Improving Urban Environments


Book Description

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. Because cities are such complex systems, creating sustainable urban environments is a challenging goal. No single strategy-or even several strategies-will be enough to achieve tomorrow's healthy and sustainable cities. The challenges resist compartmentalization, because the factors intersect and




Ecology, Planning, and Management of Urban Forests


Book Description

Trees and vegetation in cities aren’t just there to make the place look pretty. They have an important ecological function. This book contains studies and perspectives on urban forests from a broad array of basic and applied scientific disciplines including ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, landscape ecology, plant community ecology, geography, and social science. The book includes contributions from experts around the world, allowing the reader to evaluate methods and management that are appropriate for particular geographic, environmental, and socio-political contexts.




Metropolitan Sustainability


Book Description

Global populations have grown rapidly in recent decades, leading to ever increasing demands for shelter, resources, energy and utilities. Coupled with the worldwide need to achieve lower impact buildings and conservation of resources, the need to achieve sustainability in urban environments has never been more acute. This book critically reviews the fundamental issues and applied science, engineering and technology that will enable all cities to achieve a greater level of metropolitan sustainability, and assist nations in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations. Part one introduces key issues related to metropolitan sustainability, including the use of both urban metabolism and benefit cost analysis. Part two focuses on urban land use and the environmental impact of the built environment. The urban heat island effect, redevelopment of brownfield sites and urban agriculture are discussed in depth, before part three goes on to explore urban air pollution and emissions control. Urban water resources, reuse and management are explored in part four, followed by a study of urban energy supply and management in part five. Solar, wind and bioenergy, the role of waste-to-energy systems in the urban infrastructure, and smart energy for cities are investigated. Finally, part six considers sustainable urban development, transport and planning. With its distinguished editor and international team of expert contributors, Metropolitan sustainability is an essential resource for low-impact building engineers, sustainability consultants and architects, town and city planners, local/municipal authorities, and national and non-governmental bodies, and provides a thorough overview for academics of all levels in this field. Critically reviews the fundamental issues and applied science, engineering and technology that will enable all cities to achieve a greater level of metropolitan sustainability Will assist nations in meeting the needs of their growing urban populations Chapters discuss urban land use, the environmental impact of the build environment, the urban heat island effect, urban air pollution and emissions control, among other topics




Cities for People


Book Description




Improving the Urban Environment


Book Description

Paperback. This paper is concerned with the problems of developing policies which stimulate urban economic development without causing sub-optimal damage to the environment. It is, therefore, concerned with policies which lead to sustainable urban growth. The objective is to illustrate not only that the consequences of the inadequate consideration of environmental factors in urban policy-making have harmful long-term environmental effects but also that these effects can impede the economic development of urban areas as measured more conventionally in terms of job creation and monetary incomes. Further, it is argued that, given the interactive nature of both environmental effects and the remedial policies available to tackle them, it is preferable to consider the application of a portfolio of policy measures rather than pursue a single problem/target strategy. To this latter end a dynamic approach to the long-term application of such a portfolio is explo




Integrating City Planning and Environmental Improvement


Book Description

Since Integrating City Planning and Environmental Improvement was originally published in 1999, the practice of integrating urban physical planning and environmental quality management has been widely adopted by governments worldwide. Fully revised and updated with a new preface by editors Donald Miller and Gert de Roo and new figures throughout, this second edition reports on the experience of 23 innovative programmes from 11 countries. Mostly written by practicing planners and government officials, the book looks at a wide range of integrated approaches which have been implemented and the critical assessment of these provides lessons for local and national governments interested in setting up similar schemes and suggesting ways of further innovation. While the Rio Earth summit, Habitat II and Kyoto have been a source of global principles for improving the environmental quality of human settlements, this book explores approaches to implement these policy positions and to make these calls for action operational. Consequently, the presentation of these cases deals not only with the technical aspects of measuring and controlling environmental spillovers, but also with the institutional, political and financial aspects of these programmes.




Green Infrastructure


Book Description

With more than half of the world's population now living in urban areas, it is vitally important that towns and cities are healthy places to live. The principal aim of this book is to synthesize the disparate literature on the use of vegetation in the built environment and its multifunctional benefits to humans. The author reviews issues such as: contact with wildlife and its immediate and long-term effects on psychological and physical wellbeing; the role of vegetation in removing health-damaging pollutants from the air; green roofs and green walls, which provide insulation, reduce energy use and decrease the carbon footprint of buildings; and structural vegetation such as street trees, providing shading and air circulation whilst also helping to stop flash-floods through surface drainage. Examples are used throughout to illustrate the practical use of vegetation to improve the urban environment and deliver ecosystem services. Whilst the underlying theme is the value of biodiversity, the emphasis is less on existing high-value green spaces (such as nature reserves, parks and gardens), than on the sealed surfaces of urban areas (building surfaces, roads, car parks, plazas, etc.). The book shows how these, and the spaces they encapsulate, can be modified to meet current and future environmental challenges including climate change. The value of existing green space is also covered to provide a comprehensive textbook of international relevance.




Urban Environmental Education Review


Book Description

Urban Environmental Education Review explores how environmental education can contribute to urban sustainability. Urban environmental education includes any practices that create learning opportunities to foster individual and community well-being and environmental quality in cities. It fosters novel educational approaches and helps debunk common assumptions that cities are ecologically barren and that city people don't care for, or need, urban nature or a healthy environment. Topics in Urban Environmental Education Review range from the urban context to theoretical underpinnings, educational settings, participants, and educational approaches in urban environmental education. Chapters integrate research and practice to help aspiring and practicing environmental educators, urban planners, and other environmental leaders achieve their goals in terms of education, youth and community development, and environmental quality in cities. The ten-essay series Urban EE Essays, excerpted from Urban Environmental Education Review, may be found here: naaee.org/eepro/resources/urban-ee-essays. These essays explore various perspectives on urban environmental education and may be reprinted/reproduced only with permission from Cornell University Press.




Innovations for the Improvement of the Urban Environment


Book Description

Recoge: 1. Introduction - 2. The interests of the government and social partners in urban regeneration - 3. Description of the selected cases: Finland, Sweden.




Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change


Book Description

This open access book identifies and discusses biodiversity’s contribution to physical, mental and spiritual health and wellbeing. Furthermore, the book identifies the implications of this relationship for nature conservation, public health, landscape architecture and urban planning – and considers the opportunities of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation. This transdisciplinary book will attract a wide audience interested in biodiversity, ecology, resource management, public health, psychology, urban planning, and landscape architecture. The emphasis is on multiple human health benefits from biodiversity - in particular with respect to the increasing challenge of climate change. This makes the book unique to other books that focus either on biodiversity and physical health or natural environments and mental wellbeing. The book is written as a definitive ‘go-to’ book for those who are new to the field of biodiversity and health.