In 1985 vormde zich bij mij zich het plan om een proefschrift te gaan schrijven. Dit was gebaseerd op de ervaring dat maar al te vaak irrationele of onbewezen argumenten tot besluiten van groot belang leidden. Mijn bedoeling was om deze besluitvorming van een betere basis te voorzien, zo mogelijk zelfs van een optimale basis. Dit leidde tot de formulering in een proefschrift van alles wat nodig was op tot zo’n optimalisatiemodel te komen. Gaandeweg ontstond de conclusie dat er twee modellen...

This book covers the many renewables technologies implemented worldwide by harnessing sustainable resources, mitigating pollution and climate change, and providing cost effective services. It supports multi-disciplinary master's degrees in science and engineering, and specialist modules at undergraduate level.

Now in its fourth edition, Geographies of Development: An Introduction to Development Studies remains a core, balanced and comprehensive introductory textbook for students of Development Studies, Development Geography and related fields. This clear and concise text encourages critical engagement by integrating theory alongside practice and related key topics throughout. It demonstrates informatively that ideas concerning development have been many and varied and highly contested - varying fro...

For courses in Human Geography. Strengthening readers' connection to geography through active, discovery-based learning Trusted for its timeliness, readability, and sound pedagogy, The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography emphasises the relevance of geographic concepts to human challenges. The relationship between globalisation and diversity is woven throughout; Rubenstein addresses these themes with a clear organisation and presentation that engages students and appeals to ...

Now in its second edition, Water Resources: An Integrated Approach provides students with a comprehensive overview of natural processes associated with water and the modifications of these processes by humans through climate change and land management, water-related health issues, engineering approaches to water and socio-economic processes of huge importance to water resources. The book contains chapters written by 24 specialist contributors, providing expert depth of coverage to topics. The...

Actors and institutions in localities and regions across the world are seeking prosperity and well-being amidst tumultuous and disruptive shifts and transitions generated by: an increasingly globalised, knowledge-intensive capitalism; global financial instability, volatility and crisis; concerns about economic, social and ecological sustainability, climate change and resource shortages; new multi-actor and multi-level systems of government and governance and a re-ordering of the international...

Ruimtelijke planning is het vakgebied dat zich bezighoudt met het plannen, inrichten en ontwikkelen van de gebouwde en onbebouwde omgeving. Dat is niet altijd vanzelfsprekend, aangezien we veel van onze omgeving verlangen, en die vragen niet zelden met elkaar in conflict komen. Bovendien zijn de individuele wensen van gezinnen of bedrijven vaak in strijd met maatschappelijke belangen, waardoor het nemen van beslissingen over wat waar gebouwd – of juist niet gebouwd – zal worden, een compl...

Covering both qualitative and quantitative methods, this is a new edition of the essential companion for human and physical geography students. The book has 8 brand new chapters and brings greater diversity of positionality and perspective to the volume.

Critical thinking is one of the biggest hiatuses in our education system. Learning to distinguish sense from nonsense is of great importance in the information age that we live in. In a systematic way, this book helps you to gain insight into, and subsequently eliminate, the most important reasoning errors that we all tend to make. It also helps you to debunk weak and fallacious arguments and unreliable information.

In addition to understanding what critical and scientific thinking entails, y...

Open Science is the great cultural change in academia today. Through the practice of Open Science, the university wants to anchor itself more firmly in society by making the major societal challenges at local, regional and global levels more central to education and research and thus be able to give more back to society.

From this perspective, the question at the heart of this book is: how will the university develop in its core tasks of education, research and societal impact? The universit...