Iran has one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and many elements of today’s urban planning and design have their origins in the country. However, mass country-city migration from the 1960s onwards brought enormous challenges for the country’s main cities in the provision of adequate housing and associated services, resulting in a range of sub-standard housing solutions, particularly in Tehran, the capital city. At the same time, and notably in the past decade, Iran’s main cities have had significant involvement in the smart city movement. The Smart Tehran Program is currently underway, attempting to transition the capital towards a smart city by 2025. This study adopts a qualitative, inductive approach based on secondary sources and interview evidence to explore the current housing problems in Tehran and their relationship with the Smart Tehran Program. It explores how housing has evolved in Tehran and identifies key aspects of the current provision, and then assesses the main components of the Smart Tehran Program and their potential contribution to remedying the housing problems in the city. The article concludes that although housing related issues are at least being raised via the new smart city technology infrastructure, any meaningful change in housing provision is hampered by the over centralized and bureaucratic political system, an out of date planning process, lack of integration of planning and housing initiatives, and the limited scope for real citizen participation.

This research analyses the effects of openness, telecommunications, and institutional nexus on economic growth in African countries using a panel model with data from 16 landlocked countries from 1996 to 2021 and employing the pooled mean group estimation technique that mitigates bias from country heterogeneity and discerning short-term and long-term equilibrium dynamics and two-step system-generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation for robustness check. The empirical findings indicate that openness exerts a significantly positive effect on economic growth in the models. This supports the neoclassical model, suggesting that being landlocked should not impede economic growth, but rather, growth should depend on opportunities available to each country. However, institutions and telecommunications show a mixed correlation with economic growth. These findings can guide landlocked developing countries in enhancing their exports and fostering skill acquisition to attract advanced technology. In conclusion, policymakers should improve macroeconomic policies, telecommunications infrastructure, and institutional structure to strengthen the sustainability of economic growth in African landlocked countries.

This study analyzes the studies on project finance (PF) and renewable energy (RE) arena, employing a comprehensive scientometric analysis to illuminate the current research landscape, identify prominent scholars, and uncover emerging trends. Encompassing several analyses, we have charted the evolution of this domain from 1993 to March 2024 and showed the way for further research. We analyzed 80 studies selected from several databases by means scientometric tools. Despite decent citation rates, research in this relatively young field is surprisingly scarce. While geographically diverse, research leadership stems from the UK, USA, Australia, and Germany. Interestingly, a significant portion of the studies originates from broad energy and sustainability areas, highlighting a potential knowledge gap in finance and economics areas. Additionally, the prevalence of case studies points to a strong connection between theory and practice. The research also revealed prominent topics like the interplay between PF and RE, various renewable resources, infrastructure development, financial considerations, risk management, among others. While many themes exist, areas like technological advancements, diverse cost approaches, valuation methodologies, and policy considerations remain underexplored. Other results unveiled an unexpected finding: limited evidence of large-scale collaborations, with individual or small-group research efforts currently dominating the field. However, existing collaborative networks promise future advancements through the emergence of more formalized research groups, which can perform future research endeavors with a wide spectrum of unexplored topics.

The journey towards better healthcare sustainability in Asian nations demands a comprehensive investigation into the impact of urban governance, poverty, and female literacy on infant mortality rates. This study undertakes a rigorous exploration of these key factors to pave the way for evidence-based policy interventions, utilizing data from a panel of six selected Asian countries: Pakistan, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, spanning the years 2001 to 2020. The findings reveal that adequate sanitation facilities, higher female literacy rates, and sustained economic growth contribute to a reduction in infant mortality. Conversely, increased poverty levels and limited women’s autonomy exacerbate the infant mortality rates observed in these countries. The Granger causality analysis validates the reciprocal relationship between urban sanitation (and poverty) and infant mortality rates. Furthermore, the study establishes a causal relationship where female literacy rates Granger-cause infant mortality rates, and conversely, infant mortality rates Granger-cause women’s autonomy in these countries. The variance decomposition analysis indicates that sustained economic growth, improved female literacy rates, and enhanced women’s empowerment will likely impact infant mortality rates in the coming decade. Consequently, in low-income regions where numerous children face potentially hazardous circumstances, it is imperative to allocate resources towards establishing and maintaining accessible fundamental knowledge regarding sanitation services, as this will aid in reducing infant mortality rates.

Bali is the most famous tourist destination in the world, and this popularity has led to a significant rise in the island’s economy. The rise in income has also driven an increase in demand for infrastructure. Moreover, the Bali regional competitiveness index, in the infrastructure pillar, shows a lower figure compared to the national level. So that the Bali Provincial Government focuses on building an infrastructure strategy. This research uses the Input-Output Table (IOT) model, namely the 2016 Bali Province IOT which will be released in 2021. This analysis was chosen because IOT assumes that one sector can be an input for other sectors, in terms of this this is the construction sector. With investment in strategic and monumental infrastructure marking the New Era of Bali, it will result in additional Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of IDR 18.7 trillion, or in other words Bali’s GRDP will increase by 9.71% from the condition of no investment. This shows that infrastructure development is able to boost Bali’s economy. Further research is needed to be able to qualitatively analyze development infrastructure strategies in Bali. Remembering that a qualitative approach is also important to be able to analyze in depth.

Japan’s investment in the domestic construction industry has fallen to less than half its peak in 1992. Given the country’s declining population, Japanese construction companies must go global to remain profitable. To what extent the Japanese government and Japanese companies can contribute to meeting the growing infrastructure needs in the region is unclear as Japanese companies have long been operating primarily in Japan. The Japanese government has in recent years passed a series of new laws that encourage private sector participation in financing, building and operating public infrastructure. Through involvement in such public projects, Japanese companies have developed the skills and technologies to build a variety of infrastructures that are resilient to natural disasters and adaptable to various geographical conditions and social and economic development. But the major challenge for Japanese companies is to transform their business model drastically from one that relies on the domestic market to one that contributes to the social and economic development of third countries.