In many areas of the world, environmental degradation in and around human settlements is undermining prospects for both socioeconomic justice and ecological sustainability. To explore the issues involved in this worldwide problem, Keith Pezzoli focuses on a dramatic instance of conflict that grew out of the unauthorized penetration of human settlements into the Ajusco greenbelt zone, a vital part of Mexico City's ecological reserve. The heart of the book is the story of what happened when residents of the Ajusco settlements fought relocation by proposing that the areas be transformed into productive ecology settlements. Pezzoli draws upon urban and regional planning theory and practice to examine biophysical as well as ethical and social sides of the story, and he uses the Mexican experience to identify planning strategies to link economy, ecology, and community in sustainable development. -- Publisher description.
Suitable for those involved in the field of urban design and planning, this book presents the state of the art in sustainable development master-planning, setting out, mostly in a graphic format and by means of 60 illustrated case-studies, what is considered best-practice in the field.
The answers to the questions of why and how people live where they live as well as how they maintain and integrate with one another are fundamental human settlement issues rooted in history and culture. Human settlements are historically linked to resource availability, fortification, and the mythos of civilizations. Cities play a central role in redefining the interface between human beings and nature. They have revolutionized the human experience by taming natural surroundings and building environments that are human-centric-often narrowing human life outside the experience of wilderness or the untamed. This book is divided into three parts, it examines urban development trends, explores perspectives in energy efficiency and agriculture security, and considers policy development and future scenarios in human-nature relations. It is a compendium of multidisciplinary work that challenges the directions of modernity and offers reference to alternatives. Authors come from a diverse background and international context to address common overarching theories facing current geography-specific problems. An interconnected overtone of the book attempts to link accelerated urbanization and settlement location to how societies are maintained and integrated. Human settlements are shaped by human ecology and the relationship between humans and their interaction with their environment. Two sectors central to human survival are specifically explored: energy and agriculture. Cutting-edge, smart development looks at the latest findings that reflect the on-going debate facing these sectors. A human settlement metric is envisioned in terms of the past, present, and future. This book is a unique attempt to combine a rethinking about human settlements for scientists, policy-makers, public officials, and people committed to improving urban life, society-wide. Possible agents to resolving human settlement problems include international cooperation and various mechanisms that interlace the international community. Methodological and applied aspects of sustainable management focus on topics such as adaptive knowledge sharing, renewable energy, climate change, agricultural planning, and policy development. An emphasis on scientific and technological advancement, from a bottom-up mapping of society, elucidates a better understanding of the role of knowledgeable societies in which need is considered alongside how such need can be sustained-advancing towards a more promising future.
The challenge of housing is increasingly recognised in international policy discussions in connection to the processes of migration, climate change, and economic globalisation. This book addresses the challenges of housing and emerging solutions along the lines of three major dynamics: migration, climate change, and neo-liberalism. It explores the outcomes of neo-liberal »enabling« ideas, responses to extreme climate events with different housing approaches, and how the dynamics of migration reshape the urban housing provision in a changing world. The aim is to contextualise the theoretical discourses by reflecting on the case study context of the eleven papers published in this book. With forewords by Raquel Rolnik (University Sao Paulo) and Mohammed El Sioufi (UN-Habitat).
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
This book uses the transformative innovation policy (TIP) as a lens to show how innovative processes, practices and systems could address critical challenges and facilitate the delivery of sustainable human settlements in South Africa. The TIP approach shows that addressing societal problems is not a function of a technical solution within a government department but one that requires partnership with multiple stakeholders. The book argues that it is essential to understand and embrace innovation policy that is transformative and responds to the social and environmental needs at local, provincial and national levels. It demonstrates that innovation policy should focus on transforming the socio-technical systems that demand embracing notions such as experimental delivery and learning, directionality and inclusivity. Chapters explore the ability of the state to transform its organisational processes and capacity to improve and align its planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation systems to high levels of efficiency and sustainability targets. Bringing together various theoretical and empirical perspectives on innovation in the context of sustainable human settlement, this book will be of interest to scholars and students in the fields of Housing, Human Settlements, Architecture, Public Policy, Development Studies, Civil Engineering, Political Science and Public Administration.
In a rapidly urbanizing and globalized world, cities have been the epicentres of COVID-19 (coronavirus). The virus has spread to virtually all parts of the world; first, among globally connected cities, then through community transmission and from the city to the countryside. This report shows that the intrinsic value of sustainable urbanization can and should be harnessed for the wellbeing of all. It provides evidence and policy analysis of the value of urbanization from an economic, social and environmental perspective. It also explores the role of innovation and technology, local governments, targeted investments and the effective implementation of the New Urban Agenda in fostering the value of sustainable urbanization.
