Edited by Hirotada Kohno, Professor Emeritus, Institute of Socio-Economic Planning, University of Tsukuba, Japan, Peter Nijkamp, Professor Emeritus, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the Centre for European Studies, Universitatea Alexandru Ioan Cuza din Iasi, Romania and the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, China and Jacques Poot, National Institute of Demographic and Economic Analysis, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand