Environment & Urbanization

World leading environmental and urban studies journal

Book notes

Engaging our readers in preparing book notes

Our Book Notes section has short descriptions of books, papers and reports that we have prepared on all subjects relevant to urban issues. These are summaries rather than reviews. These go into the Book Notes online database that contains all Book Notes since our 1993 editions. It has facilities for searching by author, title, key word, city or country.

As an experiment, we are opening this to our readers so it can draw on a wider pool of knowledge. So we invite you to send us short summaries of new publications you have read that you found interesting – and relevant to urban issues. Authors may submit summaries too, but not promotional material. We welcome your submission on relevant publications published within the last two years. This includes English-language Book Notes and English summaries of publications in Spanish, French or Portuguese. You will be listed as the author of the summary.

If you would like to submit a Book Note, please search the database on this page to ensure that the publication has not already been covered. Please specify the title, author, publisher, year of publication, number of pages, and ISBN (if applicable). For the description, between one and six paragraphs is sufficient. Book Notes can be sent to Jenny.Peebles@iied.org

(For a searchable database of papers in Environment and Urbanization, go to http://eau.sagepub.com/)

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2013

Based on a PhD thesis, this book provides readers with a nuanced account of the spatiality of livelihoods and the continuous negotiations that enable urban dwellers to access and use scarce and contested public spaces in the city of Dhaka.

2014

This book sets out to investigate why concessional contracts in Argentina’s water and sanitation sector perform differently in terms of their long-term viability, specifically considering the changing institutional environments before and after the economic crisis in 2001.

2014

Documenting the process of applying a systems approach to participatory vulnerability assessment, this M-BRACE report provides an overview of the complex challenges Asian cities face regarding urbanization and climate change.

2014

This is a “twelve years after” study of population and health dynamics in Nairobi’s informal settlements.

2014

This WIEGO working paper addresses the question of how to compile statistical data that meaningfully compares something as dynamic, diverse and conceptually contested as the informal economy. 

2014

This book makes the case for incorporating green infrastructure into existing and new cities and city districts through the presentation of successful city initiatives, with many colour photos to show what has been done.

2014

This is a large format and very visual atlas that charts the diversity of the world’s cities over time, focusing on different types of cities produced by processes of urbanization.

2014

This is perhaps a surprising publication for an environment and urban-focused journal to give attention to – since its 538 pages give almost no attention to environmental issues and little to urban issues.

2014

Structured in three parts, this book provides a detailed discussion of the historical developments toward humane urbanism in American cities.

2014

This is probably the most detailed and up-to-date summary of the quality and extent of provision of basic services in each region of the world. The main body of the work is seven regional chapters.

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