Download or read book Pathways to Urban Sustainability written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2016-11-11 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities have experienced an unprecedented rate of growth in the last decade. More than half the world's population lives in urban areas, with the U.S. percentage at 80 percent. Cities have captured more than 80 percent of the globe's economic activity and offered social mobility and economic prosperity to millions by clustering creative, innovative, and educated individuals and organizations. Clustering populations, however, can compound both positive and negative conditions, with many modern urban areas experiencing growing inequality, debility, and environmental degradation. The spread and continued growth of urban areas presents a number of concerns for a sustainable future, particularly if cities cannot adequately address the rise of poverty, hunger, resource consumption, and biodiversity loss in their borders. Intended as a comparative illustration of the types of urban sustainability pathways and subsequent lessons learned existing in urban areas, this study examines specific examples that cut across geographies and scales and that feature a range of urban sustainability challenges and opportunities for collaborative learning across metropolitan regions. It focuses on nine cities across the United States and Canada (Los Angeles, CA, New York City, NY, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Grand Rapids, MI, Flint, MI, Cedar Rapids, IA, Chattanooga, TN, and Vancouver, Canada), chosen to represent a variety of metropolitan regions, with consideration given to city size, proximity to coastal and other waterways, susceptibility to hazards, primary industry, and several other factors.
Download or read book Local Action on Climate Change written by Susie Moloney and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-08-31 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing interest in analysing the role and effectiveness of the local scale in responding to the global challenge of climate change. However, while accounts of urban climate change governance are growing, there is now a real need for further conceptual and empirical work to better understand processes of change and uptake across a range of climate change actions. Local Action on Climate Change examines how local climate change responses are emerging, being operationalized and evaluated within a range of geographical and socio-political contexts across the globe. Focussing on the role and potential of local governments, non-government organisations and community groups in driving transformative change, the authors analyse how local climate change responses have emerged and explore the extent to which they are or have the potential to be innovative or transformative in terms of governance, policy and practice change. Drawing on a diverse range of case studies, including examples from Vanuatu, Japan, South Africa, Australia, Sweden, the USA and India, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, environmental policy and governance, and sustainability.
Download or read book How Green Is the City written by Dimitri Devuyst and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2001-08-01 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book deals with practical ways to reach a more sustainable state in urban areas through such tools as strategic environmental assessment, sustainability assessment, direction analysis, baseline setting and progress measurement, sustainability targets, and ecological footprint analysis.
Download or read book Greening Household Behaviour Overview from the 2011 Survey written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication presents a data overview of the most recent round of the survey implemented in five areas (energy, food, transport, waste, and water) and 11 countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, France, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Download or read book Cities and Sustainability written by S. Mahendra Dev and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book addresses the sustainability of cities in the context of sustainability science and its application to the city boundary. In doing so it investigates all the components of a city on the basis of sustainability criteria. To achieve sustainability it is essential to adopt an integrated strategy that reflects all sectors within the city boundary and also address the four key normative concepts: the right to develop for all sections, social inclusion, convergence in living standards and shared responsibility and opportunities among sectors and sections. In this book, the individual chapters examine the nodes of sustainability of a city and thus essentially present a large canvas wherein all sustainability-relevant issues are interwoven. This integrative approach is at the heart of the book and offers an extensive, innovative framework for future research on cities and sustainability alike. The book also includes selected case studies that add to the reading and comprehension value of the concepts presented, ensuring a blend of theory and practical case studies to help readers better comprehend the principle of sustainability and its application.
Download or read book Climate Change and Cities written by Cynthia Rosenzweig and published by . This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 855 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate Change and Cities bridges science-to-action for climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in cities around the world.
Download or read book Green Urbanism written by Timothy Beatley and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2012-09-26 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the need to confront unplanned growth increases, planners, policymakers, and citizens are scrambling for practical tools and examples of successful and workable approaches. Growth management initiatives are underway in the U.S. at all levels, but many American "success stories" provide only one piece of the puzzle. To find examples of a holistic approach to dealing with sprawl, one must turn to models outside of the United States. In Green Urbanism, Timothy Beatley explains what planners and local officials in the United States can learn from the sustainable city movement in Europe. The book draws from the extensive European experience, examining the progress and policies of twenty-five of the most innovative cities in eleven European countries, which Beatley researched and observed in depth during a year-long stay in the Netherlands. Chapters examine: the sustainable cities movement in Europe examples and ideas of different housing and living options transit systems and policies for promoting transit use, increasing bicycle use, and minimizing the role of the automobile creative ways of incorporating greenness into cities ways of readjusting "urban metabolism" so that waste flows become circular programs to promote more sustainable forms of economic development sustainable building and sustainable design measures and features renewable energy initiatives and local efforts to promote solar energy ways of greening the many decisions of local government including ecological budgeting, green accounting, and other city management tools. Throughout, Beatley focuses on the key lessons from these cities -- including Vienna, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Zurich, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin -- and what their experience can teach us about effectively and creatively promoting sustainable development in the United States. Green Urbanism is the first full-length book to describe urban sustainability in European cities, and provides concrete examples and detailed discussions of innovative and practical sustainable planning ideas. It will be a useful reference and source of ideas for urban and regional planners, state and local officials, policymakers, students of planning and geography, and anyone concerned with how cities can become more livable.
Download or read book Creating Sustainable Community Programs written by Mark R. Daniels and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2001-02-28 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Public opinion polls consistently reveal the lack of confidence, disillusionment, and mistrust that citizens feel toward government. Daniels and his contributors believe that the relationship between citizens and their governments can be changed by facilitating greater citizen collaboration with government, particularly through local sustainable programs. As the case studies show, often sustainable community programs are created through grassroots movements that are initiated and managed by citizens themselves, bringing them in contact with their local elected and appointed officials. Unlike traditional programs that are administered by local officials on behalf of their citizens, once sustainable community programs are created, citizens administer their own programs in collaboration with local officials. The case studies look at a variety of sustainable programs, primarily in the United States, that help to deal with issues such as recycling, transportation, microcredit, site redevelopment, pollution, health care, and hunger. Creating Sustainable Community Programs is the first book on sustainable programs that is intended for an audience of public administration scholars, researchers, and students as well as practitioners who are searching for ways to change the relationship between citizens and their governments.
Download or read book Cities Networks and Global Environmental Governance written by Sofie Bouteligier and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-12-12 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a result of global dynamics—the increasing interconnection of people and places—innovations in global environmental governance haved altered the role of cities in shaping the future of the planet. This book is a timely study of the importance of these social transformations in our increasingly global and increasingly urban world. Through analysis of transnational municipal networks, such as Metropolis and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Sofie Bouteligier's innovative study examines theories of the network society and global cities from a global ecology perspective. Through direct observation and interviews and using two types of city networks that have been treated separately in the literature, she discovers the structure and logic pertaining to office networks of environmental non-governmental organizations and environmental consultancy firms. In doing so she incisively demonstrates the ways in which cities fulfill the role of strategic sites of global environmental governance, concentrating knowledge, infrastructure, and institutions vital to the function of transnational actors.
Download or read book Disaster Risk Reduction written by Mark Pelling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-05-16 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published with ProVention Consortium, UNDP and UN-Habitat 'This excellent book is essential reading for those concerned with urban risk and its reduction in Africa, the most rapidly urbanizing region of the world.' Professor Jo Beall, Development Studies Institute, London School of Economics 'At last a book that recognizes the impacts of disasters on Africa's 350 million urban dwellers, including the many disasters that get overlooked and go unrecorded. But also a book that, through careful case studies, shows what creates disaster risk and what local measures can be taken to address it.' David Satterthwaite, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). 'This innovative volume combines the latest conceptualisations of urban disaster risk and vulnerability with case studies from across the African continent on how existing and innovative information can inform efforts to address the problems. Coverage ranges from the major catastrophes of news headlines to small, everyday disasters with which poor urban residents have to cope in their survival strategies. Written by international authorities and local specialists, this extremely useful book should find a place in the hands of academics and practitioners alike.' Professor David Simon, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London This is a one-of-a-kind book packed with original research and offering an innovative way of thinking about the reduction of risk in rapidly urbanizing cities across the globe. It is a must-have for professionals, researchers and policy makers. The book addresses four inter-related themes critical for urban risk reduction: environment; livehood; urban governance and the generation of urban risks. Its focus is on Africa, the most rapidly urbanizing world region, but it illustrates global processes. Part one reviews development, urbanization and disaster risk in Africa as a whole, identifies state-of-the-art practices and policies for building urban resilience and provides a tool kit for urban risk reduction. It also presents a powerful conceptual framework to analyse and compare disaster risk and resilience in different cities and communities. Part two presents detailed case studies from Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa illustrating vulnerability to hazards ranging from earthquake to shack fire, environmental health hazards, traffic hazards and flooding. Part three looks to the future and outlines a vision for a safer urban Africa based on achieving gains in human security through inclusive governance and investment in the creative capacities of Africa's urban dwellers. With foreword by Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director, UN-HABITAT
Download or read book Growing Greener Cities written by Eugenie L. Birch and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2011-09-02 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nineteenth-century landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted described his most famous project, the design of New York's Central Park, as "a democratic development of highest significance." Over the years, the significance of green in civic life has grown. In twenty-first-century America, not only open space but also other issues of sustainability—such as potable water and carbon footprints—have become crucial elements in the quality of life in the city and surrounding environment. Confronted by a U.S. population that is more than 70 percent urban, growing concern about global warming, rising energy prices, and unabated globalization, today's decision makers must find ways to bring urban life into balance with the Earth in order to sustain the natural, economic, and political environment of the modern city. In Growing Greener Cities, a collection of essays on urban sustainability and environmental issues edited by Eugenie L. Birch and Susan M. Wachter, scholars and practitioners alike promote activities that recognize and conserve nature's ability to sustain urban life. These essays demonstrate how partnerships across professional organizations, businesses, advocacy groups, governments, and individuals themselves can bring green solutions to cities from London to Seattle. Beyond park and recreational spaces, initiatives that fall under the green umbrella range from public transit and infrastructure improvement to aquifer protection and urban agriculture. Growing Greener Cities offers an overview of the urban green movement, case studies in effective policy implementation, and tools for measuring and managing success. Thoroughly illustrated with color graphs, maps, and photographs, Growing Greener Cities provides a panoramic view of urban sustainability and environmental issues for green-minded city planners, policy makers, and citizens.
Download or read book Reducing Poverty and Sustaining the Environment written by David Satterthwaite and published by Earthscan. This book was released on 2013 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Download or read book Cities and Climate Change written by Harriet Bulkeley and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is one of the most significant global challenges facing the world today. It is also a critical issue for the world’s cities. Now home to over half the world’s population, urban areas are significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions and are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Responding to climate change is a profound challenge. A variety of actors are involved in urban climate governance, with municipal governments, international organisations, and funding bodies pointing to cities as key arenas for response. This book provides the first critical introduction to these challenges, giving an overview of the science and policy of climate change at the global level and the emergence of climate change as an urban policy issue. It considers the challenges of governing climate change in the city in the context of the changing nature of urban politics, economics, society and infrastructures. It looks at how responses for mitigation and adaptation have emerged within the city, and the implications of climate change for social and environmental justice. Drawing on examples from cities in the north and south, and richly illustrated with detailed case-studies, this book will enable students to understand the potential and limits of addressing climate change at the urban level and to explore the consequences for our future cities. It will be essential reading for undergraduate students across the disciplines of geography, politics, sociology, urban studies, planning and science and technology studies.
Download or read book Business and the Environment written by Richard Welford and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1996 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Reader brings together, in one volume, the most important and innovative articles written on the interaction of business and the environment. This is an essential reference, not only for students in business schools, management studies and environmental courses, but for environmental managers and consultants and all those interested in 'greening' the business environment.
Download or read book Planning Sustainable Cities written by United Nations Human Settlements Programme and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This publication reviews recent urban planning practices and approaches, discusses constraints and conflicts therein, and identifies innovative approaches that are more responsive to current challenges of urbanization. It notes that traditional approaches to urban planning (particularly in developing countries) have largely failed to promote equitable, efficient and sustainable human settlements and to address twenty-first century challenges, including rapid urbanization, shrinking cities and aging, climate change and related disasters, urban sprawl and unplanned peri-urbanization, as well as urbanization of poverty and informality. It concludes that new approaches to planning can only be meaningful, and have a greater chance of succeeding, if they effectively address all of these challenges, are participatory and inclusive, as well as linked to contextual socio-political processes.--Publisher's description
Download or read book Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice written by Julian Agyeman and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2005-08 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Julian Agyeman once again pushes us all to think more critically about how to integrate two important political and intellectual projects.
Download or read book Blue and Green Cities written by Robert C. Brears and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-11-04 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A completely revised and updated new edition of this successful book focused on urban policy innovations that promote the application of blue-green infrastructure in managing water resources sustainably. Since the first edition published, nature-based solutions in general and blue-green infrastructure, in particular, have become a more recognised solution to various societal challenges, including mitigating climatic extremes in cities while restoring the natural environment and enhancing biodiversity. This new edition provides updated research on urban policy innovations that promote the application of BGI in managing water resources sustainably. In particular, the book contains case studies that illustrate how cities of differing climates, lifestyles and income levels have implemented policy innovations that promote the application of BGI in managing water, wastewater and stormwater sustainably to enhance resilience to climate change and reduce environmental degradation. The seven case studies are leading cities that have implemented various fiscal and non-fiscal policy tools to encourage the implementation of BGI on both public and private property to reduce stormwater runoff volumes, enhance the health of waterways, enhance resilience to climate change and meet regulatory requirements.
