Cultural vitality is an essential to a healthy and sustainable society as social equity, envrinmental responsibilty and economic viability. In order for public planning to be more effective, its methodology should include an integrated framework of cultural evaluation similar to social, environmental and economic assessment.

Cultural sustainability is a very important aspect of the overall sustainability framework and is regarded as the ‘fourth pillar’ alongside the other three: environmental, economic, and social sustainability. However, the concept is neither fully explored, nor widely accepted or recognized. This book elicits the interplay of ‘nature-culture-architecture’ and theorizes the concept of ‘cultural sustainability’ and ‘culturally sustainable architecture.’ It identifies four key themes in Chinese philosophy: Harmony with Heaven, Harmony with Earth, Harmony with Humans, and Harmony with Self, along with Greek philosopher Aristotle’s physics: form, space, matter, and time, it sets them as criteria to evaluate the renewed and new courtyard housing projects constructed in China since the 1990s. Using an innovative architectural and social science approach, this book examines the political, economic, social, and spatial factors that affect cultural sustainability. Supported by a multiplicity of data including: field surveys, interviews with residents, architects, and planners, time diaries, drawings, photos, planning documents, observation notes, and real estate brochures, the book proposes new courtyard garden house design strategies that promote healthy communities and human care for one another, a concept that is universally applicable. The volume is a first opportunity to take a holistic view, to encompass eastern and western, tangible and intangible, cultures in the theorization of ‘cultural sustainability’ and ‘culturally sustainable architecture.’ It is a comprehensive contribution to architectural theory.

The concept of sustainability has grown in recognition and importance. The pressure on companies to broaden their reporting and accountability from economic performance for shareholders, to sustainability performance for all stakeholders is leading to a change of mindset in consumer behaviour and corporate policies. How can we develop prosperity without compromising the life and needs of future generations? Sustainability in Project Management explores and identifies the questions surrounding the integration of the concepts of sustainability in projects and project management and provides valuable guidance and insights. Sustainability relates to multiple perspectives, economical, environmental and social, but also to responsibility and accountability and values in terms of ethics, fairness and equality. The authors will inspire project managers to be aware of these considerations, and to apply them to the role they play in projects, not just 'doing things right' but 'doing the right things right'.

Water is vital for life, and its availability has been a concern for mankind throughout the ages. Its presence has always been ascertained in a variety of ways and the development of human society everywhere is connected with various forms of water management. Man also needed to manage water to find protection from its dangers and the need for that is increasing. In the coming decades, the impact of climate change is expected to intensify floods and droughts, affect groundwater resources, raise sea levels, increase pollution and enhance the frequency and magnitude of disasters. Societies around the world are challenged to adapt to these threats to ensure water security, economic prosperity and environmental and cultural sustainability. This book deals with the heritage of water management and the use that was made of water, as well as the impact of water management on heritage. An example of the former may be an ancient irrigation system in the Filipines or in the Middle East that still functions today, while the latter may reflect the importance of maintaining groundwater levels for the preservation of organic remains on archaeological sites or of wooden piles underneath standing buildings. In either case the papers in this book reflect the dynamic nature of water, and hence the equally dynamic relation between water management and heritage. This publication follows up on a Heritage and Water conference in Amsterdam, the first of its kind. Its main purpose is to credibly present the importance and value of heritage and historical experience for water and sustainable development, and vice versa, present the importance of water management for the protection of heritage. It presents evolving insights and concepts about Water and about Heritage from a variety of disciplines, policy and public perspectives illustrated with cases studies and aims to connect decision makers with experts such as engineers, archaeologists, historians, geographers, ecologist and landscape architects

Humanity has extensively exploited natural and physical resources, since the Industrial Revolution in Europe. A geological era, now called the Anthropocene, has been coined in environmental and developmental circles, to mark the increased domination of humanity on Earth and its resources. Today, the ecological footprint on the fragile planet continues to increase. Mass industrialisation, like what China is doing and pushing for, is one of the drivers for increased urbanisation that results in increased demand for land. It is also the stimulus behind increased deforestation, overfishing, and pollution. As the fragility of the Earth increases, global bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are pushing to reduce the Earth’s temperature. Human efforts to manage the problem cascade from a global to a regional, to a national, as well as to much localised scales. Missing though are nuanced contributions at national and community levels, which this book is an attempt to bridge. The nagging sense of responsibility is what this book explores under the label of “sustainability ethic”. As a case study, the book examines the use of sustainability ethic in the management of the physical, infrastructural and natural resources of Zimbabwe. This ethic is built on pillars that include participation of people (households) in their pursuit for sustainable livelihoods, appropriate technology, tools and techniques for environmental protection. It also hinges on stewardship and structures, institutions, policies and processes of governance and sustainability. There are also the aspects of ethics, laws and indigenous technical knowledge for sustainability, capacity building and education plans and programmes for sustainability and population and demographic determinants, processes and outcomes for sustainability. The book is a timely contribution to an urgent global concern and climate change debate.

This open access book is focused on the intersection between urban brownfields and the sustainability transitions of metreopolitan areas, cities and neighbourhoods. It provides both a theoretical and practical approach to the topic, offering a thorough introduction to urban brownfields and regeneration projects as well as an operational monitoring tool. Neighbourhoods in Transition begins with an overview of historic urban development and strategic areas in the hearts of towns to be developed. It then defines several key issues related to the topic, including urban brownfields, regeneration projects, and sustainability issues related to neighbourhood development. The second part of this book is focused on support tools, explaining the challenges faced, the steps involved in a regeneration process, and offering an operational monitoring tool. It applies the unique tool to case studies in three selected neighbourhoods and the outcomes of one case study are also presented and discussed, highlighting its benefits. The audience for this book will be both professional and academic. It will support researchers as an up-to-date reference book on urban brownfield regeneration projects, and also the work of architects, urban designers, urban planners and engineers involved in sustainability transitions of the built environment.

Sustainability is based on a simple and long-recognized factual premise: Everything that humans require for their survival and well-being depends, directly or indirectly, on the natural environment. The environment provides the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to its work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been working to create programs and applications in a variety of areas to better incorporate sustainability into decision-making at the agency. To further strengthen the scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection, the EPA asked the National Research Council (NRC) to provide a framework for incorporating sustainability into the EPA's principles and decision-making. This framework, Sustainability and the U.S. EPA, provides recommendations for a sustainability approach that both incorporates and goes beyond an approach based on assessing and managing the risks posed by pollutants that has largely shaped environmental policy since the 1980s. Although risk-based methods have led to many successes and remain important tools, the report concludes that they are not adequate to address many of the complex problems that put current and future generations at risk, such as depletion of natural resources, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. Moreover, sophisticated tools are increasingly available to address cross-cutting, complex, and challenging issues that go beyond risk management. The report recommends that EPA formally adopt as its sustainability paradigm the widely used "three pillars" approach, which means considering the environmental, social, and economic impacts of an action or decision. Health should be expressly included in the "social" pillar. EPA should also articulate its vision for sustainability and develop a set of sustainability principles that would underlie all agency policies and programs.

A Circular Economy seeks to rebuild capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural, and offers opportunities and solutions for all organisations. This book, written by Walter Stahel, who is widely recognised as one of the key people who formulated the concept of the Circular Economy, is the perfect introduction for anyone wanting to quickly get up to speed with this vitally important topic for ensuring sustainable development. It sets out a new framework that refines the concept of a Circular Economy and how it can be applied at industrial levels. This concise book presents the key themes for busy managers and policymakers and some of the newest thinking on the topic of the Circular Economy from one of the leading thinkers in the field. Practical examples and case studies with real-life data are used to elucidate the ideas presented within the book.

This book provides a foundation to understand the development of sustainability in civil engineering, and tools to address the three pillars of sustainability: economics, environment, and society. It includes case studies in the five major areas of civil engineering: environmental, structural, geotechnical, transportation, and construction management. This second edition is updated throughout and adds new chapters on construction engineering as well as an overview of the most common certification programs that revolve around environmental sustainability. Features: Updated throughout and adds two entirely new chapters Presents a review of the most common certification programs in sustainability Offers a blend of numerical and writing-based problems, as well as numerous application-based examples that utilize concepts found on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam Includes several practical case studies Offers a solution manual for instructors Fundamentals of Sustainability in Civil Engineering is intended for upper-level civil engineering sustainability courses. A unique feature is that concepts found in the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam were targeted to help senior-level students refresh and prepare.

The concept of sustainable development is commonly divided into environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions. While a variety of international actors have declared the importance of culture in sustainable development, jointly articulating this clearly has been difficult. For example, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 contained only the most fleeting mention of culture. None of the SDGs referred directly to the case for integrating culture into sustainable development planning and decision-making. The role of cultural policy has remained unclear. This book contributes to a better understanding of the role of culture in achieving sustainability, focusing on the particular roles for cultural policy in this context. Cultural sustainability is conceptualised as the sustainability of cultural and artistic practices and patterns, and to the role of cultural traits and actions to inform and compose part of the pathways towards more sustainable societies. The links between culture and sustainable development are analysed in ways that articulate and contemplate different roles for cultural policy. The contributors take up the concerns and perspectives of international, national, and local authorities and actors, illuminating ways in which these multi-scale efforts both intersect and diverge. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy.