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Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Special Publications Series.
Today nearly half of the Earth’s peoples live in cities, and projected trends indicate a rise to five billion city dwellers by the year 2025. All cities become increasingly coupled with and vulnerable to their environment as they grow. For cities to be safe and sustainable we must be ever aware of the inter-relationships between natural processes and the urban environment, effects on the population, and—in turn—the effects of population on the environment. Many of these relationships, which become issues or problems of public note usually when we are faced with immediate conditions of risk—including water use sustainability or hazard mitigation from natural disasters—must be addressed via the geosciences. And geoscience researchers should be aware that the results of their work are vital to solving urban problems both in the practical and theoretical domains, and for immediate and future needs. The present book speaks to such concerns. We hope it also serves to stimulate discussion of, and research on, urban geoscience for professionals in the field or associated with it, and for students entering the field.
