With this issue of the journal comprising 20 papers, there was no room for the usual Book Notes section. However, we give here details of new publications that will be of interest to readers.
107 Cities in Asia; Second Yearly Report of the Asian Coalition for Community Action Programme, ACHR, 2010, 48 pages. This describes what has been achieved during the first two years of this programme, implemented by the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights to catalyze and support community-led and citywide upgrading and partnerships between community organizations and local governments. By the end of 2010, more than 600 initiatives had been supported in 107 cities in 15 nations. Available in print or downloadable at http://achr.net/.
Local Government Finance: The Challenges of the 21st Century, United Cities and Local Governments, 2011, 384 pages, ISBN 978 0 85793 976 0. Published by and available from Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, this includes detailed descriptions of local government finance in different regions of the world. It also discusses how in many nations, the funding available to local governments is substantially less than the responsibilities allocated to them, and how the financing of urban and local development is one of the weak aspects of development aid policies.
Appropriateness of the Sri Lanka Poverty Line for Measuring Urban Poverty: The Case of Colombo, Kulasabanathan Romeshun and Geetha Mayadunne, 2011, 42 pages, Human Settlements Working Paper No 36, IIED, London, ISBN 978 1 84369 836 4. This describes the many limitations of the official poverty lines applied in Sri Lanka, including their inability to measure many dimensions of deprivation. Printed copies are available for purchase (US$ 20) or the complete text can be downloaded at no cost from http://pubs.iied.org/10606IIED.html.
The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan 1811−2011, Hilary Ballon (editor), 2012, 226 pages, ISBN 978 0 231 15990 6. Published by the Museum of the City of New York and Columbia University Press, New York, this is a large format book with a detailed but accessible description of the far-sighted Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 and how this has shaped and guided the city’s expansion and development until today; there are also many colour photographs, drawings and maps included. Accessible at www.cup.columbia.edu.
Capital, Capacities and Collaboration; The Multiple Roles of Community Savings in Addressing Urban Poverty, Diana Mitlin, David Satterthwaite and Sheridan Bartlett, 2011, 56 pages, Human Settlements Working Paper No 34, IIED, London, ISBN 978 1 84369 828 9. This discusses ideas and methodologies on reducing urban poverty, and pays particular attention to the changes that can be triggered by the practice of community savings, drawing on the experiences of federations of shack/slum dwellers. Printed copies are available for purchase (US$ 20) or the complete text can be downloaded at no cost from http://pubs.iied.org/10611IIED.html.
For Spanish speakers, Caroline O N Moser’s remarkable book entitled Ordinary Families, Extraordinary Lives; Assets and Poverty Reduction in Guayaquil, 1978−2004 (320 pages), which was reviewed in Environment and Urbanization Vol 22, No 1, is now available in Spanish under the title Gente del Barrio, Vidas Extraordinarias; Activos y Reduccion de la Pobreza en Guayaquil, 1978−2004, Ediciones SUR, Santiago, ISBN 978 956 208 093 4, available at http://www.sitiosur.cl/edicionessur.php.
