Sustainable Development and the Future of Cities

What is urban sustainability? This book looks at how an increasingly urban world can also be a world where the ideas of sustainable development are put into practice. Urban areas are by far the most serious polluters of our environment; and as more and more people throughout the world come to live in urban areas, the question of how we can turn these centers of major pollution into ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable environments will become more and more urgent. The contributors to this book see an examination of social issues as central to understanding how sustainability in our cities can be achieved. The book looks first at concepts, theories, and problems of sustainable development --- from a developed and a developing world perspective. It then considers regional perspectives, with contributions from Southeast Asia, North America, and Eastern Europe. Finally the book presents local answers to the problems of sustainable urban development, with examples from Iran, Poland, Canada, Finland, and elsewhere. This book will be of interest to urban planners, those involved in furthering the Agenda 21 debates, and all those concerned about the future of cities.