Developing countries are suffering from the multiple and overlapping problems of poverty, malnutrition, excessive population growth and also the increased environmental pollution due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, particularly in the existing urban centres. The migration from rural areas of agricultural population to urban areas is making this situation more problematic. The lack of established institutions leads to the failure of public policy no matter how efficiently it is formulated. The book discusses the major regional developmental problems in poor countries, covering economic, social and environmental problems. It deals with case-studies for a set of individual countries, and discusses their unique problems, investigating how the established methods of regional science can be used to solve some of these problems.

This book contains up-to-date original contributions by some of the world's best known experts in the area of urban and regional science. Regional science provides the theoretical basis of urban and regional planning. The subject covers such topics as regional development, regional accounts, spatial price computation, regional and interregional knowledge networks and measurement of regional quality of life. A considerable amount of change has taken place in the spatial pattern of socio-economic activities and their interactions over the last half of the century leading to the need for more advanced tools of analysis in regional science. This book fulfils this need.

The greatest challenge facing mankind today is the immense disparity in the levels of income among people in different parts of the globe. The growth rate of income of the poor countries is consistantiy far below the rate of the advanced, industrialized nations. Due to low income and a high propensity to consume, there is very little left in these countries for investment. A major portion of the resources available is devoted to military expenditures. This continual decline in the standard of living, coupled with poverty and unemployment, will lead to social and political upheaval in these countries, which affects developed countries. Because of high capacity and low population growth, the market of the developed countries is already saturated. To maintain the high standard of living in the developed countries it is necessary to have a strong and stable developing world. It is gratifying to see that both groups of countries see the need for peaceful economic growth; however, the amount of cooperation between countries and the material help from the developed countries are far from satisfactory. The economic and social scientists have investigated the best way to achieve the transformation from a poverty-ridden condition to a decent existence. Their studies have proceeded in two different directions. One is a more descriptive, historical analysis and the other is theoretical model building. Although these studies have achieved a relatively high level of perfection, one significant factor is sometimes missing.

This work is concerned with the understanding of the structure and behaviour of urban and regional systems in developing countries. Professor Chadwick considers not only how such systems change, but also how they might be changed by some form of manipulation. Both these purposes necessarily involve the activity of modelling the systems concerned. This study has been enriched by the author's own experience in Bahrain, Hong Kong, Korea and Saudi Arabia.

This book brings together the emerging trends and techniques incorporated in regional science during the first two decades of this millennium. The book includes systematic and analytical notes making scientific commentary on the innovative methods of regional development, measurement of the development, regional development models, and policy measures that have significant implications and wide applicability instrumental for India as well as the other global south countries. There is clear evidence in the global south of the uneven spatial distribution of resources, economic activities, literacy, and health conditions. The most striking fact is the coexistence of development and underdevelopment that makes the planning process complicated. This can hardly be explored without taking a deep insight into the matter of how the regional parameters are impacting regional society or economy to shape the development of that region. There can be no effective global policy framework that will be effective equally for each and every region to mitigate local issues of society or economy. It is here that the book integrates the efforts of practitioners working towards addressing these regional issues and striving for sustainable regional development through their innovative ideas. Through its contributions, the book addresses development issues, regional impact of climate change, social justice, migration, well-being, livelihood vulnerabilities, and regional urban-environmental issues from the standpoint of regional science. It is a significant resource for researchers of spatial science, and policy makers.

For the last three decades, space has become a significant dimension in social science analysis. In many developed countries, economic growth is slowing down, and in some cases restrained, due to environmental considerations, and the real question is the optimum spread of development over space rather than the growth over time. In the developing countries, limited and uneven distribution of population and resources, and the existence of heterogenous groups, highlighted the need of balanced regional development. The energy cl~sis and the realization that energy resources are very limited and unequally distributed have further emphasized its importance. The expected impact and relocation due to energy shortages will have a crucial spatial dimension since manufacturing and service activities dependent on energy are concentrated in a few metropolitan regions connected by transportation, 'communication and cultural factors. Regional environ ment is also dependent on the spatial juxtaposition of activities and energy use. The papers included in this volume address some of these considerations. They were presented in the International Conference on Regional Science, Energy and Environment, held at Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven, Belgium, on May 1975. A second volume titled Environment, Regional Science and Interregional Modeling published also by Springer-Verlag contains research papers related to environment and space. This book does not concern all facets of the energy situation. In fact, contributions on major oil producing countries, U. S. S. R. , East European and developing countries are not represented.

Science, Technology and Global Problems: The United Nations Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology for Development documents the contributions and roles of the Advisory Committee on the Application of Science and Technology (ACAST) in society and nation development. The book is divided into three parts; the first of which gives a historical perspectives of the committee, including its origin, strategy for development, and plan of action. The second part enumerates and details the various areas and sectors ACAST assisted and considered in their goal to achieve quality advancement. The last part provides the overview of ACAST programs. The text will be invaluable to government agencies and offices, especially those in charge of community development. Those who want to dig deeper in the existence and role of ACAST will also benefit from the book.

Originally published in 1989, The Geography of Urban-Rural Interaction in Developing Countries addresses the nature and importance of the interaction between ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ areas within Third World national territories, providing much-needed comparative, cross-cultural, and cross-national material. The book discusses the various theories of urban-rural interaction, and summarises the topic in the form of the movement of people, goods, money, capital, new technology, energy, information and ideas. Case studies are drawn from different areas of the Third World – including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Caribbean and illustrate in detail the nature of urban-rural interaction.

This is a relatively simple and easy to read introduction of major regional and local economic development theories, their theoretical evolution and other relevant topics such as governance, institutions and local leadership within the globalization context. It also discusses some basic analytical tools and provides a template for them in an easy to use MS Excel spreadsheet application. It introduces conflict management procedures into regional development process and provides a regional decision support framework.