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Infrastructure development is a linchpin for regional growth, especially in emerging economies like Indonesia. There have been many debates over the necessity of infrastructure investment over direct economic stimuli. This study delves into the critical role of infrastructure in shaping regional dynamics in Indonesia. We employ the Infrastructure Development Index (IDI), a composite metric amalgamating various infrastructure clusters into a singular value. A sample of strategic region in Indonesia are observed in this research, classified into urban and non-urban areas to highlight the different levels of impact the infrastructure development brings. Several regional development indicators such as: (a) economic growth; (b) poverty rate; (c) gini index; (d) human development index; and (e) unemployment rate is used to explore its relationship with infrastructure development. This research shows a nuanced pattern where mainly urban areas exhibiting higher IDI value and higher impact on its regional growth and development. While non-urban areas still experiencing lower impact due to the difficulties in infrastructure access and the disparity of access between the areas. It indicates the prevailing urban bias in infrastructure development, needing an improved urban-rural linkage on overall economic input-output processes. In sum, this study provides further insights into the pivotal role of infrastructure in regional development in Indonesia, offering a roadmap for informed decision-making in the pursuit of comprehensive and sustainable regional progress.

Available literature has shown that infrastructure development promotes growth. However, very few studies have explored indirectly the role various infrastructure financing arrangements play in this process. This paper contributes to the literature in this regard by analysing the impact of foreign aid on infrastructure to infer its effect on economic growth in the Common Market for East and Southern Africa. Using the Blundell-Bond (BB) system generalized methods of moments, the results show that foreign aid has a net negative effect on infrastructure development mainly because of corruption which mostly compromises the utilization of its grants. Overall, the results show the potential that loans have in turning around the infrastructure deficit in the region, particularly if corruption is effectively addressed in all the COMESA countries. The results further show a positive and significant impact of domestic resources (savings) on infrastructure development. This implies that exploring other avenues of revenue for closing the infrastructure gaps remains the best policy option for fast-tracking infrastructure development augmented with foreign aid in COMESA countries.

The study compared the status of market infrastructure across the selected regulated markets of Uttarakhand by market infrastructure development index computed for three categories viz., trade infrastructure, storage infrastructure and support infrastructure. Haldwani emerges as the best-equipped market as per the combined index (score of 0.62) and also outscores highest among the trade, storage and support infrastructural categories. Kashipur stands next in the category due to its better positioning in trade infrastructure while Dehradun scores low in the combined index due to poor trade and storage infrastructure despite standing second in the infrastructure support category. A positive and significant association was noticed between the commodity arrivals (potato and tomato) and market infrastructure categories. A panel regression analysis between potato arrivals, price, and market Dummies reveals that price has no time varying effect on the arrival of potato, but showed a significant and positive relationship between the markets and arrival reflecting the dependence of arrivals on market attributes.

This study examines the direction and significance of imported intermediate inputs on manufactured exports in Nigeria under the role of dual exchange rate regime between the period of Q1 2000 to Q4 2018 using data sourced from the World Bank, African Development Bank and Central Bank of Nigeria databases. Vector Error Correction Model was employed to ascertain the relationship among the variables. The results show that all explanatory variables are cointegrated in the long run. The findings from the impulse response analysis points to the existence of a negative response from imported intermediate inputs to manufacturing export, though statistically insignificant. The results indicate a positive and significant response of exchange rate spread on export performance. The result of the Variance Decomposition shows that in addition to own shocks, between 5 to 12 per cent of the variations in manufacturing export are due to shocks in imported intermediate inputs and exchange rate spread respectively. Policy that will work towards achieving a unified the exchange rate system, boosting intermediate imports of intermediate inputs used by local manufacturers to help expand manufacturing exports are recommended based on the findings.

According to the World Urbanization Prospects of United Nations, the global urban population has increased rapidly over past few decades, reaching about 55% in 2018, which is projected to reach 68% by 2050. Due to gradual increase in the urban population and impervious surfaces, the urban heat island (UHI) effect has increased manifold in the cities of developing countries, causing a decline in thermal comfort. Therefore, this study was designed to model the spatio-temporal pattern of UHI and its relationships with the land use indices of Delhi and Mumbai metro cities from 1991 to 2018. Landsat datasets were used to generate the land surface temperature (LST) using mono window algorithm and land use indices, such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), normalized difference bareness index (NDBal), normalized difference moisture index (NDMI), and modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI). Additionally, the urban hotspots (UHS) were identified and then the thermal comfort was modelled using the UTFVI. The results showed that maximum (30.25–38.99 °C in Delhi and 42.10–45.75 °C in Mumbai) and minimum (17.70–23.86 °C in Delhi and 19.06–25.05 °C in Mumbai) LST witnessed steady growth in Delhi and Mumbai from 1991 to 2018. The LST gap decreases and the UHI zones are being established in both cities. Furthermore, the UHS and worst-category UTFVI areas increased in both cities. This research can be useful in designing urban green-space planning strategies for mitigating the UHI effects and thermal comfort in cities of developing countries.

We document a strong positive relationship between natural resource exports and urbanization in a sample of 116 developing nations over the period 1960–2010. In countries that are heavily dependent on resource exports, urbanization appears to be concentrated in “consumption cities” where the economies consist primarily of non-tradable services. These contrast with “production cities” that are more dependent on manufacturing in countries that have industrialized. Consumption cities in resource exporters also appear to perform worse along several measures of welfare. We offer a simple model of structural change that can explain the observed patterns of urbanization and the associated differences in city types. We note that although the development literature often assumes that urbanization is synonymous with industrialization, patterns differ markedly across developing countries. We discuss several possible implications for policy.

With the goal of enhancing the quality of the environment, urban green infrastructure (UGI) is an essential element in sustainable cities, and nature-based solutions (NBS) are being carried out as new infrastructure solutions that increase the resilience of cities. In this research, the method of theoretical analysis and the content analysis as the basic fact-gathering technique was applied to answer to following questions: What are the hindrances and bottlenecks in implementing NBS? Are the current decision-making mechanisms helping NBS get in route to shape cities? Is there any binding policy in practice that promotes NBS? In Belgrade is planned Type 3 of the degree of intervention/level and engineering type—Creation and new ecosystem management in the classifications of intensive urban green space management; urban planning strategies; urban water management; ecological restoration of degraded terrestrial ecosystems; and restoration and creation of semi-natural water bodies and hydrographic networks. In the future, it is essential to implement policies and incentives on national, regional, and local scales that help encourage the usage of NBS in the development of urban infrastructure.

The present research aims to inspect the bidirectional association among healthcare expenditures, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions, and human development index (HDI). For this purpose, we employ a balanced panel data set of 33 OECD countries for the period 2006–2016. A newly developed econometric approach known as panel vector autoregression based on the generalized method of moments estimations is employed to test this relationship. The key empirical findings reveal that (1) all of the three main variables namely healthcare expenditures, CO 2 emissions, and HDI exhibit a causal relationship, (2) there exists bidirectional causality between healthcare expenditures and CO 2 emissions which suggests that CO 2 emissions significantly escalate the healthcare expenditures in OECD countries. Likewise, healthcare investments also increase emissions due to higher use of energy, (3) positive bidirectional causation between healthcare expenditures and HDI entails that investments in health infrastructure lead to improvement in the overall quality of living in these countries. Moreover, a higher HDI reinforces the governments to increase their healthcare spending, and (4) there is a unidirectional negative causality between CO 2 emissions and HDI which implies that carbon emissions significantly deteriorate human health and wellness in these countries. Based on these empirical outcomes, the policy prescriptions are discussed for the relevant authorities to curtail emission and enhance the quality of living of the masses.

Rise in global population has led to an upsurge in air pollution leading to increased human health problems. Plantation of plant species with higher tolerance to air pollutants for development of green spaces in urban areas can help in reducing the air pollution. In various scientific reports, indices such as air pollution tolerance index (APTI) and anticipated performance index (API) have been commonly used as tools for identification of the suitable plant species to develop green areas. This work is an effort to conduct a comprehensive study of 48 such reports published at global level from different countries such as India, Iran, Indonesia, Pakistan, Poland, China, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and South Korea. APTI and/or API values have been tabulated for 195 plant species from different countries. Pollution tolerance indices of many plant species such as APTI of Mangifera indica had been reported from 18 sites, Azadirachta indica and Ficus religiosa from 13 sites each, and so on… Highest APTI value of 85.5 was reported for Ficus religiosa from Dehradun, India. Highest API value (7) was reported for Alstonia scholaris, Ficus benghalensis, Mangifera indica and Psidium guajava which are considered as best performers. All the studied 195 plant species were also arranged into their corresponding 55 families. This review article may prove to be helpful to readers for better selection of different plant species for developing green areas in urban settings based on their APTI and API values.

Comprehensive and visual assessments utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer an empirical foundation for the planning, construction, and optimization of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI), effectively promoting its sustainable development. A comprehensive review of this field clarifies the research methods, application scope, trends, and challenges associated with using GIS to advance UGI development. This study synthesizes research findings from the Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) within the Web of Science (WOS) database, as well as from the Scopus database, for the period from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2024. The initial dataset included 640 articles from WOS and 952 articles from Scopus. After removing 1,572 duplicates and irrelevant studies, the final selection consisted of 20 articles. The integration of both WOS and Scopus databases ensures a comprehensive capture of current trends and limitations in GIS-based UGI assessments. This study centers on the scope, data sources, theoretical models, analyses, and objectives of GIS-based UGI assessments. The research indicates that over the past five years, GIS-based UGI assessments have primarily focused on areas such as accessibility, ecosystem service potential, resilience, and environmental justice, in addition to non-ecological aspects such as social benefits and aesthetics. While the integration of diverse data and analytical indicators into GIS has enhanced assessment comprehensiveness, and AI technologies have deepened data analysis, field research with urban residents remains crucial, underscoring the importance of inclusiveness in the study. This study also reveals a significant increase in interdisciplinarity in GIS-based assessments of UGI. The integration of assessment methods from ecology, computer science, urban planning, sociology, aesthetics, and other disciplines demonstrates that research in this field has fully considered ecological, social, economic, and humanistic factors, thereby more comprehensively reflecting the integrated needs of sustainable urban development.