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Planning Livable Communities |
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Smart growth: How to fight sprawl, reshape our cities and towns and take back our streets
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One analysis shows mega-retailers like Wal-Mart generating barely more property tax revenue per acre than your average housing development.
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Yes, Ogunquit, Maine’s Marginal Way has spectacular views of the ocean along the full 1.25-mile walking path, and that’s certainly a key reason why so many people use it. Not every community is so fortunate to have such breathtaking scenery for a trail. However, there are many other towns with beautiful coastlines, but without the [...]
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Add Scientific American to the list of those saying we need aesthetically pleasing streetscapes to encourage more walking. Says a recent podcast: “According to Andrew Furman of Ryerson University in Toronto [http://bit.ly/dr76ot] . . . in many places in North America it?s just not that nice to walk. But if cities and suburbs put more [...]
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“I know that these days you?re supposed to see the future in China or India, not in the heart of ‘old Europe,’ ” writes Paul Krugman in a column called Stranded in Suburbia. But “Europeans who have achieved a high standard of living in spite of very high energy prices ? gas in Germany costs [...]
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The LivableStreets Alliance is hosting what looks like an interesting presentation on Tuesday, April 6 from 7 to 9 pm: How technology is improving public transit with data. Find out how the Mass Dept. of Transportation Developers Initiative hosts transportation data that can be used by third-party software developers to build Web sites, mobile apps [...]
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The Commonwealth plans to do some sidewalk improvements along Route 9 as part of a Stimulus-funded resurfacing project in Natick and Framingham. However, the plans also call for eliminating some existing grassy strips between blacktop sidewalks and the roadway, instead relying on painted lines to mark walkways, Department of Transportation officials said at a public [...]
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I delivered this written testimony to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation at a public hearing tonight on a federally funded Route 9 road resurfacing project: Lessen traffic congestion, improve aesthetics, create a more successful retail corridor and make for happier residents. The Route 9 corridor project can achieve all this at once by keeping one [...]
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The Framingham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 8), 7:30 pm in conference room 1 of the Memorial Building (Framingham Town Hall). Agenda 7:30 PM -> Vote on meeting minutes -> Review recent correspondence and media articles -> Public comment 7:50 PM -> Update on recent meetings: Cochituate Rail Trail and MABPAB [...]
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The state plans to resurface about 8 miles of Rte. 9 in Framingham and Natick. As part of the project, Mass. Dept. of Transportation will hold a public hearing aimed at “fully acquainting” us with the plans, but the public will be able to offer comments as well. Part of the project includes “sidewalk and [...]
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How is the effort going to create a world-class bicycling environment in Boston? Nicole Freedman, Director of Mayor Menino’s Boston Bikes, will presentthe second annual Boston Bikes Report Thursday, December 10, 6:30 to 8 pm (doors open at 6). The event is at the Boston Public Library’s Rabb Lecture Hall, Copley Square, 700 Boylston St. [...]
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Urban Institute - International Activities |
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Urban Institute reports from: International Activities - The Urban Institute is a nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization established to examine the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation.
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Africa's cities purchase much more food domestically than the continent imports or exports; they represent economic hope if rural and peri-urban producers learn to meet their particular food demands, including more meat, dairy, and processed foods. Increased efficiency will come with more onsite processing, contract enforcement, and distribution centers. Best practices from South Africa include the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market and Thohoyandou Spar Supermarket requiring their agents to purchase a share of their fresh vegetables from small growers. Efforts to strengthen regulation and raise standards must remember that the urban poor depend on public markets, the informal sector and "inferior"...
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Charles Cadwell, a University of Maryland expert on the political economy of reform in developing nations, the relationship of institutions to economic development, and the implementation of legal and judicial reforms, has joined the Urban Institute as the director of its International Activities Center.
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The conceptual and legal framework for the development of an effective system of local governance in Pakistan was created in July 2001, and a review of the Local Government Ordinance of 2001 reveals that the rules and procedures to govern the process have been set in place. Yet, four and a half years into devolution, political decentralization has not been followed by adequate administrative and fiscal decentralization to ensure quality service delivery to the public. This report assesses the progress and challenges of effective and efficient service delivery in the health, education, and water sectors, local fiscal roles and responsibilities,...
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This paper presents an impact evaluation of an active labor market program operating in over a dozen Russian cities. The program provides job search assistance and significant financial and social services support to unemployed workers who are members of very poor families. It is of interest because of high success (job acquisition) rates previously documented. The analysis shows that participants are significantly more likely to find and retain a job than a control group of similar workers who registered at the local Employment Centers at the same time. On the other hand, these workers were found to take jobs paying...
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This work explores the satisfaction of a sample of 300 frail elderly from rural Russia with the support services provided by social service agency staff. The client population lives in extremely difficult conditions in terms of housing and associated communal services. They reported high levels of satisfaction with the agency provided services. The patterns identified are broadly consistent with expectations based on modeling done for the U.S. populations receiving at-home care. The results clearly indicate the value of providing such services to frail elderly in such circumstances.
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The study's primary purpose is to provide background and analysis on existing realities in Uzbekistan as input into USAID's thinking in respect to the timeliness and appropriateness of local government assistance. This assessment addresses the basic legal institutional framework for subnational government in Uzbekistan. It also describes how the central and respective local government tiers interact in practice and, how, at the municipal level, government is organized and operates, most importantly in respect to budgeting and the delivery of basic urban services. In addition, the assessment examines the role of mahallas (a traditional, neighborhood-based form of community self-governance) which have...
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This primer on Local Economic Development (LED) is designed to provide USAID's field staff with a better understanding of LED. The first section provides a framework first for evaluating the utility of an LED initiative, and then developing an LED strategy. The second section highlights the components of a successful LED strategy. The third section addresses timing the implementation of an LED initiative. The fourth section provides case studies that demonstrate different approaches to LED programs (sectoral, regional, etc.). The primer concludes with samples of LED scopes of work, related websites, and other resource material.
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This report summarizes the proceedings and lessons learned from a series of courses on urban development designed for USAID's field staff. There were two courses delivered: Development and Cities (given twice), and Cities and Economic Growth. The former discussed a broad range of urban issues ranging from slum upgrading/participatory management to disaster mitigation, and included participants from both USAID and its partner organizations. The latter covered mobilizing private resources for urban economic growth, the role of local government in promoting economic growth, etc. This final report includes agendas, case studies, evaluation results, focus groups, surveys, and a list of...
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This article describes UI's efforts to strengthen the policy development skills of Russian local government officials and NGO representatives. In 2-3 day courses, participants work together on exercises in analytical decision-making methods and monitoring and evaluation. The course also covers key concepts in policy making, such as considering the distributional aspects of policies, developing explicit decision-making criteria, balancing political and technical factors, defining public goods and services, and introducing competition to the public sector. Evaluations of the course indicate that it fills a definite training need for local officials and staff at advocacy NGOs in Russia.
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During the transition period, the countries of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have witnessed the combination of sharp decentralization of government responsibilities to the local level, the creation of a flourishing nonprofit sector, and a growing need for NGOs to generate income beyond donor assistance to expand services. Russia is no exception. In this environment a strong case can be made for social service NGOs to be contracted by local governments to provide these services on behalf of city agencies. This arrangement provides a funding base for NGOs and introduces healthy competition into service delivery. This monograph...
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- URBANE NEWS - 
