Eco Cities And The Transition To Low Carbon Economies
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Eco-Cities and the Transition to Low Carbon Economies by Federico Caprotti Pdf
The author examines the two most advanced eco-city projects: the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City in China, and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. These are the most notable attempts at building new eco-cities to both face up to the 'crises' of the modern world and to use the city as an engine for transition to a low-carbon economy.
Sustainable Urbanism in Digital Transitions by Mary J. Thornbush,Oleg Golubchikov Pdf
This book examines how contemporary urbanism is influenced by digital and low carbon transitions. From its infancy at the scale of individual buildings, a focus on ‘green’ agenda, energy, and resource efficiency has fostered research and policies for low carbon cities, eco-cities, and increasingly intelligent and smarter urban systems. Cities around the world are getting ‘smarter’ as more advanced technology is integrated into urban planning and design. People are relying more on digital and information and communication technology (ICT) in their daily lives, while cities are adopting more digital technology to monitor and gather information about people and their environment. This leads to Big Data collection, which is used to inform governance and improve urban performance. These transformations, however, raise critical questions, including whether emerging smart sustainable cities are too technocratic, but also with regard to citizen involvement. This brief addresses these important contemporary concerns through a review of literature and existing urban strategies. It should be of interest to everyone involved in advancing sustainable cities and smart cities. It should also be a relevant read for students and researchers in this area.
Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China by Axel Baeumler,Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez,Shomik Mehndiratta Pdf
This book summarizes experiences from the World Bank s activities related to low-carbon urban development in China. It highlights the need for low-carbon city development and presents details on specific sector-level experiences and lessons, a framework for action, and financing opportunities.
Eco and Low-Carbon New Towns in China by Yang Fu,Xiaoling Zhang Pdf
This book examines the sustainability transition theory in the context of urbanization in China, tracing the development of eco and low-carbon cities. It examines how ideas on building eco-cities and low-carbon cities travel from nation to nation, how they are adopted in the Chinese administrative context and what role inter-scalar actors play in getting the ideas transferred, translated and operationalized on the ground. Offering an overarching theoretical framework that incorporates all urban sustainability experiments in China, the book conducts a comprehensive analysis of the master plans of these new towns and summarizes the normative transition targets of sustainable urban experiments. It explores how they differ from each other and how they influence transition dynamics in practice. By examining four eco and low-carbon new towns deemed representative of current major approaches to sustainability transition management in China, the book provides a detailed depiction of generic transition management and explains the different transitional trajectories for each type of sustainable urban experiment. It demonstrates how subnational-level and city-level transitions mediate the national transition. Through a thorough inquiry into inter-scalar dynamics, institutional arrangements and techno-social innovations in sustainable urban experiments, the book links generalized transition rules and specific contexts to present a full view of the challenges, failures and territorial problems of eco and low-carbon new towns. This book makes a novel contribution to the study of Chinese urbanization by revisiting issues and problems of contemporary urban China. The reflection on these urban issues will provide implications to policymakers, professionals and the common reader interested in the future sustainable urbanism in China.
Cities and Low Carbon Transitions by Harriet Bulkeley,Vanesa Castán Broto,Mike Hodson,Simon Marvin Pdf
Current societies face unprecedented risks and challenges connected to climate change. Addressing them will require fundamental transformations in the infrastructures that sustain everyday life, such as energy, water, waste and mobility. A transition to a ‘low carbon’ future implies a large scale reorganisation in the way societies produce and use energy. Cities are critical in this transition because they concentrate social and economic activities that produce climate change related emissions. At the same time, cities are increasingly recognised as sources of opportunities for climate change mitigation. Whether, how and why low carbon transitions in urban systems take place in response to climate change will therefore be decisive for the success of global mitigation efforts. As a result, climate change increasingly features as a critical issue in the management of urban infrastructure and in urbanisation policies. Cities and Low Carbon Transitions presents a ground-breaking analysis of the role of cities in low carbon socio-technical transitions. Insights from the fields of urban studies and technological transitions are combined to examine how, why and with what implications cities bring about low carbon transitions. The book outlines the key concepts underpinning theories of socio-technical transition and assesses its potential strengths and limits for understanding the social and technological responses to climate change that are emerging in cities. It draws on a diverse range of examples including world cities, ordinary cities and transition towns, from North America, Europe, South Africa and China, to provide evidence that expectations, aspirations and plans to undertake purposive socio-technical transitions are emerging in different urban contexts. This collection adds to existing literature on cities and energy transitions and introduces critical questions about power and social interests, lock-in and development trajectories, social equity and economic development, and socio-technical change in cities. The book addresses academics, policy makers, practitioners and researchers interested in the development of systemic responses in cities to curb climate change.
Urban Retrofitting for Sustainability by Tim Dixon,Malcolm Eames,Miriam Hunt,Simon Lannon Pdf
With a foreword from Paul King, Chief Executive, UK Green Building Council and Chairman, Zero Carbon Hub As concerns over climate change and resource constraints grow, many cities across the world are trying to achieve a low carbon transition. Although new zero carbon buildings are an important part of the story, in existing cities the transformation of the current building stock and urban infrastructure must inevitably form the main focus for transitioning to a low carbon and sustainable future by 2050. Urban Retrofitting for Sustainability brings together interdisciplinary research contributions from leading international experts to focus on key issues such as systems innovation, financing tools, governance, energy, and water management. The chapters consider not only the knowledge and technical tools available, but looks forward to how they can be implemented in real cities by 2050.
Creating Low Carbon Cities by Shobhakar Dhakal,Matthias Ruth Pdf
This book addresses key topics in the current deliberations and debates on low carbon cities that are underway globally. Contributions by experts from around the world focus on the key factors required for creating low carbon cities. These include appropriate infrastructure, ensuring co-benefits of climate actions, making best use of knowledge and information, proper accounting of emissions, and social factors such as behavioral change. Readers will gain a better understanding of these drivers and explore potential transformation pathways for cities. Particular emphasis is given to the current situation of energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at the urban level, stressing the complexity of measuring GHG emissions from cities. Chapters also shed new light on the long-term transformation pathways towards low carbon. This book discusses key challenges and opportunities in all these domains to aid in creating low carbon cities, making it of value to policy makers, researchers in academia and consultants working on climate change and energy issues. “The low carbon cities agenda is of bold ambition and demands rapid societal transformation. This book provides invaluable information and analysis on how the goals of this agenda can be achieved and what will be the significant obstacles in the way. The content in the book goes below the surface to reveal on-the-ground economic, engineering and equity issues that are at the heart of the Paris Climate Agreement and the ensuing policy debates. In this way, Creating Low Carbon Cities serves as a critical scholarly benchmark and as a toolkit for further action." William Solecki, Professor, Institute for Sustainable Cities, City University of New York "Creating Low Carbon Cities provides a refreshingly critical approach to low-carbon urban development, what has been achieved so far and the challenges ahead. It will be an important data-driven resource for local leaders, sustainability practitioners and urban planners.” Ms. Monika Zimmermann, Deputy Secretary General, ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability
After Sustainable Cities? by Mike Hodson,Simon Marvin Pdf
A sustainable city has been defined in many ways. Yet, the most common understanding is a vision of the city that is able to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Central to this vision are two ideas: cities should meet social needs, especially of the poor, and not exceed the ability of the global environment to meet needs. After Sustainable Cities critically reviews what has happened to these priorities and asks whether these social commitments have been abandoned in a period of austerity governance and climate change and replaced by a darker and unfair city. This book provides the first comprehensive and comparative analysis of the new eco-logics reshaping conventional sustainable cities discourse and environmental priorities of cities in both the global north and south. The dominant discourse on sustainable cities, with a commitment to intergenerational equity, social justice and global responsibility, has come under increasing pressure. Under conditions of global ecological change, international financial and economic crisis and austerity governance new eco-logics are entering the urban sustainability lexicon – climate change, green growth, smart growth, resilience and vulnerability, ecological security. This book explores how these new eco-logics reshape our understanding of equity, justice and global responsibility, and how these more technologically and economically driven themes resonate and dissonate with conventional sustainable cities discourse. This book provides a warning that a more technologically driven and narrowly constructed economic agenda is driving ecological policy and weakening previous commitment to social justice and equity. After Sustainable Cities brings together leading researchers to provide a critical examination of these new logics and identity what sort of city is now emerging, as well as consider the longer-term implication on sustainable cities research and policy.
Climate Change and Sustainable Cities by Hugo Priemus,Simin Davoudi Pdf
Climate change has demonstrated, perhaps more than any other environmental concerns, the complexities of the human-nature interrelationship and the need for embedding a far greater environmental consciousness into our social values and norms. A drastic reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions requires a transition to low carbon cities. This demands a better understanding of the interactions between social, technical, and spatial processes which constitute cities. The aim of this book is to explore these interactions and urge urban planners and other built environment professionals to revisit some of their traditional concepts, methods, and ways of thinking about what constitutes a ‘good’ city and according to whose priorities. The book brings together nine contributions ranging from broad overviews to sector-specific analysis, paying particular attention to the role of urban planning. Contributors cover climate change mitigation and adaptation, deal with different scales of analysis ranging from international and European to national and city perspectives, and discuss a range of policy sectors including housing, transport, energy, sea level rise as well as pathways for climate policy implementation. The diversity of the contributions is itself a reflection of the multitude of climate change concerns that preoccupy researchers, policy makers and practitioners. This book was published as a special issue of European Planning Studies.
The Economy of Green Cities by Richard Simpson,Monika Zimmermann Pdf
This volume bridges the gap between the global promotion of the Green Economy and the manifestation of this new development strategy at the urban level. Green cities are an imperative solution, not only in meeting global environmental challenges but also in helping to ensure socio-economic prosperity at the local level.
This book aims to integrate climate mitigation and adaptation tools into conventional urban planning. It emphasizes the value and importance of ICT as connected technology. The author believes that ICT and IOT can facilitate controlling climate change attributes when deployed with appropriate ingredients and composition in cities in an integrated comprehensive manner. It was written with the author's firm belief that cities play an important role in mitigating climate change by reducing energy consumption, promoting the use of renewable energy sources, or by trading emission permits and selling Certified Emission Rights (CERs). This book looks at green growth based on the circular economy using green smart technology as a sustainable tool for green economic development. Also for climate change adaptation, cities have to take actions to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on people, property and ecosystems in the urban planning process. It has been written with the author's works for Urban Environment Accords (UEA) and International Urban Training Center (IUTC) in collaboration with UNEP, World Bank, UNFCCC and UN-HABITAT. It can be used as a training source book for city climate planners and urban practitioners of local governments. It will be utilized as a more practical guidebook for climate change policy makers as well as a futuristic research agenda for next generations.
Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China by Axel Baeumler,Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez,Shomik Mehndiratta Pdf
The continuing rapid growth and development of China's cities brings many complex challenges. Tasked with supporting strong economic development that provides jobs and a good quality of life for its growing number of residents, China's cities also must ensure sustainable development in line with national efforts to transition to a less carbon-intensive economy, as outlined in China's 12th Five-Year Plan. Sustainable Low-Carbon City Development in China summarizes, through the specific lens of low-carbon development, the lessons of the World Bank's activities related to sustainable urban development in China. The various chapters present overall approaches and achievements in low-carbon city developments and highlight specific experiences across all urban sectors, including energy, transport, solid waste, water, and waste water. The book also explores cities' role in climate adaptation and opportunities presented by carbon finance and other global mechanisms to finance low-carbon city development. The World Bank project data and experience combined with the national and international experience presented in this edited book deliver both a broad picture and actionable steps for China's urban development. The chapters argue that China's cities not only need to, but also have an opportunity and the ability to integrate sustainable low-carbon development in their urban development. Low-carbon efforts align closely with the sustainable urbanization agenda and the book points to multiple benefits, such as improved air quality and urban livability, that can be derived from implementing this urgent agenda. The intended audience of this edited book is government officials of municipalities, cities, and townships in China who will be defining policies and programs to achieve the targets of economic growth and carbon emission reductions emerging from the 12th Five-Year Plan. The lessons presented may also be of interest to other countries and development partners supporting low-carbon urban programs.
Carbon Governance, Climate Change and Business Transformation by Adam Bumpus,James Tansey,Blas Luis Pérez Henríquez,Chukwumerije Okereke Pdf
Transformation to a low carbon economy is a central tenet to any discussion on the solutions to the complex challenges of climate change and energy security. Despite advances in policy, carbon management and continuing development of clean technology, fundamental business transformation has not occurred because of multiple political, economic, social and organisational issues. Carbon Governance, Climate Change and Business Transformation is based on leading academic and industry input, and three international workshops focused on low carbon transformation in leading climate policy jurisdictions (Canada, USA and the UK) under the international Carbon Governance Project (CGP) banner. The book pulls insights from this innovative collaborative network to identify the policy combinations needed to create transformative change. It explores fundamental questions about how governments and the private sector conceptualize the problem of climate change, the conditions under which business transformation can genuinely take place and key policy and business innovations needed. Broadly, the book is based on emerging theories of multi-levelled, multi-actor carbon governance, and applies these ideas to the real world implications for tackling climate change through business transformation. Conceptually and empirically, this book stimulates both academic discussion and practical business models for low carbon transformation.
Rethinking Urban Transitions by Andrés Luque-Ayala,Simon Marvin,Harriet Bulkeley Pdf
Rethinking Urban Transitions provides critical insight for societal and policy debates about the potential and limits of low carbon urbanism. It draws on over a decade of international research, undertaken by scholars across multiple disciplines concerned with analysing and shaping urban sustainability transitions. It seeks to open up the possibility of a new generation of urban low carbon transition research, which foregrounds the importance of political, geographical and developmental context in shaping the possibilities for a low carbon urban future. The book’s contributions propose an interpretation of urban low carbon transitions as primarily social, political and developmental processes. Rather than being primarily technical efforts aimed at measuring and mitigating greenhouse gases, the low carbon transition requires a shift in the mode and politics of urban development. The book argues that moving towards this model requires rethinking what it means to design, practise and mobilize low carbon in the city, while also acknowledging the presence of multiple and contested developmental pathways. Key to this shift is thinking about transitions, not solely as technical, infrastructural or systemic shifts, but also as a way of thinking about collective futures, societal development and governing modes – a recognition of the political and contested nature of low carbon urbanism. The various contributions provide novel conceptual frameworks as well as empirically rich cases through which we can begin to interrogate the relevance of socio-economic, political and developmental dimensions in the making or unmaking of low carbon in the city. The book draws on a diverse range of examples (including ‘world cities’ and ‘ordinary cities’) from North America, South America, Europe, Australia, Africa, India and China, to provide evidence that expectations, aspirations and plans to undertake purposive socio-technical transitions are both emerging and encountering resistance in different urban contexts. Rethinking Urban Transitions is an essential text for courses concerned with cities, climate change and environmental issues in sociology, politics, urban studies, planning, environmental studies, geography and the built environment.
Energy and Transport in Green Transition by Atle Midttun,Nina Witoszek Pdf
This book breaks new ground in the studies of green transition. It frames the ongoing transformation in terms of a "battle of modernities" with the emerging vision of ecomodernity as the final destination. It also offers a systematic exploration of the potential for extensive transformation of carbon-intensive sectors – with a focus on energy and transport – towards a low or post-carbon economy. The book does so in a comparative perspective, by pointing to a diversity of techno-economic and institutional solutions in the mature Western economies, and in the rapidly growing East and developing South. The contributors highlight a broad spectrum of available alternatives as well as illuminate conflicting interests involved. They also demonstrate how solutions to the climate challenge require parallel technological and governance innovation. The book advocates a new, overarching vision and agenda of ecomodernity – based on a synergistic paradigm-shift in industry, politics and culture – to trigger and sustain the ecological innovation necessary to tip development in a green direction. This vision cannot be monolithic; rather, it should reflect the diverse interests and conditions of the global population. This book is aimed at researchers and postgraduate students of energy, transport, environmental and climate policies, as well as development, environment, innovation and sustainability.
