Scaling Urban Environmental Challenges

"Think globally, act locally" emphasizes the importance of scale in dealing with environmental challenges, but not how to factor it in. This major new book focuses on the spatial dimensions of urban environmental burdens, and shows how important it is to take these into account when pursuing environmental justice and good governance--whether in the context of the sanitary risks of slum living, the pollution of uncontrolled industrialization and motorization, or the enormous ecological footprints of affluent urban lifestyles. The volume reviews the urban environmental transitions that have shaped today's challenges and proceeds to examine conditions and problems in the urban centers of low, middle, and high income countries. Case studies examine such economically diverse cities as Accra, New Delhi, Mexico City, and Manchester, and thematic chapters explore issues including water, sanitation, and transportation. It ends by examining different scales of governance. The editors argue that it is an error to rely solely on local governance to address local burdens like poor sanitation, or on global governance for global challenges such as greenhouse gas emissions, but that scale is crucial in both understanding the problems and devising successful responses.