Despite the growing attention on uncontrolled and unprofitable urban sprawling in many African countries, few pragmatic solutions have been raised or effectively implemented. While uncontrolled and unprofitable urban expansions happened primarily due to poor land use management and dysfunctional land market, the cost of land management enforcement and reform is high. This paper suggests that the recently re-emerging special economic zones (SEZs) in Africa could be a practical way of using government intervention to reduce uncontrolled urban expansion and optimize urban land use.

Urban regeneration and rural revitalization are becoming major policy initiatives in China, which requires new approaches for sustainability transitions. This paper reviewed the history of policy reforms and institutional changes and analysed the main challenges to sustainability transitions in China. The urban-rural systems were defined as a complex dynamic social-ecological system based on resilience thinking and transition theory. The notions of adaptation and transformation were applied to compose a framework to coordinate “resilience” with “sustainability”.

The economic development of a territory is strongly correlated to its level of infrastructure (railway, roads, etc.); the complexity of this type of works requires careful planning and design that cannot be separated from the assessment of the impacts generated on citizenship affected by the new infrastructures. This study deals with the instrument defined by the Liguria Region for the implementation of infrastructures through the instruments called “Programmi Regionali di Intervento Strategico—P.R.I.S.” (Regional Strategic Intervention Programs) established by the Regional Law n. 39/2007.