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This paper aimed to investigate the determinants of loans and advances from commercial banks in the case of Ethiopian private commercial banks.

The study randomly selected seven commercial banks to represent the population stratified on their asset, deposit and paid-up capital amounts. The study utilized an unbalanced panel data model as each bank started operation at a different period of time and considered the period 1995–2016 for secondary details.

The findings showed that the deposit size, credit risk, portfolio investment, average lending rate, real gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation rate had significant and optimistic effects on the lending and advancement of private commercial banks. On the contrary, liquidity ratio had significant and negative effects on private commercial bank loans and advances. Finally, the study forwarded a feasible recommendation for concerned organs to focus on deposit size, credit risk, portfolio investment, average lending rate, real GDP, inflation rate and liquidity ratio. The results of this study will help banking industry policymakers and planners understand how to minimize inflation and unemployment by improving development and sustainable economic growth.

The findings of this study can also affect the general attitudes of a society by increasing knowledge and improve the quality of life for the general public.

During the last few decades, rising intra-regional volumes of trade as well as air passenger traffic have been key characteristics of Asia-Pacific’s economic development. Although conceptual and empirical linkages between rising levels of trade and air passenger flows are often assumed, relatively little is known about the potential causality in these parallels. In this chapter, we seek to empirically uncover this causality through the application of heterogeneous Time Series Cross Section Granger causality analysis for the period 1980–2010. Four scenarios are found amongst the different country-pairs: (1) there is no co-evolution, implying that both patterns develop independently (e.g. Japan–Australia); (2) there is ‘real’ co-evolution in that both patterns influence each other through feedback loops (e.g. South Korea–Philippines); (3) air passenger traffic is facilitated by trade (e.g., South Korea–Philippines); or (4) trade is facilitated by air passenger traffic (e.g. Australia–Malaysia). Some possible interpretations of this heterogeneity are discussed.

This chapter focuses on how to leverage public transport infrastructure to produce walk-friendly environments, positioning public transport as a walk-enhancing mode. What are the steps that public transport operators can take to create walk-friendly environments? Do more comfortable waiting conditions result in stronger loyalty from the existing customer base and stronger buyout from new customers? This novel approach stemmed from a partnership with the public transport operator Transdev on a real-life experiment in Grenoble to provide a more comfortable walking and resting experience for public transport users. Named Carrefour de Mobilité (‘the crossroads of mobility’), the experiment prototyped urban design interventions to enhance the access and waiting experience of users engaged in mixed-mode commuting. An ex ante/ex post evaluation was deployed to ascertain whether walk-friendlier environments encourage a more intensive use of public space and easier shifting between public transport modes. The findings show that when users perceive dedicated infrastructure as walk-friendly, they consider it more visible and more attractive, and find it comfortable enough to spend longer waiting times there. The evaluation would have benefited from an extension of the perimeter covered by the sensor technology measuring system which was not feasible because of budget constraints. The experiment reached out beyond the initial target public and captured children and older women as well, providing an amenity which was lacking for these groups and resulting in a livelier and more diverse environment for everyone. This lean and low-cost experiment shows that activating public space near public transport hubs enhances their attractiveness in the eyes of the public transport users.

The landscape of European cities is by no means homogeneous. Nonetheless, the same type of conflict has repeatedly occurred in different places in the last few years: From Seville to Vienna, from Cologne to St. Petersburg, planned high-rise buildings for inner city districts have provoked fervent arguments and debates. Whether and how European cities should integrate more high-rise buildings is a highly controversial question. This chapter focuses on strategies of vertical construction and related debates about the cityscape in both Paris and Vienna. By studying the urban constellations of Paris and Vienna, it can be shown that what may look comparable at first glance is the outcome of highly different strategies and histories.

Although both cities define themselves to a wide degree with reference to historic structures, the image of tall buildings varies drastically in these cities, which correlates with these cities’ diverse histories and hence experiences with high-rise buildings. Path dependencies and the ways individual cities receive international trends are crucial to understanding processes of urbanization. Based on in-depth interviews with various urban actors and other relevant qualitative data, this chapter aims to demonstrate that a city’s high-rise strategy cannot be attributed to any single factor; rather, it is the result of a complex interplay between various aspects and actors, which crucially includes present and past struggles over cityscapes and therefore over urban spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to encourage discussions regarding the existing approaches to globalization measurement (taking mainly the form of indices and rankings) and their shortcomings in terms of applicability to developing Global Studies curricula. Another aim is to propose an outline for the globalization measurement methodology that would take a systemic approach to revealing the global flows (both their direction and content) and networks, which will allow the multidimensionality in globalization measurement crucial for proposing and verifying formal explanations and hypotheses, as well as for developing globalization forecasts.

Several methodologies for globalization measurements are compared in the paper, among the most important are variations of the index compilation methodology, and methods of network analysis.

For Global Studies curricula, globalization measurement tools much more complex than indices are needed. A possible solution could lie in the analysis of country-to-country flows (and networks which these flows form), which appears much more data- and effort-consuming than the methodologies behind the index compilation, will allow the elaboration of a systemic vision of globalization and the interactions between its various aspects, which should necessarily underlie the Global Studies curricula.

The research concentrates upon the most widespread approaches to globalization measurements, such as the most widely recognized globalization indices, and the few attempts at country-to-country flows and networks measurement.

The paper's originality/value lies in proposing an outline for a new multidimensional approach to measuring globalization based upon country-to-country flows and networks.

What makes neighbourhood environment more walkable is an important question for urban planning and design research. The purpose of this paper is to explore this question through a case study of urban sidewalks in different contexts of urban neighbourhoods in Rajshahi city of Bangladesh.

Using participatory observation, Google street view and photography techniques, it examines the quality of the street facilities by demonstrating physical attributes of sidewalks and by analysing how various obstructions on them characterize neighbourhood walkability environment.

The findings suggest that the unusable sidewalks in Rajshahi city, Bangladesh, are a production of inadequate and inappropriate planning and design that unable to capitalize the functionality of sidewalks as a means of walking. It further argues that the urban planners and designers of streets have paid little attention to the diverse requirements of sidewalks in accordance with spatial and socio-economic categories of urban neighbourhoods.

This study adds insights about the urban sidewalks planning and design in the context of a developing country. It provides an empirical evidence about the constraints and potentials of making a walkable city.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the impact of globalisation and productive restructuring in contemporary migration flows in Latin America. It analyses two different movements to/from Latin America: Bolivians in São Paulo and Brazilians in London, seeking to highlight the precarious work conditions of migrants from the region.

The paper uses two interrelated research projects. One focuses on Bolivian workers in São Paulo. It used reference documents, and files from the local press and academic articles to map work dynamics of Bolivian migrants working in sweatshops. The other was conducted in London, where in‐depth interviews and participant observations were conducted with Brazilians working in low‐skilled jobs, to explore motives behind migration and settlement.

There is increasing mobility between different countries that receive immigrants with flexible proposals about constructing “new life projects”. These migrants seek to escape unfavourable living and working conditions, yet an overall perspective of flexible capitalism in its forms of production, distribution and consumption is observable. Both contexts feature precarious employment relationships, with informality, illegality and ethnic social networks being the main elements of attraction and support in host countries. Differences are located in the perspectives of return and settlement, given the different economic situations in England, Brazil and Bolivia.

Sample size does not allow making representative statements or generalisations about Brazilians in London. In addition, it was not possible to get primary data from Bolivians in São Paulo because the clandestine nature of the sweatshops makes it difficult to gain access, and to obtain reliable data.

The paper offers an important departure point to advance discussions about productive restructuring, informality, and Latin American mobilities by addressing the intersections between employment relations, migration and geographical mobility within/from Latin America.