The urban environment – buildings, cities and infrastructure – represents one of the most important contributors to climate change, while at the same time holding the key to a more sustainable way of living. The transformation from traditional to sustainable systems requires interdisciplinary knowledge of the re-design, construction, operation and maintenance of the built environment. Sustainable Urban Environments: An Ecosystem Approach presents fundamental knowledge of the built environment. Approaching the topic from an ecosystems perspective, it shows the reader how to combine diverse practical elements into sustainable solutions for future buildings and cities. You’ll learn to connect problems and solutions at different spatial scales, from urban ecology to material, water and energy use, from urban transport to livability and health. The authors introduce and explore a variety of governance tools that support the transformation process, and show how they can help overcome institutional barriers. The book concludes with an account of promising perspectives for achieving a sustainable built environment in industrialized countries. Offering a unique overview and understanding of the most pressing challenges in the built environment, Sustainable Urban Environments helps the reader grasp opportunities for integration of knowledge and technologies in the design, construction and management of the built environment. Students and practitioners who are eager to look beyond their own fields of interest will appreciate this book because of its depth and breadth of coverage.

Urban Sustainability Through Environmental Design provides the analytical tools and practical methodologies that can be employed for sustainable and long-term solutions to the design and management of urban environments.

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

This book covers different aspects of energy sustainability in residential buildings and neighborhoods, starting from the construction and design aspects, and moving on to HVAC systems and lighting, and the applications, harvesting, use and storage of renewable energy. The volume focuses on smart and sustainable use of energy, discussing both the technological advancements and the economic, social and environmental impacts. Novel approaches to recycling of waste and materials in the context of residential buildings are also presented. This volume will be of interest to researchers and policy makers working in the fields of renewable energy, sustainable design and city planning.

By the end of the twenty-first century it is thought that three-quarters of the world’s population will be urban; our future is in cities. Making these cities healthy, vibrant and sustainable is an exceptional challenge which this book addresses. It sets out some of the basic principles of the design of our future cities and, through a series of carefully-selected case studies from leading designers’ experience, illustrates how these ideas can be put into practice. Building on the first edition's original format of design guidance and case studies, this new edition updates the ideas and techniques resulting from further research and practice by the contributors. This book emphasises the enormous progress made towards exciting new designs that integrate good design with resource efficiency.

Sustainable Cities is about the challenges faced by our urban environments and how these can be met. Examining the built environment at three levels of observation - individual buildings, urban neighbourhoods, and entire cities and towns, the first part of the book reveals the scale of the task. The second part of the book offer a critical assessment of the techniques used to assess urban development, including the measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, ecological footprint analysis, and the measurement of urban biodiversity, where different approaches can yield significantly different results. It concludes with an alternative approach to greenhouse gases, making the case for them to be seen as a resource rather than as a liability. In the final part, case studies of best practice are presented. With contributions from a range of leading international specialists, Sustainable Cities will be essential reading for academics and professionals in urban and municipal planning, environmental policy and planning, architecture, urban geography, climate change, energy resources and environmental science and technology.

Urban greening policies and measures have recently shown a high potential impact on the design and reshaping of the built environment, especially in urban regeneration processes. This book provides insights on analytical methods, planning strategies and shared governance tools for successfully integrating Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in the urban planning practice. The selected contributions present real-life application cases, in which the mainstreaming of NBS are investigated according to two main challenges: the planning and designing of physical and spatial integration of NBS in cities on one side, and the implementation of suitable shared governance models and co-creation pathways on the other. Chapter 5 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Building on the success of its second edition, the third edition of the Sustainable Urban Development Reader provides a generous selection of classic and contemporary readings giving a broad introduction to this topic. It begins by tracing the roots of the sustainable development concept in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, before presenting readings on a number of dimensions of the sustainability concept. Topics covered include land use and urban design, transportation, ecological planning and restoration, energy and materials use, economic development, social and environmental justice, and green architecture and building. All sections have a concise editorial introduction that places the selection in context and suggests further reading. Additional sections cover tools for sustainable development, international sustainable development, visions of sustainable community and case studies from around the world. The book also includes educational exercises for individuals, university classes, or community groups, and an extensive list of recommended readings. The anthology remains unique in presenting a broad array of classic and contemporary readings in this field, each with a concise introduction placing it within the context of this evolving discourse. The Sustainable Urban Development Reader presents an authoritative overview of the field using original sources in a highly readable format for university classes in urban studies, environmental studies, the social sciences, and related fields. It also makes a wide range of sustainable urban planning-related material available to the public in a clear and accessible way, forming an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the future of urban environments.

As urbanisation progresses, urban environments have been confronted with many challenges, such as air pollution and stormwater disaster. The latter has been especially damaging in recent years, as vulnerable places suffer from inundating onslaughts of surface run-off following hurricanes and heavy rainfall. This book analyses the implementation of stormwater management practices. It presents the systematic theory behind these methods, and provides multiple case studies showing how drainage development can create a sustainable urban environment. SELLING POINTS: * Analyses methods of stormwater management * Suggests how these methods might be effectively applied 400 colour

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.