Poverty and governance are both issues high on the agenda of international agencies and governments in the South. With urban areas accounting for a steadily growing share of the worlds poor people; an international team of researchers focused their attention on the hitherto little-studied relationship between urban governance and urban poverty.In their timely and in-depth examination of ten cities in Africa; Asia and Latin America; they demonstrate that in many countries the global trends towards decentralization and democratization offer new opportunities for the poor to have an influence on the decisions that affect them. They also show how that influence depends on the nature of those democratic arrangements and decision-making processes at the local level; as well as on the ability of the poor to organize.The study involved interviews with key actors within and outside city governments; discussions with poverty groups; community organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs); as well as analyses of data on poverty; services and finance. This book presents insights; conclusions and practical examples that are of relevance for other cities. It outlines policy implications for national and local governments; NGOs and donor agencies; and highlights ways in which poor people can use their voice to influence the various institutions of city governance.
#314084 in eBooks 2012-04-26 2012-04-26File Name: B007ZQBI2G
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Luxury without pertinaciousnessBy Aldo FloresEasy to read and quite illustrative. A real good read. The author know what he is talking about. Must for people in the luxury business.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy PauloVery interesring new aproach abou the Luxury sector6 of 7 people found the following review helpful. At last. a Luxury Brand book with real depth and insight on true authentic haute luxuryBy jodokOf all the books that exist on this subject. this is one of the few insightful and well written texts with unique interviews and good depth of analysis. So far. the must-reads in this field have been Kapferer Bastiens the Luxury Strategy and HAUTeLUXE.nets 12 steps[...]and Meta-Luxury should be added to the list. Of course if you read French. add ex-Hermes Director. Christian Blanckaerts "Luxe". Most surprisingly is that Rebecca Robins. co-author of Meta-Luxury is a top dog at Interbrand that tends to rank luxury brands on popularity instead of reputation and excellence. but we see that they do indeed understand the fundamentals of authentic luxury and like many in the field. also share a dislike for the abused word. Luxury. Meta-Luxury is a good new description to match Haut Luxe in French and the authors support the term very well with their four pillars of luxury and especially their term. "the Culture of Excellence". They explain well the differences between the business-driven mass Luxury Brands and the unique achievement-driven Meta-Luxury marques. My slight disappointment was the overemphasis on craftsmanship relative to creativity. the artisan versus the artist/artisan. Vision is critical in this field but the interview with Pagani covers this quite nicely. My major disappointment was that by the time I had reached page 70. the entire chunk of pp 23 to 42 dropped out of the book and now Ill have to glue them back in again! Incredible! If you cant wait for the paperback. get this book anyway. Its the content that counts. My sincere thanks to the authors.
