Becoming places: urbanism/architecture/identity/power,by Kim Dovey,London, Routledge, 2009, 204 pp., £25.99, ISBN 978-0-415-41637-5 (paperback), £95.00, ISBN 978-0-415-41636-8 (hardback)

Urban planning can contribute to reducing vulnerability to the impacts of climate change (including the expected increased occurrence of extreme weather events) in metropolitan areas. However, lack of urban governance and planning focusing on the metropolitan area as a whole, and decisions that do not take into account sufficiently the occurrence of such events, can substantially increase the cost of recovery from weather-related disasters. This policy study connects climate change adaptation, urban planning and metropolitan governance issues in the Hungarian context, focusing on the June 2010 floods in the town of Fels?zsolca, in the Miskolc metropolitan area. A review of key literature is provided on the impacts of climate change in cities and on governing climate action in metropolitan areas. Events leading up to and following the June 2010 Fels?zsolca floods are analysed from the perspective of urban planning. Based on evaluation criteria including effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, institutional capacity, transparency, political feasibility and time, four policy options are identified for climate action-related governance and planning in metropolitan areas, in the Hungarian context. Based on the above criteria, formalized horizontal partnerships between local authorities within the metropolitan area are chosen as the most favourable and currently most feasible policy option in Hungary.     

A Review of: “Slope stability: Geotechnical engineering and geomorphology” Eds M. G. Anderson and K. S. Richards John Wiley and Sons Ltd,Chichester, UK, 1987, 620 pp, £65.00

This paper introduces the development of knowledge bases, by using factors that affect international construction projects, for decision support purposes. These factors are categorized as the areas of site office, home office, and construction business environment. These knowledge bases can be used to assess the performance of construction projects as time progresses, for comparing the performance of several projects at a certain moment of time, and for determining the causes of problems so that preventive measures can be suggested. The results can be presented with graphs that represent the performance of a project in relation to each affecting factor. The system can be used as a support for making decisions with respect to construction performance.