The informal settlements in Butuan City, Philippines pose the intractable problem of housing and providing services for the urban poor. They exact tremendous costs to government infrastructure projects and the city as a whole. In this study, these costs are accounted for, particularly the costs...

We use a quasi-experimental research design to study the effects of 22 renewal areas implemented in Berlin, Germany, to increase housing and living quality in the aftermath of the city s division during the Cold War period. Our results suggest within the targeted areas that the policy has helped...

A country's urban silhouettes prophesy its future climate policy, or so this paper argues. The more its city silhouettes are skewed to the periphery, the more likely a country is to implement the carbon tax. This is why the effect of a country's urban form on greenhouse gas emissions -- a bone...

This paper studies the effectiveness of building height limits as a policy to limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It shows that building height limits lead to urban sprawl and higher emissions from commuting. On the other hand, aggregate housing consumption may decrease which reduces emissions...

The Bruneian Government has set an ambitious target to achieve a top 10 ranking on the UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) by 2035. To achieve its objective (described in a national strategy document called the Wawasan 2035), Brunei's economy needs to grow by 6%-7%. Is setting an HDI target a...

The main goal of this paper is to provide evidence for the causal effect of the highway and railway infrastructure on the suburbanization of population in European cities. This is considered a major issue in Europe, which has never been studied before at this scale. We constructed a unique...

In this study we investigate how both local environment and individual characteristics explain incidence of corruption. More specifically, we explore how city size, and residing in a capital city influence the two aspects of corruption, notably in individuals' contact with officials, and in the...

Local systems are conglomerations of municipalities held together by commuting links. ? Are they real life objects or the result of some cryptic algorithm? Real life objects. Real life cities, to be precise, even if not made of brick and mortar, but of relationships. Relationships is the matter...

Objectives. Find the answer to the question "What are the qualities of a "good" municipal strategy of socio-economic development"?. Methods. In order to reach a consensus about the quality of municipal strategy it was proposed to use the Contest of the urban strategies, which was held in the...

Recently, the channels of citizen participation in Germany with regard to governmental processes are subject to change. Classical interaction between politicians and citizens still takes place. However, there are new tools for participation at hand as well. One interesting channel that attracted...