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In this final chapter, we explore the ever-evolving 21st century landscape where ethics drive community development toward resilience and progress. Drawing inspiration from the subheadings mapping our journey, we traverse international case studies spanning Canada, Brazil, Sweden, Kenya, China, Australia, Antarctica, and India. Through these global insights, we uncover the impacts of dynamic forces on communities worldwide, navigating ethical dilemmas and opportunities. We present strategies tailored to diverse continent-specific needs, explore inclusive governance models, and highlight the transformative power of ethical engagement. This journey underscores the vital role of resilience and concludes with a global call to embrace ethical approaches for inclusive community development and a sustainable future.

This beginning chapter offers a comprehensive overview of community development, tracing its historical roots and societal implications. It underscores community development’s role in fostering social cohesion and positive change. Beginning with its foundational principles of collective action, participation, and empowerment, the chapter delves into its evolution in response to industrialization and urbanization. It explores diverse scales, contexts, tools, and strategies used in community development and its broader societal impact. The chapter advocates for inclusivity and active engagement of community members, emphasizing tailored solutions that address unique challenges. It acknowledges complexities like ethical dilemmas, power imbalances, and cultural sensitivities, underscoring the importance of integrity and local context understanding in community development.

This study aims to investigate the synergies between the economic environment and the smart living dimension embedded in the current smart city initiatives, focusing on the localization of female entrepreneurship in contemporary cities. This interaction is under-investigated and controversial as it includes cities' practices enabling users and citizens to develop their potential and build their own lives, affecting entrepreneurial and economic outcomes. Building upon the perspective of the innovation ecosystems, this study focuses on the impact of smart living dimensions and R&D investments on the localization of female entrepreneurial activities.

The study uses a Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) and a panel dataset that considers 30 Italian smart city projects for 12 years to demonstrate the relationship between smart living practices in cities and the localization of female entrepreneurship. The complementary effect of public R&D investment is also included as a driver in the “smart” city transition.

The study found that the advancement of smart living practices in cities drives the localization of female entrepreneurship. The study highlights the empirical results, the interaction over the years and a current overview through choropleth maps. The public R&D investment also affects this relationship.

This study advances the theoretical discussion on (1) female entrepreneurial intentions, (2) smart city advancement (as a context) and (3) smart living dimension (as a driver) and offers valuable insight for governance and policymakers.

This study offers empirical contributions to the preliminary academic debate on enterprise development and smart city trajectories at the intersection between human-based practices and female entrepreneurship.

This study offers empirical contributions to the preliminary academic debate on enterprise development and smart city trajectories at the intersection between human-based practices and female entrepreneurship. The findings provide valuable insights into the localization of female entrepreneurship in the context of smart cities.

Land value varies at a micro level depending on the location’s economic, geographical and political determinants. The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive assessment of the determinants affecting land value in the Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala.

The global influence of the identified 20 explanatory variables on land value is measured using the traditional hedonic price modeling approach. The localized spatial variations of the influencing parameters are examined using the non-parametric regression method, geographically weighted regression. This study used advertised land value prices collected from Web sources and screened through field surveys.

Global regression results indicate that access to transportation facilities, commercial establishments, crime sources, wetland classification and disaster history has the strongest influence on land value in the study area. Local regression results demonstrate that the factors influencing land value are not stationary in the study area. Most variables have a different influence in Kazhakootam and the residential areas than in the central business district region.

This study confirms findings from previous studies and provides additional evidence in the spatial dynamics of land value creation. It is to be noted that advanced modeling approaches used in the research have not received much attention in Indian property valuation studies. The outcomes of this study have important implications for the property value fixation of urban Kerala. The regional variation of land value within an urban agglomeration shows the need for a localized method for land value calculation.

The current chapter proposes a theoretical framework to assess the sustainability of economic growth in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States. The authors integrate insights from endogenous growth models and consider the unique socioeconomic characteristics of the GCC region to provide a comprehensive and tailored approach to understanding the determinants of economic growth and formulating effective policy measures to foster sustainable development and growth. This chapter highlights the environmental challenges faced by GCC; based on this, the authors suggested indicators to construct a theoretical framework (Economic Growth, Climatic Indicators, Energy Indicators, Social Indicators, and Economic Resources Indicators). The authors propose that policymakers and researchers in GCC States should take these factors into account when devising policies or conducting research aimed at fostering sustainable economic growth. Overall, this chapter presents significant insights for policymakers, researchers, and stakeholders involved in promoting the sustainable economic advancement of the GCC States.

This study employs Stein Rokkan's methodological approach to analyse state formation in the Greater Middle East. It develops a conceptual framework distinguishing colonial, populist and democratic pacts, suitable for analysis of state formation and nation-building through to the present period. The framework relies on historical institutionalism. The methodology, however, is Rokkan's. The initial conceptual analysis also specifies differences between European and the Middle Eastern state formation processes. It is followed by a brief and selective discussion of historical preconditions. Next, the method of plotting singular cases into conceptual-typological maps is applied to 20 cases in the Greater Middle East (including Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey). For reasons of space, the empirical analysis is limited to the colonial period (1870s to the end of World War 1). Three typologies are combined into one conceptual-typological map of this period. The vertical left-hand axis provides a composite typology that clarifies cultural-territorial preconditions. The horizontal axis specifies transformations of the region's agrarian class structures since the mid-19th century reforms. The right-hand vertical axis provides a four-layered typology of processes of external intervention. A final section presents selected comparative case reconstructions. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first time such a Rokkan-style conceptual-typological map has been constructed for a non-European region.

The intention of this work is to generate a tool to facilitate the visualization of urban parameters, critically discussing the current form of urban planning in Brazil and thus facilitate popular participation in decisions, considering that since 2001, it is foreseen by law that the elaboration processes of municipal urban plans in Brazil must have popular participation in order to be legitimized.

The method consists of three-dimensionally modeling the constructive potential within the lots, using the parameters of the Ribeirão das Neves city master plan (State of Minas Gerais, Brazil), using computer software, to predict the impact on landscape that the parameters generate and comparing different software programs.

With the proposed tool, it became clear that many of the city's parameters alone cannot reach the guidelines of the master plan, and the comparison of two software programs generated options for different local realities. It is a methodology that is able to provide excellent support for urban planning laws in Brazil to be more effective and less delayed.

The software was configured with a script developed by the Geoprocessing Laboratory of a university in Brazil and was used for the first time to completely analyze a municipal master plan for the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, generating a tool able to be used in master plans' review.

Purpose: The research determines how the COVID-19 pandemic affected India’s burgeoning education technology sector and how the new normal responded to this advancement worldwide.

Need for Study: India’s education sector saw a boom in Ed-Tech funding during the pandemic. The Indian Education industry adopted technology as a partner and succeeded in being called as the Ed-Tech capital of the world. The country has a strategic edge in online education that, if explored and researched upon, can be deployed for market growth at a global level.

Research Methodology: The researcher prioritised rigorous original quantitative and qualitative methods of investigation on technology applications in educational contexts during COVID-19 pandemic and drew its conclusions after conducting a comprehensive literature review and collecting and analysing the data from numerous journals and published expert articles on the sector.

Findings: The study found that despite the global pandemic, the Ed-Tech industry was an expanding marketplace for start-ups in India. After the pandemic, the market expanded rapidly, and by 2025, it is expected to have quadrupled in size, expenditure, and investment. It is expected that the global e-learning business, which the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has bolstered, will grow to over 400 billion US dollars by 2026.

Practical Implications: The study sets forth the various Ed-Tech categories, outlining their user bases, growth projections, and the innovative technologies employed in developing these products. The research’s long-term investment projections are envisioned to aid consultants in positioning themselves for profitable operations in the era of digital Ed-Tech disruption worldwide.

The paper aims to provide a decision-support model to ensure a proper use of the limited resources, financial and not, for the enhancement of the cultural heritage and comprehensive development of small towns from sustainable perspective.

The assessment model is set up using a multi-criteria method that combines elements of linear planning with a performance indicators system that may represent the complexity of the territory’s cultural identity as a result of existing cultural-historical assets.

The model reliability is tested in a case study in a Municipality in southern Italy. The case study’s findings highlight the advantages for the public/private operators, who can consciously choose which preservation and restoration projects to fund while taking into account the effects those decisions will have on the economic, social and environmental context of reference.

Due to the suggested operational approach and the selection of variables for accounting economic, social and environmental impacts by the renewal project, the research findings may not be generalizable. Therefore, it is recommended that researchers look into the suggested theories in more detail.

The study offers implications for designing a user-friendly tool to help decision-making processes from a private–public viewpoint in a reasonable allocation of financial resources among investments for cultural property asset enhancement.

The suggested operational approach provides a reliable information apparatus to depict the decision-making process under small-town development in accordance with sustainability dimensions.

The study aims to delve into the influence of tourism on the happiness of city residents, grounded in the overarching concept of livability. It posits that prioritizing residents’ happiness is crucial for effectively addressing cities’ challenges in balancing development and distinctiveness. The study pursues three primary objectives: first, establishing a potential correlation between city tourism and residents’ happiness; second, examining the contributing factors to this correlation and third, identifying potential mediators that influence the connection between tourism development and residents’ happiness.

Using a quantitative single-case design and partial least square analysis, the study underscores the intricate nature of various tourism development components. It specifically explores the roles of cognitive flexibility and social comparison in shaping the relationship between city tourism and happiness.

The findings make a distinctive contribution by revealing that not all tourism domains contribute positively to happiness. Furthermore, it sheds light on how tourism development impacts the emotional and cognitive dimensions of happiness, emphasizing the adverse effects of inequality and feelings of insecurity.

The study acknowledges certain constraints, including its employment of a cross-sectional design, the issue of generalizability, potential sampling bias and the reliance on subjective measurements when evaluating constructs like happiness and satisfaction with life. Using self-reported data introduces susceptibility to social desirability bias and individual perceptual differences, potentially resulting in measurement inaccuracies. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the study’s findings offer valuable insights that contribute to both theoretical advancement and the realm of urban management.

The findings elucidated through the mediation analyses conducted for hypotheses three to seven shed light on the significant roles played by mental adaptation and social comparison mechanisms in shaping individuals’ happiness. These insights substantially enhance our understanding of this field. Particularly, the dimensions of social and environmental impact within tourism appear to counterbalance the positive effects stemming from the economic and cultural aspects. This suggests a scenario where an excessive focus on tourism development could potentially undermine the overall livability of the city. These outcomes further indicate the necessity for proactive interventions by destination managers. Their efforts should be directed toward enhancing the environmental and social domains, aiming to reinvigorate the sense of community among residents, which appears to be gradually waning.

The outcomes of this study emphasize the utmost significance of prioritizing residents’ happiness above mere considerations of economic growth when formulating efficacious strategies for tourism. By concentrating on the happiness of the local population, a harmonious resonance is established with Sustainable Development Goal 11, which advocates for the creation of habitable cities founded upon the principle that “a city that is not good for its citizens is not good for tourists.” This alignment underscores the interconnected nature of residents’ happiness and the sustainable development of tourism. Moreover, residents’ happiness plays a pivotal role in addressing the challenge that cities face in harmonizing growth and their uniqueness, ensuring competitiveness and sustainability.

The research underscores the need for a people-oriented perspective in urban planning and tourism development initiatives. The study identifies diverse factors impacting residents’ happiness in city tourism, highlighting the complex interplay of environmental, cultural and socioeconomic elements. It emphasizes income’s role but underscores nonmaterial factors and individual preferences. Overall, the study offers timely and valuable insights into the intricate connection between tourism development, residents’ happiness, living conditions and human perception, guiding urban planners and stakeholders.