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What are the origins of global regulation? This article proposes that the developmental state — the state investing in economic development — can be a source of global environmental regulation. Through industrial policy, the developmental state can promote structural economic change in polluting sectors that supports global regulatory policy in two ways: first, providing state support to green industries creates economic interests in support of global regulation; and, second, driving down the cost of technology through government subsidies alters the pay-offs of global cooperation for other states. This article examines the two mechanisms in the case of climate change: the global leadership of the European Union; and international cooperation on the Paris Agreement. The argument advances our theory of the state in global regulatory politics as both a developmental and a regulatory force. This article identifies significant scope for the developmental strategies of major economies to change the interest and cost structures of polluting sectors to support global environmental regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2012 there has been an upsurge in New Zealand’s interest in how ecosystem service (ES) concepts can be used to assist decision-making. This paper outlines the progress New Zealand has made in integrating the ES concept into decision-making at government and business levels and provides insights into the challenges encountered. The observations and insights outlined in this paper are based on the interaction of the authors with the various actors in these dialogues and from their involvement in initiatives being undertaken by government and business. The key challenges discussed cover knowledge, indicators, indigenous cultural values, language and communication and decision-making. The paper also provides evidence to support or counter some of the ES critiques. While challenges exist with integrating ESs into decision-making, evidence to date suggests the approach is compelling and provides a structured, transparent and neutral mechanism to manage natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents abstracts on planning literature which include approaches to empirical work in regional economics, understanding the barriers to social adaptation, and management of large city regions.

The article presents abstract on planning including a micro-level analysis of the Black voting during the civil rights movement, the influence of land-use planners on flood hazard mitigation and the use on public transport timetable data into health care accessibility modelling.

The article presents abstracts of articles about planning including those focusing on settlement house work and social reform, the development of heating and cooking technology in the U.S. in the 19th century and emergence of historic sites as tourist destinations in the U.S. in the late 19th century.

Since the 1990s, Latin America has experienced an expansion of trade and investment regimes that suggest important challenges for environmental management. This document argues that, in order to favour export oriented sectors and attract foreign investment, these trade regimes may: i) Influence environmental management to reflect the needs of the trade community; ii) Superimpose investment rights and protection measures upon public environmental concerns and national environmental laws; iii) Erode the capacity of governments and the willingness of decision-makers to approach key environmental problems that result from trade and investment activities. The representative cases of NAFTA and Mercosur are analysed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on land use planning topics, including "Historical Amnesia: New Urbanism and the City of Tomorrow," "More Than Sector Theory: Homer Hoyt's Contributions to Planning Knowledge" and "Methodology for the Survival Analysis of Urban Building Stocks."

This section presents abstracts of papers on city planning published from 2007 to 2008, including "Streets, Sounds and Identity in Inter-war Harlem," by Clare Corbould, "(Re)making the Other, Heterosexualising Everyday Space," by Kath Browne, and "Rankings and Reactivity: How Public Measures Recreate Social Worlds," by Wendy Nelson Espeland and Michael Sauder.

The article presents abstracts on planning which include "Labor Unions and Affordable Housing: An Uneasy Relationship," "Smoke and Mirrors: Willy Clarkson and the Role of Disguises in Inter-War England," and "Urbanization and Spatial Organization: Hospital and Orphanage Location in Chicago, 1848-1916."

The article presents abstracts of planning. They include "The Fall and Rise of the Local Community: A Comparative and Historical Perspective," by Hellmut Wollman, "The Compact Versus the Dispersed City: History of Planning Ideas on Sofia's Urban Form," by Sonia Hirt, and "A Paradigm for Practice," by Ronald D. Brunner.

The article discusses the trade and environmental justice in Latin America. It explores the extent to which and the ways in which the processual and distributional elements of the contemporary politics of trade and environment in Latin America can be understood from the perspective of environmental justice concept and praxis.

The article presents abstracts related to planning. They include "Crowds and Leisure: Thinking Comparatively Across the 20th Century," "Time-Series Analysis of Clusters in City Size Distributions" and "The Transnational Contexts of Early Twentieth-Century American Urban Segregation."

Presents several abstracts featured in various journals as of August 2006. "Creating the Public Domain: Nineteenth-Century Local State Formation in Britain and the U.S.," by Alan Digaetano; "The Significance of Color Declines: A Re-Analysis of Skin Tone Differentials in Post-Civil Rights America," by Aaron Gullickson; "Deconstructing the City of Culture: The Long-Term Cultural Legacies of Glasgow 1990," by Beatriz García.

One group of discourses often neglected within the study of international environmental politics are those of business actors. Comparing two key events in international environmental politics, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and the 2002 Johannesburg Earth Summit, provides an excellent opportunity to examine the changing character of business discourse over time. This article systematically analyses and compares the business-environment discourses of two books written for the summits respectively, representing the view of the international business community: Changing Course (1992) and Walking the Talk (2002). The comparison of both texts reveals some continuity but also major changes. One area of continuity is that business discourses on the environment attempt to mask a traditionally antagonistic view of environmental issues. Major changes include an increasing willingness to reach accommodation with environmental non-governmental organizations and a desire to overcome business's traditionally defensive, reactive role. Characterizing this is the adoption of a proactive approach to shaping the international environmental agenda. The article also discusses the significance of these findings for our understanding of the environmental role of business in a globalized society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of several studies on environment and planning. "Explaining the Growth of British Multiple Retailing During the Golden Age," by Carlo Morelli; "Cities in the Shade: Urban Geography and the Uses of Noir," by Matthew Farish; "Geographers and the Tennessee Valley Authority," by Ronald Reed Boyce.

The article discusses the most remarkable recent developments in international environmental law and policy. It says that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)is now an established part of the search for "new" environmental policy instruments. The International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) Committee on consumer policy (COPOLCO) carried out a feasibility study on standards for corporate social responsibility and launched an online forum to gather stakeholder views. The European Union has taken Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIAM) seriously, which is illustrated by the fact that it now occupies 10% of the budget of the Directorate General for Trade. SIAM is responsible for identifying the possible economic, social and environmental impacts of a trade agreement.

The Porter hypothesis claims that a strong environmental policy best serves the interests of a nation''s export industry. While this hypothesis seems to be based on some form of bounded rationality, this paper argues that governments may have good reasons for setting an especially strong environmental policy even though firms are fully rational. If the available abatement technology turns the environment into an “inferior input”, competitiveness is spurred by a strong environmental policy. The government should take advantage of this, and set an especially strict emission quota or an especially high emission tax. The findings in the paper also has consequences for the desirability of international cooperation with respect to national environmental policy. If a strict environmental policy spurs competitiveness, the environment is better protected without cooperation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The author proposes a framework to position ecopreneurship in relation to other forms of environmental management. The framework provides a reference for managers to introduce ecopreneurship. Five basic positions are distinguished according to the degree of environmental orientation of a company's core business and the market impact of the company: environmental administrators, environmental managers, alternative activists, bioneers and ecopreneurs. The author suggests an approach to the qualitative operationalisation of ecopreneurship and to how to assess the position of a company in a classification matrix. The degree of environmental orientation in the company is assessed on the basis of environmental goals and policies, the ecological profile of the range of products and services, the organisation of environmental management in the company and the communication of environmental issues. The other dimension of ecopreneurship examined, the market impact of the company, is measured on the basis of market share, sales growth and the reactions of competitors. The approach is then applied to seven case studies of companies. The case studies show that the basic concept of ecopreneurship is applicable. The company representatives saw the approach as helpful in clarifying their position in ecopreneurial terms. The main benefit of the approach is that it provides a framework for self-assessment and indications for improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the biases of the political institutions during the 1994 Lower House electoral reform in business interests in Japan. Arguments on sustained effort to regulate environmental pollution; Probability of coalition governments and electoral thresholds; Reasons for moderation of traditional 'business-first' policies, in favor of antipollution laws.

The paper analyzes the trade-off between environmental quality and the gains from trade. For a world with pollutants as a joint product of output it is shown that gains from trade by exporting a pollution-intensively produced commodity are accompanied by a loss of environmental quality and that improving environmental quality will adversely affect the gains from trade. The paper analyzes with a two sector model which adjustment processes occur, if a country undertakes environmental policy. The results are explained diagrammatically. A condition is specified for a positive change in welfare from environmental policy taking into consideration the reduction in the gains from trade. Finally, the paper suggests that in an open economy emission taxes have to be set according to the same rule as in a closed economy, namely in the optimum the emission tax must equal marginal environmental damage prevented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Business is increasingly being held accountable for the social and environmental implications of its activities. Managing these diverse interactions can be very complex. Environmental economics is an approach to reconciling financial objectives with social responsibilities. It describes techniques for capturing a monetary value for the environment and therefore, a monetary value for impacts on the environment.In this way, environmental considerations are brought into perspective for business. Another tool that is used for integrating environmental considerations in business decisions is multi-criteria assessment. The difference between these two tools is illustrated when businessmakes the transition from a qualitative approach (considering environmental impacts) to a quantitative one (financially accounting for environmental impacts). Policy-makers concerned with the management of natural resources are increasingly causing businesses to make this transition through the use of economic instruments. This paper discusses how environmental economics can be used to bridge the traditional separation of economic and environmental considerations. Reference is made to international experience in the chemical processing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]