Sustainability and the City
Sustainability and the City

Author: Adi Wolfson

Publisher: Business Expert Press

Published: 2017-10-30

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 1947441922

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Cities are without a doubt one of the miracles of human creation and the embodiment of the human environment. Insofar as they are large and densely populated human settlements with defined legal and political boundaries that comprise clusters of buildings, open spaces, public facilities and infrastructure, cities are mainly spaces of services that are exchanged between a wide variety of stakeholders-namely, residents, traders, visitors, and the city authorities. Moreover, the provision of cities' services has profound effect on the local and global sustainability. Thus, municipal services should comprise environmental, social, and economic values, which are designed, produced, and delivered in concert. Over the years, a variety of new urban models and concepts have been designed and proposed as viable means to reestablish the bond between the human and the natural environments, to increase the quality of life within cities and to reduce the impacts that cities have on the social and natural environments (e.g., sustainable city, smart city, or resilient city). Herein, a new model of the service city is presented, including architecture and several pertinent examples, which considers it as a platform that manages and integrates the services and systems currently provided by the city while offering additional supporting services to increase the effectiveness of the value and to achieve the goal of sustainability.

Design for Ecological Democracy
Design for Ecological Democracy

Author: Randolph T. Hester, Jr.

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2010-09-24

Total Pages: 524

ISBN-13: 0262515008

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Shows how to combine the forces of ecological science and participatory democracy to design urban landscapes that enable us to act as communities, are resilient rather than imperiled, and touch our hearts. Over the last fifty years, the process of community building has been lost in the process of city building. City and suburban design divides us from others in our communities, destroys natural habitats, and fails to provide a joyful context for our lives. In Design for Ecological Democracy, Randolph Hester proposes a remedy for our urban anomie. He outlines new principles for urban design that will allow us to forge connections with our fellow citizens and our natural environment. He demonstrates these principles with abundantly illustrated examples—drawn from forty years of design and planning practice—showing how we can design cities that are ecologically resilient, that enhance community, and that give us pleasure. Hester argues that it is only by combining the powerful forces of ecology and democracy that the needed revolution in design will take place. Democracy bestows freedom; ecology creates responsible freedom by explaining our interconnectedness with all creatures. Hester's new design principles are founded on three fundamental issues that integrate democracy and ecology: enabling form, resilient form, and impelling form. Urban design must enable us to be communities rather than zoning-segregated enclaves and to function as informed democracies. A simple bench at a centrally located post office, for example, provides an opportunity for connection and shared experience. Cities must be ecologically resilient rather than ecologically imperiled, adaptable to the surrounding ecology rather than dependent on technological fixes. Resilient form turns increased urban density, for example, into an advantage. And cities should impel us by joy rather than compel us by fear; good cities enrich us rather than limit us. Design for Ecological Democracy is essential reading for designers, planners, environmentalists, community activists, and anyone else who wants to improve a local community.

Your Farm in the City
Your Farm in the City

Author: The Gardeners of Seattle Tilth,

Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Incorporated

Published: 2012-01-15

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1603762795

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The most complete book on urban farming, covering everything from growing organic produce and raising chickens, to running a small farm on a city lot or in a suburban backyard. Eating locally and growing one's own food is a rapidly evolving movement in urban settings - Hantz Farms in Detroit has transformed 70 acres of abandoned properties into energy-efficient gardens, and Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, a 6,000-foot vegetable farm in Brooklyn, New York, yields 30 different kinds of produce, while private square-foot farms are cropping up in cities all over the country. Created by Lisa Taylor and the gardeners of Seattle Tilth, Your Farm in the City covers all of the essential information specific to gardening and farming in a city or town. Clear, easy-to-follow instructions guide and inspire even the most inexperienced urbanite in how to grow and harvest all types of produce, flowers, herbs, and trees, as well as how to raise livestock like chickens, ducks, rabbits, goats, and honeybees. Important information particular to gardening in a city or town is included, such as planning and maximizing limited space, building healthy soil, managing irrigation, understanding zoning laws, outwitting urban pests, and being a considerate farming neighbor. With 100 two-color instructional illustrations throughout and dozens of vital resources, Your Farm in the City is the most practical, comprehensive, and easy-to-follow guide to the burgeoning trend of urban farming.

Urban Agriculture and City Sustainability
Urban Agriculture and City Sustainability

Author: Syngellakis, S.

Publisher: WIT Press

Published: 2019-09-18

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 1784663654

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Papers presented at the 1st International Conference on Urban Agriculture and City Sustainability are contained in this book. The research reviews ways in which urban agriculture can contribute to achieve sustainable cities and considers ways of reducing the impact in terms of use of natural resources, waste production and climate change.

Reimagining the More-Than-Human City
Reimagining the More-Than-Human City

Author: Jamie Wang

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2024-10-01

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 0262381419

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An exploration of the multifaceted urban environmental issues in Singapore through a more-than-human lens, calling for new ways to think of and story cities. As climate change accelerates and urbanization intensifies, our need for more sustainable and livable cities has never been more urgent. Yet, the imaginary of a flourishing urban ecofuture is often driven by a specific version of sustainability that is tied to both high-tech futurism and persistent economic growth. What kinds of sustainable futures are we calling forth, and at what and whose expense? In Reimagining the More-Than-Human City, Jamie Wang attempts to answer these questions by critically examining the sociocultural, political, ethical, and affective facets of human-environment dynamics in the urban nexus, with a geographic focus on Singapore. Widely considered a model for the future of urbanism and an emblematic new world city, Singapore, Wang contends, is a fascinating site to explore how modernist sustainable urbanism is imagined and put into practice. Drawing on field research, this book explores distinct and intrarelated urban imaginaries situated in various sites, from the futuristic, authoritarian Supertree Grove, positioned as a technologically sustainable solution to a velocity-charged and singular urban transportation system, to highly protected nature reserves and to the cemeteries, where graves and memories continue to be exhumed and erased to make way for development. Wang also attends to more contingent yet hopeful alternatives that aim to reconfigure current urban approaches. In the face of growing enthusiasm for building high-tech, sustainable, and “natural” cities, Wang ultimately argues that urban imaginings must create space for a more relational understanding of urban environments.

Bilbao & Basque Region Footprint Focus Guide
Bilbao & Basque Region Footprint Focus Guide

Author: Andy Symington

Publisher: Footprint Travel Guides

Published: 2014-03-10

Total Pages: 130

ISBN-13: 190926864X

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The Basque region remains unspoilt by tourism. Whether you want to discover ancient towns steeped in tradition and age-old customs, the buzzy cultural capital of Bilbao, San Sebastian’s stunning beaches or just sample some of the finest seafood and cider then the Footprint Focus guide to Bilbao & Basque Region will help you get off the beaten path and really get to know the place. • Essentials section with practical advice on getting around. • Highlights map so you know what not to miss. • Comprehensive listings including where to eat, sleep and have fun. • Detailed street maps for Bilbao and other important towns. • Slim enough to fit in your pocket. Loaded with advice and information, this concise Footprint Focus guide will help you get the most out of Bilbao without weighing you down. The content of Footprint Focus Bilbao & Basque Region guide has been extracted from Footprint’s Northern Spain Handbook.

Progress in Water Footprint Assessment
Progress in Water Footprint Assessment

Author: Arjen Y. Hoekstra

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2019-06-24

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 3039210386

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Water Footprint Assessment is a young research field that considers how freshwater use, scarcity, and pollution relate to consumption, production, and trade patterns. This book presents a wide range of studies within this new field. It is argued that collective and coordinated action—at different scale levels and along all stages of commodity supply chains—is necessary to bring about more sustainable, efficient, and equitable water use. The presented studies range from farm to catchment and country level, and show how different actors along the supply chain of final commodities can contribute to more sustainable water use in the chain.

From the Ground Up
From the Ground Up

Author: Stephanie Anderson

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2024-11-19

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 1620978946

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An award-winning author’s powerful exploration of the remarkable women driving transformative change in America’s food system It’s well known that our industrialized food system has abandoned priorities of nutrition and environmental stability in the pursuit of profit—a model designed to fail, especially as climate change escalates. Yet this groundbreaking book describes a glimmer of hope: a green wave of diverse female farmers, entrepreneurs, community organizers, scientists, and political leaders who operate with the shared goals of combatting climate change through regenerative agriculture, redesigning the food system, and producing healthy, socially responsible food. From the Ground Up, by award-winning author Stephanie Anderson, offers a journey into the root causes of our unsustainable food chain, revealing its detrimental reliance on extractive agriculture, which depletes soil and water, produces nutritionally deficient food, and devastates communities and farmers. Anderson then delivers an uplifting, deeply reported narrative of women-led farms and ranches nationwide, supported by women-led investment firms, farmer training programs, restaurants, supply chain partners, and advocacy groups, all working together to create a more inclusive and sustainable world. From the Ground Up sheds light on a set of inspiring journeys, with stories that will transform the way we think about the food chain—one that can weather the storms of climate change, conflicts, and global pandemics.

The Human Footprint
The Human Footprint

Author: Anthony N. Penna

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-10-15

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1118912438

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The Human Footprint: A Global Environmental History, Second Edition, presents a multidisciplinary global history of Earth from its origins to the present day. Provides a comprehensive, global, multidisciplinary history of the planet from its earliest origins to the present era Draws on the most recent research in geology, climatology, evolutionary biology, archaeology, anthropology, history, demography and the social and physical sciences Features the latest research findings on planetary history, human evolution, the green agricultural revolution, climate change, global warming and the nature of world/human history interdependencies Offers in-depth analyses of topics relating to human evolution, agriculture, population growth, urbanization, manufacturing, consumption, industrialization, and fossil fuel dependency.