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In the face of global environmental change, the need for sustainable development in our cities is seen as increasingly crucial in securing their futures. This book traces new and established approaches to urban transformations, using new methods, such as smart growth strategies; cross-sectoral, transdisciplinary urban transition management; rubanisation; and city syntegration. It draws on the international experience of more than fifty leading researchers and practitioners to synthesize insights from megacity research, climate change modeling and town planning.
List of contents
Introduction Part 1: Social Innovations for Sustainability 1. HES-based Transdisciplinary Case Studies: The Example of Sustainable Transformation of Leisure Traffic in the City of Basel 2. Smart Growth – Sustainability Innovations 3. Participatory Budgeting and Urban Sustainability: Reviewing Lessons from Latin America 4. Urban Governance and Climate Change Experiments 5. Rubanisation 6. Resource-Oriented Monitoring of Sustainable Urban Development Part 2: Urban Transformations 7. The Social Dimensions of Urban Transformation: Contemporary Diversity in Global North Cities and the Challenges for Urban Cohesion 8. Privatization, Urban Fragmentation, and Sustainable Development 9. New Urban Players in Africa and Asia: The Role of Grassroots Organizations 10. Does Size Matter? A Critical Assessment of the Mega-city Discourse 11. Urban Development, Climate Change and Associated Risks in Ho Chi Minh City: Vulnerabilities and Adaptation Challenges for a Rapidly Growing Megacity 12. Mumbai, the Megacity and the Global City: A View of the Spatial Dimension of Urban Resilience Part 3: Urban Transition Management - from an Institutionalized Perspective 13. Managing Metropolises by Negotiating Urban Growth 14. Cross-national Urban Sustainability Learning: A Case Study on "Continuous Interaction" in Green Infrastructure Policies 15. Difu: Case Study: The Idea of Sustainable City Budgets in Germany 16. Syntegrating City Management 17. Sustainability is Self-evident in High Quality Planning: The Role of the International Urban Planner 18. The City as a Customer: Siemens and Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Part 4: The (New) Role of Science 19. Transdisciplinarity 20. Towards a Socio-metabolic History of Cities 21. Urban Transdisciplinarity in a National Program for Applied Megacity Research 22. The Institutionalization of Interfaces as a Prerequisite in Transformations towards Sustainability 23. The Changing Role of the Science and Technology Policy Advisor in a New Global Context 24. The Role of Universities in Fostering Urban and Regional Sustainability
About the author
Professor Dr. Harald A. Mieg is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS), advising on urban research.
Professor Dr. Klaus Töpfer is Executive Director of the IASS and former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
This book results from research and discussions conducted at the IASS. The IASS is a German government-funded research institute and international hub for sustainability experts from natural and social sciences, politics, technology, and civil society.
Summary
Which new institutions do we need in order to trigger local- and global sustainable urban development? Are cities the right starting points for implementing sustainability policies? If so, what are the implications for city management? This book reflects the situation of cities in the context of global change and increasing demands for sustainable development.
The book introduces core findings, new methods, and international experience related to sustainability innovations and the social transformation of cities, synthesizing insights from megacity research, sustainability science, and urban planning. Written by a team of more than fifty leading researchers and practitioners from all five continents, it traces general urban transformations and introduces new approaches such as: smart growth strategies; cross-sectoral, transdisciplinary urban transition management; rubanisation; and city syntegration. The book reveals the potential of new, networked agencies of sustainability transformation, and discusses the role of science institutions in the diffusion and implementation of institutional and social innovations.
This comprehensive book is of immense value to students, researchers, and professionals working on issues of sustainable development, in environmental programs in human geography, planning and the built environment, sociology and policy studies, institutional economics, and environmental politics.
