Urban governance and sustainability are rapidly becoming key issues around the world. Currently three billion people - half the population of the planet - live in cities, and by 2050 a full two-thirds of the world's population will be housed in ever larger and increasingly densely populated urban areas. The economic, social and environmental challenges posed by urbanization on such a large scale and at such a rapid pace are staggering for local, regional and national governments working towards sustainability. Solutions to the myriad problems plaguing the quest for sustainability at the city-level are equally as diverse and complex, but are rooted in the assumptions of the 'sustainability agenda', developed at the Rio Earth Summit and embodied in Local Agenda/Action 21. These assumptions state that good governance is a necessary precondition for the achievement of sustainable development, particularly at the local level, and that the mobilization of local communities is an essential part of this process. Yet until now, these assumptions, which have guided the policies and programmes of over 6000 local authorities around the world, have never been seriously tested. Drawing on three years of field research in 40 European towns and cities, Governing for Sustainable Cities is the first book to examine empirically the processes of urban governance in sustainable development. Looking at a host of core issues including institutional and social capacity, institutional design, social equity, politics, partnerships and cooperation and creative policy-making, the authors draw compelling conclusions and offer strong guidance. This book is essential reading for policy-makers, politicians, activists and NGOs, planners, researchers and academics, whether in Europe, North America, Australasia or transitional and developing countries, concerned with advancing sustainability in our rapidly urbanizing world.
This book is about designing for food. It explores three fast transforming urban sites in London, centred on the regenerating spaces of Borough, Broadway and Exmouth Markets. It suggests that ‘food quarters’ have emerged in each place, modelling new forms of interconnection between physical design and social processes in which food-related renewal is at the heart. Using case study research, informed by design, morphological and social science techniques, the book explores how the interplay between compact city design and social practices focused on food, strongly influences the making of everyday life in these places. It demonstrates that the quarters have at once enriched the experience of food and eating, and increased urban sustainability and conviviality in and around previously moribund food spaces, while paradoxically contributing to gentrification effects. The book frames this experience within more spatially dominant approaches to city design, which seem to close off convivial food options and choices that would support a more satisfying and resilient urban life. The book draws some conclusions about the complexities of designing and planning for food-led renewal that might apply more broadly to other places in London and potentially to other cities in future.
As Susan Mifsud approached her fiftieth birthday, she realized her life was far from what she had anticipated. After twenty-six years of working in human resources and many more living with depression and anxiety, Susan found herself unemployed and seeking a new direction. She embraced the upside of lifes transformations and took the opportunity to embark on a masters program with emphasis on mental health and wellness. She also decided not just to read about the advantages of positive psychology, but launched her own personal experiment. She focused on evidence-based research that suggests novel, intentional activities can positively impact mood and engaged in a series of firsts that were informed by her own challenges with mental illness. Susan chose a new activity connected to one of her ten pillars of wellness and shared her fifty fabulous feats through her blog site, SilverLiningFrog.com. This book chronicles her adventures and gives readers the tools and motivation to embark on their own feats.
The current focus on sustainable development opens up debates surrounding our relationship with the natural world, about what constitutes social progress and about the character of development, both in the Global North and the Global South. The promotion of sustainable futures is taking on a new urgency in the context of climate change and biodiversity loss. This concise and accessible text explores how the international community is responding to the challenge of sustainable development. It also investigates the prospect for, and barriers to, the promotion of sustainable development in high-consumption societies of the industrialised world, from the USA and the EU to the economies of transition in Eastern and Southern Asia. In Sustainable Development Baker considers the global impact of China’s industrial boom as well as how Chinese investments are shaping the prospects for sustainable development on the African continent. This global coverage is balanced by investigating how local action, ranging from the transition towns movement in the UK to the Green Belt movement in Kenya, can contribute to the pursuit of sustainable development. The second edition has been extensively revised and updated and benefits from the addition of three new chapters: sustainable development in China; the governance of sustainable development; and sustainable production and consumption. Climate change and biodiversity management have also been expanded into full chapters. Providing an up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of the issues surrounding the promotion of sustainable development, this unique, internationally-focused book combines a strong conceptual analysis with wide ranging empirical focus and a wealth of case material. Including summary points and suggestions for further reading, as well as web resources and an extensive bibliography, it is ideal for students, scholars and researchers in the fields of environmental sciences, politics, geography, sociology and development studies.
Urban governance and sustainability are rapidly becoming key issues around the world. Currently three billion people - half the population of the planet - live in cities, and by 2050 a full two-thirds of the world's population will be housed in ever larger and increasingly densely populated urban areas. The economic, social and environmental challenges posed by urbanization on such a large scale and at such a rapid pace are staggering for local, regional and national governments working towards sustainability. Solutions to the myriad problems plaguing the quest for sustainability at the city-level are equally as diverse and complex, but are rooted in the assumptions of the 'sustainability agenda', developed at the Rio Earth Summit and embodied in Local Agenda/Action 21. These assumptions state that good governance is a necessary precondition for the achievement of sustainable development, particularly at the local level, and that the mobilization of local communities is an essential part of this process. Yet until now, these assumptions, which have guided the policies and programmes of over 6000 local authorities around the world, have never been seriously tested. Drawing on three years of field research in 40 European towns and cities, Governing for Sustainable Cities is the first book to examine empirically the processes of urban governance in sustainable development. Looking at a host of core issues including institutional and social capacity, institutional design, social equity, politics, partnerships and cooperation and creative policy-making, the authors draw compelling conclusions and offer strong guidance. This book is essential reading for policy-makers, politicians, activists and NGOs, planners, researchers and academics, whether in Europe, North America, Australasia or transitional and developing countries, concerned with advancing sustainability in our rapidly urbanizing world.
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