Urban Development for the 21st Century: Managing Resources and Creating Infrastructure

Urban planners around the world are increasingly concerned with creating and maintaining cities that are healthy for both the environment and for individuals. Cities are at the forefront of the trend toward sustainable living, since they are the site of concentrated population, resource use, and greenhouse gas emissions, yet also have the tools and the resources to address climate change and environmental degradation. Part of the modern urban planner’s challenge is to impact individual behavior on a systemic, urban scale, since sustainable cities are made up of systems that encourage sustainable behavior.

The articles chosen for this compendium cover many aspects of urban living on this individual yet systematic scale. Included are chapters that focus on:

How individuals, households, and cities use resources and create greenhouse gas emissions
How urban resources can be expanded to include waste streams
Options for measuring and encouraging sustainable transportation
Cities’ renewable and non-renewable energy demands
Sustainable housing solutions

Case studies and up-to-date research provide urban planners with new options for creating cities that will meet the demands of the twenty-first century. Also appropriate for graduate students who are preparing for careers related to urban planning, this compendium captures and integrates the current work being done in this vitally important field.