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This double-volume work focuses on socio-demographics and the use of such data to support strategic resource management and planning initiatives. Papers go beyond explanations of methods, technique and traditional applications to explore new intersections in the dynamic relationship between the utilization and management of resources, and urban development.

International authors explore numerous experiences, characteristics of development and decision-making influences from across Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as recounting examples from America and Africa. Papers propound techniques and methods used in geographical research such as support vector machines, socio-economic correlates and travel behaviour analysis.

In this volume the contributors examine cutting-edge theories explaining diversity and dynamics in urban development. Topics covered include human vulnerability to hazards, space and urban problematic, assessment and evaluation of regional urban systems and structures and urban transformations as a result of structural change, economic development and underdevelopment. The significance of these topics lie in the pace and volume of change as is happening in geography reflecting continued development within established fields of inquiry and the introduction of significantly new approaches during the last decade.

Readers are invited to consider the dynamics of spatial expansion of urban areas and economic development, and to explore conceptual discussion of the innovations in and challenges on urbanization processes, urban spaces themselves and both resource management and environmental management.

Together, the two volumes contribute to the interdisciplinary literature on regional resources and urban development by collating recent research with geography at its core. Scholars of urban geography, human geography, urbanism and sustainable development will be particularly interested in this book.

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Section I : Introduction.- Introduction: Urban Development.- Baleshwar Thakur - Professional Career and Contributions.- Section II : Theoretical Basis.- Recent Studies in Regional Urban Systems in India: Trends, Patterns and Implications.- Contemporary Urban Policy in India: A Critique of Neoliberal Urbanism.- Sustainable Urbanization in India: Experiences and Challenges.- ´Glocalizing´ Urban Sustainability: The Case of Nairobi, Kenya.- Section III : Quantitative Analysis.- Socio-economic Correlates of Asian Urbanization.- Assessing the Impacts of the Global Financial Crisis on Major and Minor Cities in South and Southeast Asia: A Hyperlink Analysis.- Asian Indian Settlement Patterns in Select American Gateways.- Section IV : Economic Impact.- Cluster-based Economic Development: 4 Cases for Context in Developing Regions.- Impact of Economic Development on Regional Structure of Urban Systems in India.- India´s Cities Rising: The Challenges in Higher Education.- Hazard Risks and Social Vulnerability in Urban India.- High-Technology and Socio-Spatial Change in Bengaluru: A Mixed Method Approach.- Delhi Metro Rail Travel Behavior Analysis and Trip Characteristics.- Mobility, Marginality and the Cycle Rickshaw in Indian Cities.- Section V : Housing.-Majority´s Perception about Minority groups and housing values: An Urban Case study within the San Juan MSA, Puerto Rico.- Impact of the Growth of Farmhouses on Adjoining Local Settlements in Nationa
l Capital Territory of Delhi.- Spatial Analysis of in and out Migration in Bolpur Town, West Bengal.- Section VI : Planning.- City Growth Direction-Planning for Land Use Balance.-Urban heritage and planning in India.- Socio-economic Characteristics of Calcutta Slums: An Analysis of Intervention Policies.- Section VII : Cities.- Spatial Structure and Urban Development in Indian Cities.-The Informal Sector in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area: Appraisal and Prospects for Local Economic Development.- Playfully Negotiating Publics: Children, Space and Activism in the City.

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