Garden Cities - Why Not?

Here is a conundrum. Garden Cities are almost universally seen as a good idea, but we seem to have difficulties creating any new ones. Why is this the case? That question forms the basis of this paper. We want to know what is preventing us from doing so? Why is it that we have not managed to build any real Garden Cities since Letchworth and Welwyn Garden Cities were established in the early 20th century? Although some new developments - badged as Garden Cities and Garden Towns - are in the pipeline, do they deliver the key elements that conform to and bolster the brand? Why is it that we seem to be unable to fund successfully, nor come to that, build and govern places that follow Garden City principles anymore? How can we work out what is stopping us from achieving these goals? And how can we overcome these impediments so that we can start building proper Garden Cities again? So, in this paper, we ask: Garden Cities – Why Not

Malthus Postponed

The authors examine the potential to promote palm oil production in the tropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Given world population pressures and soaring food prices, the need to grow more food has never been more urgent. Palm oil cultivation offers one possible route to meet this demand; it also has a variety of other uses, notably biofuel. Major investors are committing substantial sums to develop palm oil plantations throughout West Africa. However, this major driver of economic growth has triggered controversy, particularly from environmental NGOs. The article assesses how far these criticisms are valid. In the process, four key challenges surrounding the development of plantation crops are identified. The REDD initiative – aimed at restricting forest land conversion for commercial purposes – is analysed and a number of practical hurdles to successful implementation are highlighted. The authors conclude that large-scale commercial plantation agriculture clearly has a major contribution to make in resolving the rapidly emerging global food crisis.