Spatial Diversity and Dynamics in Resources and Urban Development Volume II: Urban Development

This double-volume work focuses on socio-demographics and the use of such data to support strategic resource management and planning initiatives. Papers go beyond explanations of methods, technique and traditional applications to explore new intersections in the dynamic relationship between the utilization and management of resources, and urban development.

International authors explore numerous experiences, characteristics of development and decision-making influences from across Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as recounting examples from America and Africa. Papers propound techniques and methods used in geographical research such as support vector machines, socio-economic correlates and travel behaviour analysis.

In this volume the contributors examine cutting-edge theories explaining diversity and dynamics in urban development. Topics covered include human vulnerability to hazards, space and urban problematic, assessment and evaluation of regional urban systems and structures and urban transformations as a result of structural change, economic development and underdevelopment.  The significance of these topics lie in the pace and volume of change as is happening in geography reflecting continued development within established fields of inquiry and the introduction of significantly new approaches during the last decade.

Readers are invited to consider the dynamics of spatial expansion of urban areas and economic development, and to explore conceptual discussion of the innovations in and challenges on urbanization processes, urban spaces themselves and both resource management and environmental management.

Together, the two volumes contribute to the interdisciplinary literature on regional resources and urban development by collating recent research with geography at its core. Scholars of urban geography, human geography, urbanism and sustainable development will be particularly interested in this book.

Section I: Introduction.- Introduction: Urban Development.- Baleshwar Thakur – Professional Career and Contributions.- Section II: Theoretical Basis.- Recent Studies in Regional Urban Systems in India: Trends, Patterns and Implications.- Contemporary Urban Policy in India: A Critique of Neoliberal Urbanism.- Sustainable Urbanization in India: Experiences and Challenges.- ‘Glocalizing’ Urban Sustainability: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya.- Section III: Quantitative Analysis.- Socio-economic Correlates of Asian Urbanization.- Assessing the Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on Major and Minor Cities in South and Southeast Asia: A Hyperlink Analysis.- Asian Indian Settlement Patterns in Select American Gateways.- Section IV: Economic Impact.- Cluster-based Economic Development: 4 Cases for Context in Developing Regions.- Impact of Economic Development on Regional Structure of Urban Systems in India.- India’s Cities Rising: The Challenges in Higher Education.- Hazard Risks and Social Vulnerability in Urban India.- High-Technology and Socio-Spatial Change in Bengaluru: A Mixed Method Approach.- Delhi Metro Rail Travel Behavior Analysis and Trip Characteristics.- Mobility, Marginality and the Cycle Rickshaw in Indian Cities.- Section V: Housing.-Majority's Perception about Minority groups and housing values: An Urban Case    study within the San Juan MSA, Puerto Rico.- Impact of the Growth of Farmhouses on Adjoining Local Settlements in Nationa

Dr. Frank J. Costa is Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, Planning and Urban Studies, University of Akron, Akron. He has published in a wide variety of planning, urban studies and geography journals worldwide. He has edited and co-authored several books.

Dr. Ashok Dutt is Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, Planning and Urban Studies, University of Akron, Akron. He is the leading exponent of urban and regional development and planning and has contributed nearly 350 research papers. He is the editor/author of 27 books.

Dr. Allen G. Noble is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Geography and Planning at the University of Akron, Akron. He is a cultural geographer with interest in urban studies and South
Asia. He has authored several books including Barns in the Midwest.

Dr. Rajiv Thakur is Assistant Professor of Geography at the Department of Geosciences, Missouri State University, West Plains. He is an Economic Geographer with research interest that centers on regional innovations and cluster-based economic development. His publications are in the field of regional economic development.

Dr. Sudhir Thakur is Associate Professor at the College of Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento. He has research interests in the areas of regional economic systems, technological change and regional development, location and land use and spatial econometrics. He has published among others with the Structural Change and Economic Dynamics and UNU-WIDER.