Urban Green Spaces for Sustainable Community Development

This chapter aims to analyze the strategic management innovation in sustainable management of urban green spaces for neighborhood and community development. The report is intended to review the available theoretical and empirical literature on urban green spaces in the main related topics of community and neighborhood development, sustainable management, and strategic management innovation. The research methods employed are the analytical from a functionalist approach moving later into the critical analysis and finally from a holistic or integrative point of view. Finally, this chapter adopts a provocative and prescriptive strategic management approach of urban green spaces by presenting some research gaps and suggesting future research.

Increasing Territorial Economic Growth Through Cost Optimization in the Digital Economy

Currently, rapid urbanization is taking place in Russia under the influence of globalization processes. Russian economic growth is mostly based on the natural resources and the need to speed up its industrialization process. Today there is a change of economic model associated with the transition from the stage of industrialization to the post-industrial economy. Emphasis shifts from production to the provision of services. In the digital economy, where the major resources required for the production of quality products are time and information, the concept of cost management should be reconsidered. The new paradigm of cost management should take into account the changes in approaches to the management of material, labor, and financial costs, and include approaches, tools, and methods of cost control of resources, updated by digital post-industrial economy. A sectorial and territorial specific of the process of change of economic model requires strategic approach to cost management.

Theoretical and Technological Perspectives on Development of Information Monitoring System for Solving Complex Problems

The authors propose an approach to addressing cross-sectoral integration and use of fragmented sectoral statistics within a single, thematically invariant monitoring system and a new concept of the complex infrastructure of the territory (CIT). For formalized representation of CIT, they proposed a four-level information and a mathematical model. The authors propose a method for integrating of same e-technologies (OLAP, data mining, and GIS technologies) for solving complex monitoring infrastructure and all problems in subject of state. The chapter discusses the perspective approach to addressing cross-sectoral integration and use of fragmented sectoral statistics within a single, thematically invariant monitoring system and a new concept of the complex infrastructure of the territory (CIT). For formalized representation of CIT proposed four-level information and a mathematical model. The authors propose a method for integrating of same e-technologies (OLAP, data mining, and GIS technologies) for solving complex monitoring infrastructure and all problems in subject of world state.

Infrastructure, City-Region Development, and Africa's Territorial Spaces

The chapter seeks to investigate, explore, and document the management and development of infrastructure in city-regions within the context of Africa. The specific objectives guiding the chapter are to explore the significance of the city-region concept in Africa, to examine the state of and approaches to infrastructure development in selected city-regions in Africa, to assess the approaches that have been used to facilitate the success of the such city-regions as the Gauteng in South Africa with regards infrastructure development and management, and to draw the lessons and positive implications for planned infrastructure development in city-regions in Africa. Hence, the Gauteng City Region provides a good case because the city-region is of utmost significance to the local, regional and national level. Specifically, data were gathered through a desktop approach wherein various plans and city visions will be critically analyzed to have a broad understanding of the issues on the ground.

Model of Benchmarking for Development of Firm's Competitive Advantage to Improve Economic Growth in Cities

The chapter deals with the problems of digital modeling and the study of the interaction of the companies competing within the framework of bench-marking process for working out the strategy of effective increasing competitiveness that is advantageous for the urban economic growth. The companies are considered in the organizational field, representing iterative aggregate system of a big order with a nonlinear feedback where the order is defined by the number of differential equations. The system is described by coupled Van Der Pol differential equations with random right parts and a time lag. The model is built on the example of the market interaction of the two largest retailer networks. The developed model shows the mechanism of competition of the companies' pairs which are suggested to be investigated within the framework of the bench-marking concept.

Transformative Entrepreneurs and Urban Development Deficit in Africa

The share of urban Africans is projected to increase 50 percent between 2010 and 2030; making Africa urbanization rate the world's highest. Either such a rate can trigger economic growth, social transformation, and poverty reduction; or alternatively, it can generate more inequality, urban poverty, and the proliferation of slums. The right choice will be shaped by the effectiveness of urban development actors, the efficacy of their industrial and urban policies, the efficiency of implementation tools designed to achieve integrated urban Africa. The reality has been a decline in the public-sector efforts to tackle the problems of industrialization and urban development deficit. However, hope is rising as some transformational entrepreneurs are creating jobs in urban and rural areas to tackle Africa's urban development deficit. This chapter explores the role of Dangote Group as an example of the rising transformative enterprise that is changing African development landscape.

Drivers of Urban Development in Terms of Education Based on Digital Technologies

To speed up urban economic development there is a need in radical transformation in the technological fields as well as in the field of mechanisms that encourage the creation and implementation of new technologies. The proposed chapter approach can become a methodological foundation of development and self-development of educational institutions on the principles of continuing education using digital technologies. The chapter deals with the methodology of creating a unified information educational environment, providing the implementation of lifelong learning, the development and implementation of educational models, programs, and media performed with the use of digital technologies. The chapter aims to develop conceptual approach to strategic control of continuing education, innovative development of regulation of educational institutions and to propose practical recommendations based on digital technology.

Optimizing Health, Education and Governance Delivery Through Blockchain

Blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies are generating profound transformations in most sectors of the society, including healthcare, education and governance sectors that are uplifting communities out of despair in regions around the world. In these sectors, they are remaking financing and usher in an era of how institutions are structured, functioning and their relationships with their publics. This chapter identifies transformative research papers, White Papers, reports on these themes, and then analyzes their contexts, relevance and contributions to the transformations underway in the selected sectors. Using modified Cornell Notes template, for the healthcare, education and governance sectors data is collected, analyzed and categorized into four approaches to technology adoption: transformation, Substitution, Localization and Single Use. The chapter is organized in four main parts: the introductory, background, focus of the study, and the conclusion part.

Potentials of Cryptocurrency Entrepreneurs in Transforming Global Cities and Regions

The emergence of digital currencies is substantially influencing the growth of global financial markets and cities. Cryptocurrency entrepreneurs (CEs) are reshaping global cities and regions by transforming the way we live, work and interact. This chapter explores how the entrepreneurs use cryptocurrency assets and their underpinning computing technologies to transform the dysfunctional and evolving global cities. The CEs generate funds and create cutting-edge technologies to meet the challenges faced by cities, including unemployment, inadequate and rundown infrastructure and facilities as well as for new development to meet the needs of massive future urbanization. The chapter is organized in five parts. It first introduces the study and presents a background on the concepts of blockchain technologies and cryptocurrency, their emergence and development trend. It then discusses the rise of global cities and how technology impacts them, followed by the potentials and challenges of CEs in transforming global cities and regions. It ends with conclusion and future research directions.

Metropolitan Councils

Although no traction in the envisioned direction has been observed since the adoption of the concept of “metropolitan councils” in the Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment No. 20 of 2013), there is much potential, scope, and sense in the idea to spur urban and regional development under the impact of urbanization in the country and beyond. In the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Section 269, Harare and Bulawayo Metropolitan are the only regions due for metropolitan councils. The present study seeks to unravel three critical aspects surrounding the concept metropolitan councils as a new paradigm for urban and regional planning and development in Zimbabwe. The study is based on archival methods, which make use of existing documents including the Constitution of Zimbabwe amendment No.20, media reports, reports and plans, by local authorities, among others. Textual and content analysis have been applied to decipher and pigeonhole into different issues towards clustering them into meaningful themes, hence molding the debate of the chapter.