Full Description
Sustainability has become the key challenge for urban planners, housing and infrastructure policy makers. Citizens are increasingly encouraged to live more compactly; in denser urban developments, to use less water and other natural resources and to choose public transport. While councils, government agencies and private business invest in a broad range of promotions offering discounts on sustainable products and services, uptake has been slow and the impacts marginal at a time when environmental stresses suggest that we must act fast. This book examines this pressing problem in a holistic way, discussing broad-scale sustainability policies and programmes for achieving sustainable urban futures. It brings together academics and practitioners to analyze the complexity and interdependence of principles, models, processes and practices of sustainability in a range of integrated sectors as well as the establishment and maintenance of sustainable physical infrastructure in cities.
Contents
1: Steering Sustainability: What, When and Why; I: Transforming Cities; 2: A Sustainable Cities Framework for Housing; 3: Ecopolis: Concepts, Initiatives and the Purpose of Cities; 4: Permaculture: Design Principles for Urban Sustainability; 5: Policy Approaches Incorporating Life Cycle Assessment; II: Collective Practices; 6: Stationary Energy: A Critical Element of a Sustainable Urban Metabolism; 7: Sustainable Transport in Urban Neighbourhoods: Policy Approaches, User Responses; 8: Indicators, Audits and Measuring Success; 9: Sustainable Water Systems and Household Practices; 10: Integrated Waste Management and Zero Waste; III: Community and Civil Society; 11: Community Action and Engagement for Sustainability; 12: WestWyck: An Urban Sustainability Demonstration Site; 13: The Role of Leisure Time in Achieving Sustainability; 14: Local Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for Sustainability; IV: Transforming Suburbs; 15: Innovating for Sustainability in Estate Development: VicUrban in Melbourne; 16: Who Can Afford Sustainable Housing?; 17: Retrofitting the Australian Suburbs for Sustainability; 18: Nurturing Nature in the City; 19: How Smart is 'Smart'? - Smart Homes and Sustainability; 20: Sustainable Futures
