Leningrad [antikvár]

ForewordObjectives of the Lane BooksThe Lane series of booksof which this Leningrad volume is the eighth and most recentis sponsored by the Institute of Governmental Studies and the Institute of International Studies, and examines similarities and differences in metropolitan policy-making in various nations and cultures. Of principal concern is how policies affect the metropolis, including its social needs, economy, land use, physical structure, and natural and man-made environment. Emphasis is on the ways in which political and administrative processes and institutions adapt to changes in the urban condition and respond to national and international influences. What organizational structures and policies govern major metropolitan regions? What new or modified organizations and policies are being urged? By whom, and to what purpose? Under what conditions can life in the metropolis become more satisfying and productive, or less dreary and economically marginal? How can educational, cultural, and intellectual objectives best be promoted?Increasingly, the opportunities and constraints in national systems of intergovernmental relations influence the way metropolitan regions are governed. Government leaders and civic leaders are often in contest: defenders of established philosophies versus proponents of new approaches to local and regional governance. Similarly, there are debates over which public-private relationships are appropriate and workable. The content and intensity of such ideological conflicts vary over space and time and between cultural and political systems.Policy-makers are responding to the sheer increases in the size of metropolitan regions by attempting to contain and limit growth, direct it into certain portions of the metropolis, or divert it into the hinterland. In the effort to ameliorate the deleterious effects of growth and congestion, some urban policies include urgently needed improvements in the infrastructure. Other policies are an attempt to maximize benefits and control adverse effects of large population agglomerations by emphasizing large-scale facilities, concentrations of cultural institutions, enhanced communications and transport capabilities, and so forth.The Lane books examine these matters in order to contribute to a better understanding of (1) what peopfe and their leaders want to do