal 11: Making cities inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable, and other goals associated with urban development. This includes scaling up previous activities with potential for supporting competitive, green, and inclusive growth, and leveraging climate financing.

This mid-year report covers the period January to June 2016. It describes the activities undertaken by Urban Environmental Infrastructure Fund (UEIF) and the Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) in the first half of the year, and a brief overview of the activities under the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) program as it transitions into a trust fund under UFPF. The Urban Environmental Infrastructure Fund (UEIF) has been instrumental in seeing through the completion of three initiatives in various states and cities in India. The funding extended under direct charge financing translated into the provision of technical support and capacity building activities aimed at assisting states carry out India's national flagship urban programs. Areas covered include solid waste management, water supply, and wastewater, among others. On the implementation of investment grants, substantial gains have been achieved in terms of the completion of project activities. Although there were some delays experienced, overall implementation progress remains to be on the positive side.

The World Bank has prepared three reports in the framework of the promoting inclusive growth in Hungary reimbursable advisory service activity, with a view to provide clear step-by-step guidance for addressing complex social inclusion challenges by leveraging European Union (EU) funds. The reports examine three dimensions of social inclusion in Hungary: measuring inclusive growth for enhanced development impact focuses on methods for monitoring development outcomes and better targeting of social investments. Enabling inclusive growth in Hungary discusses how national-level planning can better support local planning and implementation. The people behind the numbers, a handbook for the implementation of local equal opportunity programs in Hungary, offers practical guidance and instruments to empower local stakeholders to shape the local social inclusion landscape more actively and effectively as part of local equal opportunity programs.

Emily Landau, Ephraim Asculai, and Shimon Stein: One year to implementation of the JCPOA : assessing the nuclear deal in context. - S. 19

Hungary's recently established equality of opportunity framework guides the planning and implementation of interventions addressing the most pressing social inclusion challenges at the local level. The equality of opportunity framework provides a comprehensive set of resources, guidance, and templates to local governments to facilitate the planning of local equality plans (LEPs). Through extensive consultations with various governmental and non-governmental stakeholders at the national and local level, a series of challenges were identified for moving from a theoretical planning exercise to an earnest application that is, operationalization of the equality of opportunity framework at the local level. The intention of this handbook is to provide: practical guidance and hands-on instruments that empower local stakeholders to actively and effectively shape the local social inclusion landscape within the overall guiding framework of the local equal opportunity programs. The handbook therefore focuses on the challenges and opportunities of those local governments and related stakeholders that have the relevant primary care capacities and apparatus. The handbook is accompanied by a comprehensive set of illustrative local social inclusion case studies from all over Hungary. The case studies are intended to increase stakeholders' awareness, facilitate knowledge transfer, and peer learning. Even relevant elements of the case studies need to be customized and integrated into the local context.