This book studies human settlements in China in terms of Human Settlements Trialism in 5 typical human settlement types: river valleys, water networks, hills, plains, and arid areas. Focusing on 3 elements of Trialism—(1) natural and constructed environments, resources, and visual landscapes in human settlements background; (2) survival strategies, customs, culture, and values in human settlements activity; and (3) the layout of time and space as well as the planning and design of the urban, the country, and the wilderness in human settlements construction—the book analyzes the evolution of human settlements and predicts future trends. Presenting academic researchers and graduate students in various fields with insights from landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, geography, forestry, art, and psychology, the study discusses the principles of interactive physiological thinking and systematically theoretical philosophy related to professional physiology, planning and design principles, and traditional and modern methods and technologies in urban and rural construction. The innovative multi-discipline study promotes the planning and design of 5 types of human settlement, which is helpful to the judgment of value, activity rule, and living style of human settlements, and also discusses the development of human settlements in the new millennium.

Health and Environmental Effects of Ambient Air Pollution is part of a series of three volumes for Air Pollution, Human Health, and the Environment. Volume 1 discusses the adverse consequences of ambient air pollutants on human health, animals, plants, and structures. This book examines the production of ambient air pollutants in the environment. It begins with an overview of the classifications, sources, and occurrences of outdoor air pollutants. This book covers meteorological, climate, and topographical factors affecting air pollution, discusses how urbanization and industrialization affect air quality, and explores how climate conditions like global warming, acid rain, and airborne particulate matter impact human health. It also looks at epidemiology studies and socioeconomic aspects of outdoor air pollution, estimating health and cost effects, air quality indices, guidelines, standards, and information networks of ambient air pollutants. With contributors from experts in the field, this book is a valuable reference for academicians, researchers, and students in environmental health, public health, and occupational health, as well as environmental engineers, meteorologists, epidemiologists, medical researchers, and environmental toxicologists. - Discusses both causes of ambient air pollution and the toxicological impact on human health - Covers the health risk assessment of ambient air with an emphasis on the elements, exposure, and risk management - Examines air quality management and other ambient air pollution solutions - Discusses the environmental effects of ambient air pollutants like climate change and global warming - Examines the epidemiology studies, estimating health and cost effects

The Environment of Human Settlements: Human Well-Being in Cities, Volume 1 contains the proceedings of the Conference on the Environment of Human Settlements: Human Well-Being in Cities, held in Brussels, Belgium, in April 1976. The papers focus on the environmental implications of human settlements, with emphasis on the well-being of people living in cities. This volume is comprised of 31 chapters organized around four themes: modern technology for cities of today; decision-making for human well-being in cities (including political, legal and economic considerations); urban and land-use planning; and design as a component in urban policy. Ontario's resource recovery program is described, and interstate highway interchange communities as sites of future settlements are considered. The effects of highway noise in residential communities are also discussed, along with the role of remote sensing in habitat; financial and technical management for human settlements; human settlements as sociotechnical-economic processes; how to optimize urban density; and quantitative landscape evaluation for open space planning. This book will be of interest to engineers, scientists, and decision-makers concerned with local, national, regional, and global environmental problems related to human settlements.

This book explores the relationships between form, space, and cultural meaning in human habitation. Authors from a variety of disciplines and international sites address the possibilities of common ground in architectural theories about place and dwelling, anthropological research on settlement archaeology, and the study of cultural landscapes and geography. Illustrated with 220 full-color images, this book is a unique attempt to combine thinking about cultural meaning in space and settlements, both ancient and contemporary.

'The world has entered the urban millennium. Nearly half the world's people are now city dwellers and the rapid increase in urban population is expected to continue mainly in developing countries. This historic transition is being further propelled by the powerful forces of globalization. The central challenge for the international community is clear: to make both urbanization and globalization work for all people instead of leaving billions behind or on the margins ... Cities in a Globalizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements 2001 is a comprehensive review of conditions in the world's.

Rising densities of human settlements, migration and transport to reduce distances to market, and specialization and trade facilitated by fewer international divisions are central to economic development. The transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are most noticeable in North America, Western Europe, and Japan, but countries in Asia and Eastern Europe are changing in ways similar in scope and speed. 'World Development Report 2009: Reshaping Economic Geography' concludes that these spatial transformations are essential, and should be encouraged. The conclusion is not without controversy. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. Globalization is believed to benefit many, but not the billion people living in lagging areas of developing nations. High poverty and mortality persist among the world's 'bottom billion', while others grow wealthier and live longer lives. Concern for these three billion often comes with the prescription that growth must be made spatially balanced. The WDR has a different message: economic growth is seldom balanced, and efforts to spread it out prematurely will jeopardize progress. The Report: documents how production becomes more concentrated spatially as economies grow. proposes economic integration as the principle for promoting successful spatial transformations. revisits the debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration and shows how today's developers can reshape economic geography.

Environmental issues are all too often treated separately from politics and social change. This volume tries to redress the balance. Common to the essays is a search for the interrelationship between ecological stress and politics.

The relationship between public and private spheres is one of the key concerns of the modern society. This book investigates this relationship, especially as manifested in the urban space with its social and psychological significance. Through theoretical and historical examination, it explores how and why the space of human socities is subdivided into public and private sections. It starts with the private, interior space of the mind and moves step by step, through the body, home, neighborhood and the city, outwards to the most public, impersonal spaces, exploring the nature of each realm and their complex, interdependent realtionships. A stimulating and thought provoking book for any architect, architectural historian, urban planner or designer.

"Excluded from the city's opportunities, physically, politically and economically marginalized, slum dwellers are particularly vulnerable to crime and violence. They face an acute risk of becoming victims or offenders and live in a state of constant insecurity. Only a few cities have incorporated a coherent component to prevent crime and mitigate violence in their urban development agendas. Impact on urban safety has occurred somewhat unexpectedly. That is the main lesson to be drawn from the pages of this book: urban policy integration."--pub. desc.

This important report, Global Trends 2030-Alternative Worlds, released in 2012 by the U.S. National Intelligence Council, describes megatrends and potential game changers for the next decades. Among the megatrends, it analyzes: - increased individual empowerment - the diffusion of power among states and the ascent of a networked multi-polar world - a world's population growing to 8.3 billion people, of which sixty percent will live in urbanized areas, and surging cross-border migration - expanding demand for food, water, and energy It furthermore describes potential game changers, including: - a global economy that could thrive or collapse - increased global insecurity due to regional instability in the Middle East and South Asia - new technologies that could solve the problems caused by the megatrends - the possibility, but by no means the certainty, that the U.S. with new partners will reinvent the international system Students of trends, forward-looking entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades will find this essential reading.