Cities and the Environment : New Approaches for Eco-Societies

by Inoguchi, Takashi; Newman, Edward; Paoletto, Glen

• ISBN13: 9789280810233
• ISBN10: 9280810235
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr

Summary

Cities focus human creativity, culture, and industry, and offer welfare and livelihood opportunities for billions of people worldwide. If demographic projections are borne out, cities will also be the focus of a global population explosion--particularly in developing countries--that will increasingly reflect common lifestyle experiences for humankind.While these experiences are often positive, burgeoning urban communities will face critical challenges in coming decades. Environmental problems are particularly threatening: cities are a burden upon natural resources and pollute the air and water; development destroys the natural environment surrounding cities; and cities present enormous demands for housing, transportation, water management, and sewage systems that in many cases are not met.Urban environmental challenges threaten the lives of millions, and as urban populations increase, these difficulties will escalate. The goal of eco-societies is to manage or reverse these problems and make cities safe places in which to work, live, and nurture future generations.This volume identifies and conceptualizes the ideal of urban eco-societies, embracing their technological, political, and sociological dimensions and focusing on broad but practical lifestyle changes. It outlines the innovative approaches used in partnerships among disparate actors and the widening process of cooperation on these issues that transcends national boundaries.

Table of Contents

List of tables and figures	viii	(2)
Acronyms	x	(3)
Acknowledgement	xiii	(2)
Preface	xv
Yukio Aoshima
1 Introduction: Cities and the environment-towards eco-partnerships	1	(16)
Takashi Inoguchi
Edward Newman
Glen Paoletto
Part I: Frameworks for eco-partnerships	17	(88)
2 Ecological "rules" of a sustainable society	17	(13)
Ernest Callenbach
3 Urban environmental management: A partnership continuum	30	(17)
Hari Srinivas
4 The concept and civilization of an eco-society: Dilemmas, innovations, and urban dramas	47	(24)
Voula Mega
5 Sustainable urban societies: A technological or a political goal?	71	(34)
Edward Newman
Part II: Partnerships in action	105	(128)
6 Civil society and the urban environment	105	(22)
Ooi Giok Ling
7 An institutional capacity-building approach to urban environmental governance in medium-sized cities in Latin America and the Caribbean	127	(13)
Daniela Simioni
8 After the Dam Age is done: Social capital and eco-partnerships in urban watersheds	140	(21)
James E. Nickum
9 A new approach to disaster mitigation and planning in mega-cities: The pivotal role of social vulnerability in disaster risk management	161	(24)
German T. Velasquez
Juha I. Uitto
Benjamin Wisner
Shigeo Takahashi
10 Life Cycle Assessment: Its prospects as a tool for creating a sustainable economic system	185	(18)
Monte Cassim
11 Rainwater in cities: A note on ecology and practice	203	(13)
Klaus W. Konig
12 Communities, markets, and city government: Innovative roles for coastal cities in reducing marine pollution in the Asia--Pacific region	216	(17)
Lyuba Zarsky
Jason Hunter
Part III: International and future dimensions	233	(93)
13 Cultivating an urban eco-society: The United Nations response	233	(23)
Nitin Desai
14 An economic assessment of China--Japan cooperation to address acid rain	256	(25)
Jusen Asuka-Zhang
15 A new paradigm of North--South relations: Implications of international cooperation by local authorities in Japan	281	(16)
Toshihiro Menju
16 Urban governance in the new economy	297	(29)
Glen Paoletto
Contributors	326	(2)
Index	328