Urban Green Space, Health Economics and Air Pollution in Delhi


Book Description

This book looks at the ecological stress on cities and engages with challenges of reducing vulnerabilities and risks of pollution on the health, well-being and livelihoods of people living in developing countries. Cities are the world’s highest energy consumers and the biggest producers of toxic wastes and pollutants. With an emphasis on the environmental issues facing the city of Delhi, the volume focuses on steps to preserve and manage the city’s urban green spaces. It explores the concept of urban green spaces and their economic, social, health, and psychological significance in cities. Drawing from their fieldwork and research in Delhi, the authors identify the sources of pollution in the city and access the role of urban green spaces in countering adverse effects. They further examine the relationship between green spaces and social and economic development, urban health, and urban governance. They highlight the good practices followed by other global cities. The volume also offers suggestions and policy recommendations to reverse and recover ecological balance in cities. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of environment and ecology, public health, urban planning and governance, development studies, urban geography, urban sociology, resource management and health economics. It will also be useful for policy makers, and NGOs working in the areas of sustainability, urban planning and management and environmental preservation.




Greening India's Growth


Book Description

India’s sustained and rapid economic growth offers an opportunity to lift millions out of poverty. But this may come at a steep cost to its environment and natural resources. This insightful book analyses India’s growth from an economic perspective and assesses whether India can grow in a "green" and sustainable manner. Three key issues are addressed. The first is the physical and monetary costs and losses of environmental health and natural resources driven by economic growth. The authors undertake a monetary valuation and quantification of environmental damage, using techniques that have been developed to better understand and quantify preferences and values of individuals and communities in the context of environmental quality, conservation of natural resources, and environmental health risks. The second part estimates the value of ecosystem services from the major biomes in India using state-of-the art methods with a view to preserving them for the future. The third section provides a menu of policy instruments to explore trade-offs between economic growth and environmental sustainability using a Computable General Equilibrium approach with particular attention to air pollution. The conclusions focus on the way forward in terms of policies, measures and instruments as India has to balance the twin challenges of maintaining economic prosperity while managing its environmental resources.




The Invisible Killer


Book Description

An urgent examination of one of the biggest global crises facing us today—the drastic worsening of air pollution—and what we can do about it The air pollution that we breathe every day is largely invisible—but it is killing us. How did it get this bad, and how can we stop it? Far from a modern-day problem, scientists were aware of the impact of air pollution as far back as the seventeenth century. Now, as more of us live in cities, we are closer than ever to pollution sources, and the detrimental impact on the environment and our health has reached crisis point. The Invisible Killer will introduce you to the incredible individuals whose groundbreaking research paved the way to today's understanding of air pollution, often at their own detriment. Gary Fuller's global story examines devastating incidents from London's Great Smog to Norway's acid rain; Los Angeles' traffic problem to wood-burning damage in New Zealand. Fuller argues that the only way to alter the future course of our planet and improve collective global health is for city and national governments to stop ignoring evidence and take action, persuading the public and making polluters bear the full cost of the harm that they do. The decisions that we make today will impact on our health for decades to come. The Invisible Killer is an essential book for our times and a cautionary tale we need to take heed of.




Eco2 Cities


Book Description

This book is a point of departure for cities that would like to reap the many benefits of ecological and economic sustainability. It provides an analytical and operational framework that offers strategic guidance to cities on sustainable and integrated urban development.




Climate Change and Cities


Book Description

Urban areas are home to over half the world's people and are at the forefront of the climate change issue. The need for a global research effort to establish the current understanding of climate change adaptation and mitigation at the city level is urgent. To meet this goal a coalition of international researchers - the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) - was formed at the time of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit in New York in 2007. This book is the First UCCRN Assessment Report on Climate Change and Cities. The authors are all international experts from a diverse range of cities with varying socio-economic conditions, from both the developing and developed world. It is invaluable for mayors, city officials and policymakers; urban sustainability officers and urban planners; and researchers, professors and advanced students.




Urban Ecology


Book Description

Urban Ecology covers the latest theoretical and applied concepts in urban ecological research. This book covers the key environmental issues of urban ecosystems as well as the human-centric issues, particularly those of governance, economics, sociology and human health. The goal of Urban Ecology is to challenge readers' thinking around urban ecology from a resource-based approach to a holistic and applied field for sustainable development. There are seven major themes of the book: emerging urban concepts and urbanization, land use/land cover change, urban social-ecological systems, urban environment, urban material balance, smart, healthy and sustainable cities and sustainable urban design. Within each section, key concepts such as monitoring the urbanization phenomena, land use cover, urban soil fluxes, urban metabolism, pollution and human health and sustainable cities are covered. Urban Ecology serves as a comprehensive and advanced book for students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers in urban ecology and urban environmental research, planning and practice. - Includes global case studies from over 14 countries, providing a first-hand account of recent applications - Covers the phenomena of sustainable transport, nutrient recovery and human health, among many others - Examines environmental issues as well as social-ecological systems and governance




Uncivil City


Book Description

This book looks at two decades of environmental politics in Delhi and argues that 'bourgeois environmentalists' who claim to speak for nature and society have perversely worsened the quality of life for most citizens.




Inclusive Wealth Report 2018


Book Description

The Inclusive Wealth Index provides important insights into long-term economic growth and human well-being. The Index measures the wealth of nations through a comprehensive analysis of a country's productive base and the country’s wealth in terms of progress, well-being and long-term sustainability. It measures all assets which human well-being is based upon, in particular, produced, human and natural capital to create and maintain human well-being over time.




Urban Remote Sensing


Book Description

Urban Remote Sensing The second edition of Urban Remote Sensing is a state-of-the-art review of the latest progress in the subject. The text examines how evolving innovations in remote sensing allow to deliver the critical information on cities in a timely and cost-effective way to support various urban management activities and the scientific research on urban morphology, socio-environmental dynamics, and sustainability. Chapters are written by leading scholars from a variety of disciplines including remote sensing, GIS, geography, urban planning, environmental science, and sustainability science, with case studies predominately drawn from North America and Europe. A review of the essential and emerging research areas in urban remote sensing including sensors, techniques, and applications, especially some critical issues that are shifting the ­directions in urban remote sensing research. Illustrated in full color throughout, including numerous relevant case studies and extensive discussions of important concepts and cutting-edge technologies to enable clearer understanding for non-technical audiences. Urban Remote Sensing, Second Edition will be of particular interest to upper-division undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and professionals working in the fields of remote sensing, geospatial information, and urban & environmental planning.




The Human Capital Index 2020 Update


Book Description

Human capital—the knowledge, skills, and health that people accumulate over their lives—is a central driver of sustainable growth, poverty reduction, and successful societies. More human capital is associated with higher earnings for people, higher income for countries, and stronger cohesion in societies. Much of the hard-won human capital gains in many economies over the past decade is at risk of being eroded by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Urgent action is needed to protect these advances, particularly among the poor and vulnerable. Designing the needed interventions, targeting them to achieve the highest effectiveness, and navigating difficult trade-offs make investing in better measurement of human capital now more important than ever. The Human Capital Index (HCI)—launched in 2018 as part of the Human Capital Project—is an international metric that benchmarks the key components of human capital across economies. The HCI is a global effort to accelerate progress toward a world where all children can achieve their full potential. Measuring the human capital that children born today can expect to attain by their 18th birthdays, the HCI highlights how current health and education outcomes shape the productivity of the next generation of workers and underscores the importance of government and societal investments in human capital. The Human Capital Index 2020 Update: Human Capital in the Time of COVID-19 presents the first update of the HCI, using health and education data available as of March 2020. It documents new evidence on trends, examples of successes, and analytical work on the utilization of human capital. The new data—collected before the global onset of COVID-19—can act as a baseline to track its effects on health and education outcomes. The report highlights how better measurement is essential for policy makers to design effective interventions and target support. In the immediate term, investments in better measurement and data use will guide pandemic containment strategies and support for those who are most affected. In the medium term, better curation and use of administrative, survey, and identification data can guide policy choices in an environment of limited fiscal space and competing priorities. In the longer term, the hope is that economies will be able to do more than simply recover lost ground. Ambitious, evidence-driven policy measures in health, education, and social protection can pave the way for today’s children to surpass the human capital achievements and quality of life of the generations that preceded them.